Wildcats close out Stoops' first season with upset win over Devils in annual desert duel

With a 3-8 record, the Arizona football team treated its season-ending game with in-state rival Arizona State as its bowl game.

But when the Wildcats pulled off the 34-27 upset win over the No. 18 Sun Devils (8-3) Friday at Arizona Stadium, the Arizona fans treated it the same, spilling onto the field and celebrating with other Wildcat fans, players and coaches. [Read article]

While Arizona head coach Mike Stoops built his reputation at Oklahoma as a defensive genius, it didn't take long for him to realize that a productive offense is critical to Pacific 10 Conference success after his first season in the league.

This certainly was the case Friday, when the Wildcat offense exploded for its highest output of the season in a 34-27 victory over Arizona State after averaging only 13 points per game all year, good for last in the country out of 117 NCAA Division I-A teams. [Read article]

Prior to his postgame press conference following Arizona's 34-27 win over in-state rival Arizona State, head coach Mike Stoops' first order of business when exiting the UA locker room was to find a reporter from the Phoenix-based The Arizona Republic newspaper.

"What was that quote by coach Koetter, that the teams would show their true colors as the game wore on?" the first-year coach asked, referencing a quote by ASU head coach Dirk Koetter in Friday's Republic. "I believe that. I read that today in the paper. Well, I think we showed our true colors today." [Read article]

On more than one occasion during the 2004 season, the only possible explanation was that the Arizona football team was cursed.

A game-winning field goal sailed wide against Wisconsin, a top-10 team; a fumble as the Wildcats were trying to run out the clock lost the team its Pacific 10 Conference opener against Washington State; an inadvertent whistle blew a defensive touchdown off the scoreboard at Oregon. [Read article]

The Arizona men's basketball team was successful in its attempts to thwart standout Wake Forest point guard Chris Paul in Friday night's Preseason NIT championship.

But it was the other member of the top-ranked Demon Deacons' backcourt that stole the show, leading Wake Forest (5-0) to the Preseason National Invitational Tournament 63-60 championship game victory over No. 18 Arizona (3-2) in New York's Madison Square Garden. [Read article]

Wildcats return to McKale Center tonight to face UTEP

Although it was closer than the No. 25 Arizona women's basketball team would have liked, the Wildcats managed to hold off Brigham Young 76-73 Saturday at Marriott Center in Provo, Utah.

"This was a huge game for us," said UA head coach Joan Bonvicini. "We played a very disappointing game against Ohio State. BYU has been a good team. They are going to win a lot of games this year. This was a good win for our team." [Read article]

It was the tale of two teams as the No. 21 Arizona volleyball team (18-10, 10-8 Pac-10) split its final regular season matches this weekend at McKale Center. The Wildcats swept No. 14 California on Friday before being swept at the hands of No. 7 Stanford Saturday night.

With the split, Arizona advances to the NCAA tournament for the ninth consecutive year, facing off against UC Irvine on either Thursday or Friday in San Diego. [Read article]