Arizona bullies Cal for early 28-7 lead, takes back home court in win

Arizona men's basketball head coach Lute Olson had the scores from the 1987-88 squad posted in the players' lockers before they came in to dress for last night's game against California.

He said he wanted them to understand what home court advantage in McKale Center was all about - the 1987-88 team's margin of victory at home was 23.5 points, and the games were usually over within the first 10 minutes of play. [Read article]

If anyone was unsure the Arizona men's basketball team would be ready to play against California last night, they were proven wrong real quick. The Wildcats ended the game before Cal could even take a breath.

Arizona jumped on the Golden Bears with an 11-0 run over the first 4:23 of the game, keeping the fans standing up and the California bench sitting down.

"This just wasn't the right game to play us," senior center Channing Frye said. "We just wanted to come out and make a statement." [Read article]

For the second time this season, the Arizona women's basketball team was defeated by No. 4 Stanford, with its most recent loss coming last night in Maples Pavilion, 91-74.

Stanford extends its home winning streak to 18 games, while Arizona falls to a 15-7 mark overall, 7-4 in the Pacific 10 Conference. The Wildcats lost their second consecutive game after falling to No. 20 Maryland in overtime Saturday. [Read article]

Candrea back for UA's first home tournament

In the high-stakes game of collegiate softball, UA head coach Mike Candrea knows his team's time for playing around is over.

"Now we're playing for keeps," he said.

The No. 2 Arizona softball team opens its 2005 season at 3 p.m. today at Hillenbrand Stadium against Tulsa in the Pepsi Arizona Softball Classic.

The three-day tournament is the first of six to start the year for the Wildcats, who also compete this weekend against Kansas, Northwestern, Oklahoma State and New Mexico State. [Read article]

The Arizona baseball team returns to the diamond this weekend for its first action since playing in the College World Series in June.

The No. 12 Wildcats host New Mexico in a season-opening, three-game series starting this afternoon at 4 at Sancet Stadium. The series continues tomorrow at 2 p.m. and concludes Sunday at noon.

Arizona junior ace John Meloan, who went 10-0 with a 4.66 ERA last year, will start the opener against Jason Fernandez (7-5, 5.27). [Read article]

The No. 39 Arizona women's tennis team hosts another dual match at the Robson Tennis Center, as the Wildcats play the Loyola-Marymount Lions (0-2) today at 1:30 p.m.

Arizona (3-0) has never faced Loyola-Marymount (0-2), though the Wildcats' No. 23 Dianne Hollands defeated the Lions' Kimi Kaloi, 6-1, 6-1, in the second round of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Regionals in the fall.

The Lions are coming off losses to No. 4 UCLA and No. 64 Pacific while Arizona is coming off a successful home stand against the University of Texas El Paso and No. 41 Sacramento State [Read article]

The UA Icecats reach the midpoint of their three-week road swing tonight and Saturday in Tempe against No. 13 ASU.

The Icecats (10-9-1) head into ASU's (13-5) Oceanside Arena on the momentum of an upset win over No. 9 Weber State over the weekend.

"Saturday's win was big," junior defenseman D.J. Pelletier said. "It really helped with our morale and our confidence."

Icecats head coach Leo Golembiewski said the 8-5 Weber State victory was a watershed moment for his team, leading into a series for which he said "the rivalry speaks for itself." [Read article]

Looking to build off of last week's success in Boise, Idaho and Seattle, the Arizona track teams head to NAU today for the Mountain "T" Invitational.

UA head coach Fred Harvey said the team will stress specific events in Flagstaff.

"We got a good start with our qualifying performances last week, so we're really putting an emphasis on individual events," he said.

The No. 9 men's team will face some tough competition, with No. 16 ASU and NAU joining the likes of No. 14 Oregon and No. 11 UCLA. New Mexico, New Mexico State, San Diego State, Southern Utah and Cal State-Bakersfield are also competing. [Read article]

The No. 22 UA gymnastics team will hit the road for the second consecutive week tonight as they travel to Berkeley to take on California.

"I always look forward to road meets," said sophomore Aubrey Taylor. "I love to travel."

Arizona (8-4, 1-1 Pacific 10 Conference) is coming off a second-place finish in a four-team meet in Seattle Jan. 28. The Gymcats placed behind No. 21 Washington.

"Each meet (the team) has gotten progressively better," said Arizona assistant coach Colleen Johnson. [Read article]