McKale Center – Tuscon, AZ
Tip-off: Saturday, 10:00pm ET
Line: N/A

#9 Arizona goes for the season sweep of California when the Wildcats host the Golden Bears on Saturday night.

Two of the top three scoring defenses in the Pac-12 will duel on Saturday night when Arizona hosts California. The Wildcats already own a road win over the Golden Bears this season, a 67-62 (Cal -2.5) decision in the Pac-12 opener for both teams on Dec. 30. The Wildcats return home where they are undefeated this season (13-0, 6-7 ATS), and will face a Golden Bears team that is 3-2 (3-2 ATS) on the road. California comes off an impressive road win Thursday night in Tempe (68-43, Cal -4) over the Wildcats’ rivals to north, Arizona State. The win served as Coach Cuonzo Martin’s fifth in a row (two of those on the road). After reeling off 15 straight wins and enjoying the return of sophomore G Allonzo Trier from an NCAA-imposed suspension, Arizona fell hard at Oregon on Saturday night (85-58, Ari +4) in the biggest game of the Pac-12 conference schedule to date. The Wildcats were able to bounce back for a home victory on Thursday night against Stanford (74-67, Ari -13.5) but looked sluggish in pulling out a closer-than-expected victory. Coach Sean Miller’s Wildcats are just 1-4 ATS in their last five games (0-3 ATS at home). Arizona’s win in December at California saw the Wildcats starters score 62 of their 67 points. California coughed up an early 13-point first half lead (6 points at halftime) as Arizona raced past them in the second half. The Wildcats have taken six of the last seven meetings against the Golden Bears (5-2 ATS) dating back to Feb. 2014, and have also been favorites the last nine times these two teams have met. Worth noting that the total between the Wildcats and Golden Bears has alternated between Over and Under in the last nine games (the Dec. 30 meeting with a total of 128 was barely Over).

The Golden Bears may not be nationally ranked, but they’ve got the ingredients to be a scary team in March. Their impressive performance Thursday night on the road, albeit to a struggling Arizona State team, should raise some eyebrows. California’s only losses since Dec. 21 have been to top 15 teams, and all it should take is one marquee win to boost the Golden Bears into top 25 consideration. California boasts the best defense in the Pac-12 (62.3 PPG, 12th in NCAA), and that defense was on full display in embarrassing the Sun Devils to just 43 points on Thursday (25.4% FG, 12% 3PT) while outrebounding Arizona State by 19. California has held their last four opponents all under 42% FG and 33% 3PT. Thirteenth nationally (2nd in Pac-12) in rebounding margin at +7.8, the Golden Bears will look to impose their will on the glass against one of only two teams to outrebound them this season (Arizona grabbed 40 rebounds to California’s 35 in the Dec. 30 loss). The foundation for everything California does starts with talented 6’10” sophomore Ivan Rabb (15.2 PPG, 10.9 RPG). Rabb, owner of four straight double-doubles, had 16 points and 16 rebounds in the first meeting with Arizona and also notched a 15-point, 13-rebound outing as a freshman in the McKale Center last season. While Coach Martin trusts his big man to play through foul trouble (33.1 MPG, 3.3 FPG), the Golden Bears are much more effective with an aggressive Rabb on the floor. California is 10-2 when Rabb commits three fouls or less this season. California’s mediocre offense (70.2 PPG, 236th in NCAA) becomes disjoined without it’s all-league threat, relying on inconsistent perimeter play from the likes of G Jabari Bird (14.2 PPG, 4.9 RPG) and G Charlie Moore (14.0 PPG, 3.8 APG). This will be the eighth and final time the senior, Bird, faces the Wildcats, and he scored 16 points (a personal high versus Arizona) in December’s home loss.

Arizona had everything going for them with the return of preseason all-Pac-12 guard Trier (15.5 PPG, 4.8 RPG) from NCAA sanctions stemming from PED usage. The Wildcats defeated UCLA on the road in Trier’s first game back and had won 15 in a row, climbing to #5 nationally. Then the game in Eugene happened on Saturday night, with now-#5 Oregon dominating the Wildcats, 85-58. Arizona dropped to #9 in the polls and played uninspired basketball, squeaking by a bad Stanford team (that they’d beaten on the road by 39 points just a month prior). Saturday’s game against a California team that may be peaking will be a solid test to see if Arizona is truly a national title contender, or if the win at UCLA may be the height of the Wildcats’ success in 2017. Arizona has let visiting teams hang around in the McKale Center, covering just two of their last five games at home, and this very young roster may be hitting a wall. While Trier definitely has fresh legs (as he showed in a season-best 22-point, seven-rebound performance against Stanford), a rotation that relies heavily on three freshmen seems to have hit on some heavy legs. Seven-foot sensation Lauri Markkanen (15.6 PPG, 7.3 RPG) is averaging just 6.6 PPG over his last three games (4-for-20 FG; 3-for-13 3PT), although he did hit the biggest shot in Thursdays win over the Cardinal (a go-ahead three with 1:40 to go). Freshman G Kobi Simmons (11.2 PPG) has also tailed off recently (sharing Markkanen’s 6.6 PPG average over his past three), highlighted by a 1-of-8 FG showing at Oregon. Simmons has lost his starting spot back to Trier, but will be needed as the leading offensive option off of Arizona’s bench. Classmate Rawle Alkins (11.8 PPG, 5.3 RPG) had initially struggled the most to assimilate his game to Trier’s, but has since rebounded for two solid performances (a game-high 16 points at Oregon, 12 points in 19 minutes versus Stanford). Junior C Dusan Ristic (11.5 PPG, 6.2 RPG) will probably be called on as the primary defender against California’s Rabb. Ristic had a team-high 16 points on 8-for-10 FG in the first meeting between these two clubs but hasn’t scored more than 13 points in any of his last seven games. Even with the offensive talent back to fully stocked on Coach Miller’s squad, this game will be decided by defense, played between two elite defensive programs who focus on rebounding and half-court stops. Arizona held California to just 36.8% FG in the Dec. 30 win.