The shortest month of the year is at its end, and right around the corner is the most exciting one on the college basketball calendar.
No. 22 Arizona (19-9, 13-4) heads into March in second place in the Big 12, on the cusp of locking up a double bye in the conference tournament and in line to earn a good seed for the NCAA tourney. But there are still several hurdles in front of the Wildcats, the first of which comes Saturday night when they visit No. 9 Iowa State.
The Cyclones (21-7, 11-6) were oh so close to knocking off the UA in Tucson last month until Caleb Love drained a 60-foot shot at the end of regulation and that momentum carried over into OT in the form of an 86-75 Wildcats victory. Now comes the return game, Arizona’s first trip to Ames since 1983.
“We expect nothing less than a dogfight,” freshman Carter Bryant said Wednesday night after the UA’s 83-66 home win over Utah.
This will be Arizona’s ninth game this season against a ranked opponent, most since facing 10 in the 2008-09 season, but that included two in the NCAA Tournament. The nine regular-season ranked matchups is most since 2006-07 and this will be the seventh ranked conference opponent, most since 2006-07.
Here’s what to watch for when Arizona and Iowa State battle on Saturday night:
Spinning Cyclones
When Iowa State came to McKale Center on Jan. 27 it was 17-2 overall, 7-1 in the Big 12 and No. 3 in the AP poll. Then Love hit had miraculous shot to force overtime and it’s been mostly downhill for the Cyclones, who are 4-4 since that loss.
Losses at Kansas and Big 12 regular season champ Houston are completely understandable, especially when the latter came without two starters. But Iowa State also lost by 19 at home to Kansas State, when K-State was playing well, and most recently it lost at Oklahoma State.
Senior guard Keshon Gilbert missed the last two games with an injury but has returned to practice and is expected to be available for Arizona. The Cyclones will also have 6-foot-8 sophomore Milan Momcilovic, who missed the first meeting with the UA because of injury, and he’s their top 3-point shooter at 39.6 percent.
Iowa State has the third-best defense in Big 12 play but three of the four losses since playing Arizona have seen it allow more than 1.1 point per possession.
Hilton magic?
Hilton Coliseum, which opened in 1971, holds about the same number of fans as McKale Center. And like McKale, it has proven to be a very difficult place to play.
The Cyclones have won more than 75 percent of their games at Hilton, going 14-1 this season. They had a 29-game homecourt win streak snapped by K-State on Feb. 1, the game they played immediately after losing at Arizona, and have won 11 in a row at home against ranked opponents.
“We’re excited to go see what this deal is all about,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said. “Obviously, we’ve heard a lot about it, and I’m sure it’s going to be awesome, and I’ll guarantee you their fans have something waiting for us. Probably more than just Caleb, and that’s awesome. We’re here for it.”
Asked if he expects Love to get the brunt of the rancor from Iowa State fans, Lloyd said he probably won’t even notice
“You know how much that kids’s been booed in his life?,” Lloyd said. “So it’s probably business as usual. I think he’s been through the battles and the wars so I would expect him to show up and be unaffected. That better be what happens.”
Big 12 Tournament implications
Houston has locked up the No. 1 seed for the Big 12 tourney, which is March 11-15 in Kansas City, and Colorado would have to win out to have a chance to not be No. 16. Everything else is pretty much up in the air with three games to go.
Arizona can finish no worse than a tie for 5th place and is guaranteed a top-4 finish with a win at Iowa State. A loss to the Cyclones would leave the door open for BYU (11-6) and Kansas (10-7) to pass the Wildcats, who visit Kansas on March 8 to end the regular season.
Third-place Texas Tech (12-5) holds the tiebreaker over Arizona because of its win over Houston, while ties with BYU and Iowa State would get more complicated.
If the UA finishes in the top 4 it would have a bye until the Big 12 quarterfinals, while being 5th or 6th would mean starting a day early and needing to win four games in four days to claim the league’s automatic NCAA tourney bid.