Nic Wise has led the Wildcats in scoring over the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
The Arizona Wildcats (21-13, 9-9 Pac-10) play into the second weekend and make a visit to Indianapolis to open play in the Midwest Regional against No. 1 seed Louisville (30-5, 16-2 Big East) in Friday's first semifinal at Lucas Oil Stadium. This is the UA's 25th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance – 28th overall – and the program has a 43-26 (.623) record in its previous NCAA Tournament action.
This year marks the Wildcats' second NCAA Tournament appearance in Indianapolis, as the club won the 1997 national championship in "Circle City."
Arizona scored the first seven points of the game and never looked back in Sunday's 71-57 win over Cleveland State in the NCAA Midwest Region second round game in Miami. Nic Wise continued his stellar play with 21 points, five rebounds and eight assists to lead the UA to its first Sweet 16 appearance since 2005.
Arizona held Cleveland State to just 37.3 percent shooting for the game, including 29.6 percent in the first half, outrebounded the Vikings 33-30 and posted a 24-10 advantage from the free-throw line in a game in which it never trailed.
The Cardinals enter Friday's game with a 30-5 record following Sunday's 79-72 win over Siena in Dayton. As a team, Louisville shoots 45.5 percent from the field (945 of 2,076), including 36.4 percent (285 of 782) from 3-point range, while averaging 74.1 points per game. Opponents shoot at a 39.4 percent clip and are averaging 61.7 points per game. Three Cardinal players average in double figures, led by Earl Clark's 13.9 ppg figure. Clark leads the team with 8.8 rebounds per game average.
Friday night's game is the fifth meeting of the two schools with the series knotted at two wins apiece. Arizona captured the last two meetings in the series.
Arizona has an all-time record of 30-23 (.566) against teams that currently reside in the Big East Conference.
Arizona's first NCAA Tournament appearance as a No. 12 seed has turned out to be a good one, as it advanced to the Midwest Regional semifinal and is the lowest seed remaining in the event. It is the lowest seed for the program since seeding was introduced to the tournament in 1985.
This is Arizona's 25th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, which is the longest active streak and second longest tournament appearance streak in NCAA history. The streak trails only North Carolina, which made 27 straight appearances from 1975-2001.
Since seeding was introduced in 1985, Arizona has a 6-5 record against No. 1 seeds. Interestingly, the Wildcats have more wins against the top seed than it does against any other seed in the tournament. Those six wins are more than it has against seeds 2-4 combined (five). The last time the UA faced a No. 1 seed was March 19, 2006, in an 82-78 loss to Villanova in the Minneapolis Region's second round.
When looking at Arizona's tournament history, it hasn't played as a seeded underdog too often. Since 1985, the Wildcats have played a total of 64 NCAA Tournament games, and only 19 of those had Arizona as the lower seed. The UA has an 8-11 (.421) record in those contests. Friday's game is the widest gap in seeds (1 vs. 12) with Arizona as the lower seeded team in the UA's tournament history.
Arizona captured its 20th and 21st wins of the season last weekend in Miami to post the 31st 20-win season in school history and the 21st in the last 22 seasons. Only last year's club, who posted a 19-15 record, failed to win 20 games in that span. Since the start of the 1984-85 season, Arizona has averaged 24.8 wins per season. The program has also won 41 NCAA Tournament games in the last quarter century.
Look no further than Arizona's "Big Three" of Chase Budinger, Jordan Hill and Wise for offensive productivity, as the trio has tallied 1,749 of the Wildcats' 2,465 points scored in 2008-09. That's 71 percent of the offense. Combined, those three have finished in double figures 88 of a possible 101 games this year. UA is 8-0 this season when each of the Big Three score 15 or more points.
Wise certainly enjoyed the first two rounds of NCAA Tournament play, as the 5-foot-10 junior averaged 25.0 points and 5.0 assists per game, while shooting 57.7 percent (15 of 26) form the field and knocking down all 17 free throws.
The junior campaign has been a good one for Chase Budinger. He has career-best averages of 17.9 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. In addition to shooting .476 from the field and .401 from 3-point range, the 6-foot-7 forward from Encinitas, Calif., leads the team with 65 treys and has registered career highs in points (608), rebounds (215), assists (115), blocks (15) and steals (50). Over the last 15 games, Budinger has played 587 of a possible 605 minutes (97 percent). He currently ranks 11th on Arizona's career scoring list with 1,675 points and will play in his 100th career game Friday.
Hill, a forward, enters the regional semifinal just four rebounds shy of moving into sole possession of 10th place on Arizona's career rebounds list. With per-game averages of 18.4 points and 11.0 rebounds, the 6-foot-10 junior is on pace to become the first Arizona player since 1978-79 to average in double figures in both points and rebounds in the same season.
Arizona clamped down a bit last weekend, limiting Utah and Cleveland State to a combined 39.8 field goal percentage (49 of 123). Nine times this season opponents have failed to shoot at least 40 percent from the field. Additionally, Arizona averaged 10.5 steals per game in Miami, more than four steals per game better than its overall season average. In the NCAA Tournament, Kyle Fogg (7) and Chase Budinger (5) have nearly as many steals as UA opponents (14).
One doesn't always expect such things from a 12 seed, but Arizona was certainly in control of things in its first two NCAA Tournament affairs. In those two games, Arizona trailed for a total of 32 seconds to Utah and Cleveland State, and had double-digit leads before the 10-minute mark of the opening half.
A win would move Arizona into Sunday's Midwest Regional final against the Kansas-Michigan State winner.