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The Daily Wildcat

The Daily Wildcat

 

Preview: Arizona set to rematch Boucher-less Oregon for Pac-12 Championship

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Simon Asher

Arizona’s Allonzo Trier (35) pumps up the crowd during the Pac-12 quarterfinals against the Colorado Buffaloes on Thursday, March 9.






LAS VEGAS — The No. 7 Arizona Wildcats will play in their third Pac-12 Tournament championship game in the last four seasons and will look to avenge the 27-point loss they suffered in February against the No. 5 Oregon Ducks.

Both teams were crowned co-champions of the Pac-12 regular season and Saturday’s grand finale at the T-Mobile Arena will clear the smoke as to which team truly is atop of the conference.

The Ducks enter the contest as a two-point favorite, but reserve center Chris Boucher was just announced out for the season with a torn ACL. This was confirmed by Oregon Athletics just over an hour before tipoff.

Oregon was a two-point favorite before Boucher’s injury and according to Vegas Insider the line moved to -1.5 immediately after the injury. Boucher was the starting center for the Ducks last season and played a role in their Elite Eight run a year ago as a rim protector and an athletic big who could catch alley-oop dunks. This season he was coming off the bench behind Jordan Bell averaging 11.8 points and 2.5 blocks per game.

Regardless, Arizona comes in after knocking off No. 3 UCLA by double-digits and has its full rotation healthy, while the Ducks are down one just before the NCAA Tournament.

The matchup tonight might indicate whether the Wildcats are going to either the West region in Sacramento or the Midwest bracket in Salt Lake City. 

Grab your popcorn, buckle up and get ready for round two of Oregon and Arizona.

Tipoff for the Pac-12 Championship at the T-Mobile Arena is set for 8 p.m. PT. 

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