FAYETTEVILLE -- The Sweet 16 will have four-seed Arkansas taking on top-seed Arizona at 8:45 Thursday night in San Jose, Calif., and televised on CBS.
Arizona took care of Utah State 78-66 Sunday night. The Wildcats placed four players in double figures. Jaden Bradley led the team with 18 points, Brayden Burries chipped in 16 points, Koa Peat had 14 points and 10 rebounds while Motiejus Krivas finished with 11 points, 14 boards and three blocked shots.
The Wildcats have two players projected to be lottery picks in guard Burries, 6-4, 205, and Peat, 6-8, 235. They have good size in the middle with Krivas, 7-2, 250. For the season, Krivas is averaging 10.4 points, 8.2 boards and 1.9 blocks per game. Arizona Coach Tommy Lloyd praised Krivas following last night's win for his ability to alter shots.
"It's massive," Lloyd said. "He's been a game-changer for us defensively. I know a lot of the analytic gurus out there have studied it probably more than I have. I just know I feel good when he's on the court. He's got great instincts. M-O stands for mobility at 7'2". And he does a great job contesting shots up high.
"And he does a great job getting those short little rebounds that come around the basket. Those are really hard to get when you're up vertical contesting and contesting a shot, to be able to to have good enough hands to get those rebounds.
"I need his jump hook to start going in a little bit more, so we'll talk about that this week because I know he can be a force and really control these games at both ends of the floor."
If that isn't enough, they have Tobe Awaka, 6-8, 255, coming off the bench. He's leading the Wildcats in rebounding with 9.3 per game. Bradley, 6-3, 200, runs the point for the Wildcats. He's averaging 13.3 points, 3.5 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.5 steals per outing.
Burries leads the Wildcats in scoring with 16.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 assists each game. He also is shooting 39.2% from deep. Peat is next on the scoring chart with 13.7 points per game, 5.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists.
Arizona knocked off Long Island University 92-58 in the first round of the tournament. The two lone losses this season for Arizona were back-to-back in February. The Wildcats fell to Kansas 82-78 and Texas Tech 78-75 in overtime.
Arkansas (28-80 will obviously challenge the Wildcats with their freshmen backcourt of Darius Acuff Jr. and Meleek Thomas. The Razorbacks defeated High Point 94-88 on Saturday night after eliminating Hawai'i 97-78 in the opening round. Acuff became the single-season leader in points and assists at Arkansas in this tournament.
Acuff finished with 36 points and six assists in the win over High Point. With the score tied at 83 with 3:55 remaining Acuff went on a 7-0 run to put the game away. In the win over Hawai'i Acuff had 24 points and seven assists. Thomas scored 21 in the opener and then 19 against High Point. John Calipari praised both following the win.
"We hung around and then just so you know, we play it through Darius and he just makes plays," Calipari said. "He's done it all season.
"And then Meleek Thomas makes that three, which busted the game. They both have confidence, no matter what I say to them, I get on 'em they're like, man, you're nuts. They have confidence in who they are and what they are. Sometimes I'm trying to get 'em to play a little different, but the reality of it is these two, they're special, both of 'em."
Acuff has been compared to Portland great Damian Lillard and that came up following win Saturday due to his clutch shooting.
"Yeah, on the first part it's just how I was raised," Acuff said. "Always wanted to be the big moment. Always just thinking win. Like whatever I got to do to win that's what I'm going to do.
"Yeah I'm very familiar with Dame. I watch him a lot for sure. But in them last couple minutes I'm just thinking about the team, just getting the win."
