BERKELEY, CALIF. – The sped up pace of life on the road gets a change this week for the Arizona Wildcats. UA opens its first of two Wednesday-Saturday road trips this season with a Wednesday night match-up at California on Pac-12 Networks.

No. 14/17 Arizona at California
Wednesday, Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. (MST)
TV: Pac-12 Network (J.B. Long & Mary Murphy)
Radio: Arizona IMG Radio Network (Brian Jeffries & Jeff Dean)
Twitter: @APlayersProgram
#BearDown
 
Arizona heads for the Bay Area after securing a home sweep of the Oregon schools last week. The pair of wins was bookended by Arizona's 90-83 win over Oregon on Saturday. Allonzo Trier led all players with 25 points while connecting on all 11 of his free throw attempts. Trier's strong showing at the charity stripe fueled a monster night for the Wildcats who shot 34 of 37 (.919) as a team at the line.

How good was UA's 34-of-37 shooting versus the Ducks? Arizona had not shot 90 percent or better at the free throw line in a game with 35 attempts or more since converting 38 of 40 attempts (.950) against Washington on Jan. 27, 2005 (454 games).

Freshman Deandre Ayton enters the week averaging 20.2 points and 11.3 rebounds per game while shooting 63.0 percent from the field. Ayton is one of only three players in the nation to average at least 20 points and 10 rebounds per game while shooting 60.0 percent or greater with Duke's Marvin Bagley III and Saint Mary's Jock Landale being the only other two players in college basketball achieving the feat.

Arizona won its game at California last season in a 67-62 decision on New Year's Eve. The program has a record of 4-3 in Berkeley under head coach Sean Miller with five of those seven games decided by five or fewer points.

The Wildcats are the Pac-12's best free throw shooting team in conference play, shooting 85.3 percent as a team. Entering the week, Arizona's 85.3 free throw percentage in Pac-12 play was fourth in the nation. South Dakota State (Summit League) at 88.4 percent, Eastern Washington (Big Sky) at 88.2 percent and Dartmouth (Ivy League) at 85.7 percent are the only schools with a better conference-only free throw percentage in the country.

Parker Jackson-Cartwright has posted high assist-to-turnover numbers throughout his career, but the senior has upped his numbers since the start of conference play this season. Jackson-Cartwright finished non-conference play with 61 assists to 21 turnovers, good for a 2.90 assist-to-turnover ratio. PJC has upped his number to start Pac-12 play with a 4.67 ratio (28 assists and six turnovers).
Rawle Alkins return to the Wildcats has seen increased defensive play. Alkins had 33 steals in 37 games as a freshman, good for a 0.89 steals per game average. He has recorded at least one steal in all nine of his games this season and tallied 15 steals in those nine games for a 1.67 steals per game average.

UA has a road record of 17-11 (.607) in Pac-12 road games in the state of California in the Sean Miller era of 2009 to present.