LAS VEGAS – With two wins over Colorado and UCLA already earned, the Arizona Wildcats will look for their third win in three days in the championship game of the 2018 Pac-12 Tournament. UA will face the USC Trojans on Saturday night in its bid to repeat as Pac-12 Tournament champions.

No. 15/17 Arizona vs. USC
Friday, March 10 at 8:00 p.m. (MST)
TV: FS1 (Joe Davis & Steve Lavin)
Radio: Arizona IMG Radio Network (Brian Jeffries & Ryan Hansen)
Twitter: @APlayersProgram
#BearDown
 
Arizona heads to the championship game of the Pac-12 Tournament for a second consecutive season following a 78-67 overtime victory over UCLA in the semifinals. The UA defense held the Bruins scoreless in the overtime period. Freshman Deandre Ayton finished the game with 32 points and 14 rebounds on an ultra-efficient 13-of-16 shooting from the field. He tied Sean Elliott for the second most points by an Arizona player in Pac-12 tournament play and was five points shy of the Wildcat single game record of 37 points. Ayton did become the first player in Arizona history to tally a 30-point, 10-rebound game in a conference tournament game.

UA has not faced USC in the conference tournament since defeating the Trojans in the semifinals of the 2011 Pac-10 Tournament. Arizona has won all four head-to-head meetings between the two programs in the history of the Pac-12 and Pac-10 tournaments.

Dusan Ristic tallied his first-ever conference tournament double-double with his 16 points and 11 rebounds in his team's win over Colorado in the quarterfinals before grabbing 10 rebounds in the victory against UCLA in the semifinals on Friday. The senior's back-to-back games of ten or more rebounds are his first double-digit rebounding games in the Pac-12 Tournament following eight appearances in his three seasons prior.

After holding the Buffaloes to 67 points, five fewer than their average, the Wildcats also held UCLA to 67 points, which was 15 points below their season average.

Arizona leads the conference in Pac-12 Tournament championships with six, leading UCLA and Oregon who each have four. Saturday is the program's 11^th appearance in the conference tournament championship game, which also leads the Pac-12. The Cats are 6-4 in Pac-12 tournament title games entering Saturday.

Allonzo Trier is averaging 19.5 points per game while shooting 54.2 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from deep in four career appearances versus USC. The 19.5 scoring against the Trojans is the junior's second-highest average against a Pac-12 foe, trailing only his 20.2 points per game versus Arizona State.

Senior Parker Jackson-Cartwright scored 11 points in Friday's win, connecting on three of five from beyond the arc, for his first double-digit scoring effort in a Pac-12 Tournament game. The point guard had played nine games in the Conference of Champions tournament prior to the UCLA game.

Sophomore Rawle Alkins tallied one of his six 20-point outings of his career the last time Arizona played USC. Alkins scored 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting (.583) from the field, including a career high of four made three-point field goals, in UA's 81-67 victory in Tucson on Feb. 10, 2018.