The Pac-10’s automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament is on the line on Saturday as Washington and Arizona face-off in the Pac-10 Tournament Championship. Both teams took care of business on Friday night, with Arizona sliding by USC and Washington putting away Oregon down the stretch. They battle it out for the third time this season after splitting the regular season series, this time with higher stakes.
It wasn’t a big win, but the Wildcats escaped a USC team without its head coach. Kevin O’Neill didn’t make it to the semifinal matchup after an altercation on Thursday night with an Arizona booster. Derrick Williams scored 20 points for Arizona in 67-62 win in the first of two semifinals.
Washington handled rival Oregon in the nightcap, cruising to a 69-51 win. Freshmen C.J. Wilcox and Terrence Ross led the way with 14 and 13 points, respectively. Isaiah Thomas had a double-double again on Friday night with 10 points and a game-high 12 assists.
The Huskies and Wildcats hit the court with an automatic NCAA Tournament bid on the line in the Pac-10 Championship at 3 p.m. on CBS.
First round: Wednesday, March 9
No. 9 Oregon State Beavers def. No. 8 Stanford Cardinal, 69-67
No. 7 Oregon Ducks def. No. 10 Arizona State Sun Devils, 76-69
Quarterfinals: Thursday, March 10
No. 4 USC Trojans def No. 5 California Golden Bears, 70-56
No. 1 Arizona Wildcats def No. 9 Oregon State, 78-69
No. 7 Oregon Ducks def. No. 2 UCLA Bruins, 76-59
No. 3 Washington Huskies def. No. 6 Washington State Cougars, 89-87
Semifinals: Friday, March 11
Arizona def. USC,67-62
Washington def. Oregon, 69-51
Finals: Saturday, March 12
Semifinal winners, 3 p.m., CBS
For more on the tournament, including the latest news and bracket updates, check out the rest of our 2011 Pac-10 tournament StoryStream