The second semifinal of the Wooden Legacy features two undefeated teams going at it but it almost wasn't that way. Arizona barely held on against Santa Clara on Thursday night to advance in overtime and now they will have a tougher test against Providence in the semifinals of the DirecTV Wooden Legacy. Arizona comes in 5-0 and ranked 11th in the nation while Providence comes in 5-0 but unranked.
Arizona coasted in their first four games this season but those were all at home. In their first game away from home, albeit at a neutral site, Arizona almost lost a shocker as it took overtime to beat a winless Santa Clara team.
Providence will certainly provide another challenge for the Wildcats and they may have to try and beat them without seven foot center Kaleb Tarczewski. Tarczewski has been dealing with ankle injuries all season and head coach Sean Miller said he re-injured one of them on Thursday so his availability is a question mark. So far this season the center is averaging 8.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.
The Wildcats offense this season has been running through Gabe York as he leads the team with 15 points per game. York struggled mightily against Santa Clara, which was a big reason the team struggled, as he had just four points on 1-12 shooting in regulation but he scored seven in overtime to help pull out the victory.
Senior forward Ryan Anderson is also a player to watch for the Wildcats as he is currently averaging a double-double with 14.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game.
Providence had a scare of their own earlier this year when they barely pulled out a win against Illinois at home but they beat Evansville handily in Thursday's quarterfinal game.
When you talk about the Friars the first name that needs to be mentioned is Kris Dunn. Dunn hasn't shot the ball well yet this season but he has done a whole lot of other things well as he leads the team in points per game (18.6), assists (6.4) and steals (4.8) while adding 7.4 rebounds a game. Dunn is a next level talent and one of the best players in the nation so everytime he is on the floor he is someone who you need to keep your eye on.
Dunn isn't the only guy playing well for Providence though as they have a couple of sophomores that have started well too. Rodney Bullock and Ben Bentil are both averaging about 16 points and eight rebounds per game this season. Neither player has shot the ball well from distance yet this year, much like the whole team, but they have been productive players through the early season.
This will be the first time these schools have played each other since 1997 when Arizona defeated Providence in the regional finals en route to their only national championship. This game isn't quite as big as that one but Arizona is looking for a bounceback game and Providence is looking for an early marquee win so this one should be fun.
The game is set to tip off at 11:30 P.M. Eastern time and to watch the live broadcast go here. For the Arizona radio broadcast go here and for the Providence radio broadcast go here.
