Oregon, Arizona to meet for Pac-12 tournament title

When mid-March rolls around, whoever makes the travel arrangements for Oregon’s men’s basketball team knows to keep hotel rooms booked for the Ducks in Las Vegas through Sunday.

The Ducks have become accustomed to playing for the Pacific 12 Conference tournament title on Saturday.

Since the Pac-12 moved to the Strip in 2013, Oregon has been in the title game four of the five years.

Top-seeded Oregon ousted No. 5 California 73-65 Friday in the Pac-12 semifinals before a sellout crowd of 19,224 at T-Mobile Arena. The Ducks will face Arizona at 8 p.m. Saturday for the championship. The Wildcats eliminated UCLA 86-75.

The Pac-12 winner could find itself a No. 1 seed in the West when the NCAA Tournament reveals its selections for the 68-team field Sunday.

“We have four or five guys on this team that this will be their third championship game,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said. “I think that will help us. Moving to the (NCAA) tournament, that experience, I hope pays dividends.

“Location is important. We played Wisconsin in Milwaukee. That wasn’t much fun. So some of those things do matter. That’s why we would like to win the conference tournament.”

Despite losing star forward Jabari Bird to a concussion after Bird took a hard fall in the second minute, the Golden Bears (21-12) led most of the first half, though they trailed 36-33 at halftime. And while Cal fell behind by 13 midway through the second half, the Golden Bears battled back, as Grant Mullins had a hot hand from outside. Mullins made all five of his 3-point tries and finished with 23 points.

But despite not hitting on all cylinders, the Ducks ultimately had too much firepower and secured their place in the title game.

Tyler Dorsey, who led his team with 23 points, said: “Everybody had to pick it up. My teammates were finding me in great positions, and I just stepped into the shots.”

Oregon also got a lift from Dylan Ennis, who overcame early foul trouble to finish with 16 points, including a big three-point play with 22 seconds to go after Cal had pulled within 67-65.

Junior Dillon Brooks struggled all night with foul trouble and poor shooting. The former Findlay prep star played just 21 minutes and finished with 10 points on 3-for-12 shooting, 1 of 9 in the first half.

Brooks also had an impact on the final score. Oregon was an 8- to 9-point favorite, and when Brooks missed a free throw with two seconds to go, the Ducks’ lead stayed at eight.

But Altman and his players weren’t concerned with point spreads. They were looking to get back to their hotel rooms, get off their feet and get some rest for Arizona.

“We have a recovery process we go through,” Altman said. “They have to get in the ice tub. That’s something Jordan (Bell) and Tyler really like. We’ll get to bed early and have them ready to go at 8 o’clock (Saturday).”

Arizona 86, UCLA 75 — The second-seeded Wildcats (29-4) built on their 41-35 halftime lead, going up by as many as 15 with 13:22 to play.

The third-seeded Bruins fell to 29-4.

Contact Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow @stevecarprj on Twitter.