Pac-12 Tournament: Arizona Tops UCLA in Riveting Title Game

Will either get a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament?  Will Arizona State make the NCAA tournament field? Is USC safely in?

Courtney Ramey was 0-for-4 from the field and scoreless before he hit a three-pointer with 16.7 seconds left to provide the winning points in Arizona's 61-59 victory over UCLA in the Pac-12 tournament championship game on Saturday night in Las Vegas.

It starts the debate about whether Arizona or UCLA could get a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, which is just one of several issues that will make for an interesting Sunday for Pac-12 teams as they watch the NCAA tournament selection show (3 p.m. Pacific time). What about Arizona State's chances? Is USC safe?

But more on that later. The immediate news was the engaging, tense Pac-12 title game.

UCLA (29-5) was without two starters on Saturday: Jaylen Clark, the Pac-12 defensive player of the year and the Bruins’ second-leading scorer, and Adem Bona, the Pac-12 freshman of the year. The 6-foot-10 Bona (left shoulder injury) is expected to return for the NCAA tournament, but Clark reportedly is done for the season with a lower-leg injury.

But the Bruins, who were riding a 12-game winning streak, led by nine points with 14:18 left in the game. 

Arizona rallied and Ramey made his three-pointer to put the Wildcats (28-6) ahead by two points with 16.7 seconds left. (Ramey could have been called for an offensive foul on the play, but he wasn't.)

However, the Bruins still had chances to tie or win.

Tyger Campbell, who finished with 16 points, went to the foul line for two shots with 6.8 seconds remaining with a chance to tie.  Campbell, who entered the game as the Pac-12's leading foul shooter at 84.9%, made the first free throw to get within one point, but he missed the second.

Arizona's Azuolas Tubelis then made the first of two free throws with 5.8 seconds to go to push the Wildcats' lead to two points, but he missed the second. UCLA got the ball upcourt quickly, and freshman Dylan Andrews, a 27.3% three-point shooter who was 2-for-3 from distance to that point on Saturday, got a good look from beyond the arc on the left side, but the shot bounced off the rim as the buzzer sounded.

Tubelis finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds, but 16 of his points came in the first half.  He was unable to take full advantage of Bona's absence or the fact that both of UCLA's backup big men -- Mac Etienne and Kenneth Nwuba -- fouled out. Etienne left with 12:03 left and Nwuba got his fifth foul with 4:27 to go.

UCLA freshman Amari Bailey finished with 19 points, and Pac-12 player of the year Jaime Jaquez finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds despite missing his first five shots.

So where does that leave eighth-ranked Arizona and second-ranked UCLA when it comes to the battle for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.  We take a look at the Saturday morning projections for the field by four respected experts: Joe Lunardi of ESPN, Jerry Palm of CBS Sports, Mike DeCourcy for Fox Sports and Bracketville.

Three of them had UCLA as a No. 2 seed before Saturday's action and one projected a No. 1 seed for the Bruins. Three of them placed a No. 2 seed on Arizona and one gave the Wildcats a No. 3 seed. So they are at least in the discussion for a top seed, especially if the selection committee considers the significance of Bona's likely return for the NCAA tournament.

Three of the four other teams bidding for No. 1 seeds won their games Saturday, as Purdue, Houston and Alabama were victorious, but all three must play again in conference title games on Sunday. The fourth presumptive No. 1 seed, Kansas, got blown out by Texas on Saturday. The Jayhawks might land a No. 1 seed anyway, and Texas is now in the discussion for a top seed.

In his appearance on ESPN after the Pac-12 title game, Lunardi said Houston, Kansas, Purdue and Alabama are his No. 1 seeds at the moment.

The bottom line is that UCLA and Arizona are both likely to wind up with No. 2 seeds, although events on Sunday conceivably could change that. But either UCLA or Arizona may be assigned to nearby sites.  There are first- and second-round games in Sacramento, and the West Regional is in Las Vegas at the same T-Mobile Arena that hosted the Pac-12 tournament.

And what about Arizona State, USC and Oregon?

The Sun Devils are sitting precariously right on the borderline of getting into the NCAA tournament.  Three of our four bracketologists have the Sun Devils as one of the last four teams in the Big Dance while one has them out of the event.

Arizona State may have benefited from the fact that two other bubble teams – Utah State and Vanderbilt – lost their games Saturday, although Utah State still might steal an at-large spot from the Sun Devils. A bigger factor is that there were no surprise winners in conference tournaments that would have pushed bubble at-large teams out of the NCAA field. Penn State has a chance win to the Big Ten tournament as a No. 10 seed, but the Nittany Lions probably will earn an NCAA tournament bid even if they lose to Purdue on Sunday.

Oregon is placed in the "Next Four Out" category by all four experts, which means they are on the outside fringe of the bubble. The Ducks are unlikely to make the NCAA tournament field, but stranger things have happened, and they will be watching the selection show with interest.

USC, meanwhile, is likely to get an NCAA berth, but the Trojans should be sweating a bit. Two of our four bracket experts list USC as a No. 11 seed, which means the Trojans are barely in the field and may have to play a play-in game if they make it.

In any case, the cream of the Pac-12 are UCLA and Arizona, who has split their two regular-season games and produced a riveting title game.

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Cover photo of Mick Cronin by Stephen R. Sylvanie, USA TODAY Sports

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.