Arizona @ Oregon preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 2, 2019 ) Arizona 47, Oregon 73

No. 24 Arizona, which had a six-year run of NCAA Tournament bids snapped last season, delivered a statement win to open Pac-12 play with a 75-47 victory over in-state rival Arizona State. Things get quite a bit tougher in Week 2 of conference play for Sean Miller's squad which travels to the Pacific Northwest to play the Oregon schools, starting with Thursday night's contest against the ninth-ranked Ducks.

The contests with Oregon and Sunday at Oregon State mark the Wildcats' first games outside the state of Arizona since Dec. 7 when they lost at current No. 4-ranked Baylor, 63-58. Miller believes the timing of the trip will be good for his young team. "I actually think a road trip for us at this time is a good thing," Miller said. "We've been in Tucson for quite some time. It kind of changes the scenery. We've got to play nine road games anyway, so might as well get going." Oregon opened Pac-12 play with a split of its Rocky Mountain road trip, losing 74-65 at Colorado and then bouncing back to grind out a 69-64 win at Utah.

TIME: 9 p.m. ET TV: ESPN

ABOUT ARIZONA (11-3, 1-0 Pac-12): The Wildcats were swept by Oregon last season including an ugly 73-47 loss in their home finale March 2, shooting just 19.2 percent from the field in the second half including 1-of-12 from 3-point range. However, a strong freshman class led by athletic 6-11 forward Zeke Nnaji, who leads the team in both scoring (16.6) and rebounding (8.1), and the standout backcourt of point guard Nico Mannion (14.3 points) and Josh Green (13.0), has added plenty of firepower to the Wildcats who lead the Pac-12 in scoring (83.1) and field goal percentage (49.1) and rank third in 3-point shooting percentage (37.0). Mannion, a likely one-and-done, also leads the conference in assists (6.29) and assist/turnover ratio (2.51).

ABOUT OREGON: (12-3, 1-1): Senior point guard Payton Pritchard leads the team in scoring (18.7), including a team-leading 19 in the victory over the Utes, and assists (5.9) and needs 44 more assists to pass Kenya Wilkins (614) for the school's career record. Junior guard Chris Duarte is second in scoring (12.3) while sophomore guard Will Richardson (10.4) also is averaging in double figures while shooting 54.5 percent from 3-point range, and had 14 points off the bench in the win at Utah to go along with six rebounds and five assists. "You could say it was gritty win," Richardson told goducks.com. "We had to fight them off. It tells us how hard we've got to work to get to where we want to be at."

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Arizona leads the series 51-32, but Oregon has won the last three.

2. Pritchard needs 18 rebounds and 24 assists to become the first player in Pac-12 history with 1,500 career points, 500 career rebounds and 600 career assists.

3. Pritchard, who came off the bench his first four games as a freshman, has since started an NCAA-best 124 consecutive games.

PREDICTION: Oregon 73, Arizona 67