By the time the tipoff of their NCAA West Regional semifinal rolled around Thursday night at Arrowhead Pond, Arizona and Maryland had engaged in so much “anything-they-can-do-we-can-do-better” posturing, the game itself figured to be a pretty heated affair.
It was. But in the first half, Arizona generated most of the heat, pulling out to a 42-33 lead behind 18 points from senior guard Mike Bibby.
Given its sloppy play (11 turnovers) and poor three-point shooting (5 for 16), Maryland was fortunate to be behind by only nine. Coach Gary Williams, however, had said his Terrapins wouldn’t be afraid to run with the Wildcats. He had said he hoped Arizona would have problems with Maryland as well. For the first 20 minutes, he was right on both counts as Laron Profit led the way for Maryland with 11 points and eight rebounds.
Maryland guard Matt Kovarik had said of playing Arizona: “We are a very confident team. We respect everybody; we fear no one.”
Arizona guard Miles Simon: “You hear that (the Atlantic Coast Conference is strong) talk all the time. Two years in a row the Pac-10 has had four teams in the Sweet 16. How many has the ACC had? They (Maryland) talk about playing the best teams. They haven’t played us yet. We feel we have the best team in the country.”
The defending national champion Wildcats had yet to be tested in the NCAA tournament, ripping Nicholls State 99-60 and clobbering Illinois State 82-49.
Arizona had gone 22-1 since late December, including beating Sweet 16 Pac-10 foes UCLA, Stanford and Washington by an average of 19.3 points.
Arizona coach Lute Olson: “Our guys have said this to the local press: Anything less than winning a second national championship would be a big disappointment.”
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Because of the late start of the Arizona-Maryland game, final results were not available until later editions.
