Arizona defeats USC

Arizona defeated USC 83-76 Thursday night to move into fifth place in the Pac-10, with the season winding down.

Nic Wise hit a three with 45 seconds left to give Arizona the lead for good. He led all scorers with 27 points and played what was most likely the best game of his life.

He seems to be improving each game and only turned the ball over three times, despite being guarded by a player that is much taller than him.

In addition to Wise, Chase Budinger continued his tear. He finished with 25 points and, like Wise, only missed three shots.

The success of Arizona is pretty simple right now. Two 20-point games and solid support and the UA is in major business. In fact, the Wildcats should have probably won by more, but looked as if they got complacent at times.

Defensively, the UA did not do great. However, it did enough to win and seemed to make the big stop when it counted. Taj Gibson was held to nine points and while three others scored 20 or more, that was pretty much it for the Trojans.

Arizona will now go for the home sweep against UCLA, where the general thought is that a win makes the Wildcats a lock for the tournament figuring there is no meltdown.