Fate Sends Champs In Opposite Directions It’s Geometric For Utah Men, As Triangle- And-Two Befuddles Arizona In West

It was the mismatch and blowout everyone anticipated, from the team no one expected.

Defending NCAA champion Arizona, stymied by a combination of Utah’s stifling defense (Frequently a bothersom triangle-and-two) and its own horrendous 28 percent shooting, was stunned 76-51 by the third-seeded Utes in Saturday’s West Regional championship.

The Utes, rarely mentioned on the same level as the nation’s college basketball powers, handed the Wildcats their worst postseason loss ever. Kentucky beat them by 24 points in the 1946 National Invitation Tournament.

“It’s unbelievable,” sophomore Hanno Mottola said. “They’re the number-one team in the West, but not anymore.”

Andre Miller, called the second-double in outplaying the best, Arizona’s Mike Bibby. The junior from Los Angeles had 18 points and career highs of 14 rebounds and 13 assists with just three turnovers.

“We were the underdogs and we were barking,” Miller said.

The Utes (29-3) are headed to San Antonio for their first Final Four in 32 years.

“We beat them, badly,” Utah center Michael Doleac said. “We played well, we kept attacking. It doesn’t feel any better.”

The Wildcats (30-5) came in with one loss in their last 24 games, averaging an NBA-like 91.9 points. They had never scored less than 70 this season, with Bibby, Miles Simon and Michael Dickerson accounting for 58 percent of their points.

“I didn’t ever think we could lose by that many points, even to an NBA team,” said Dickerson, a senior. “I feel like I’m dreaming. I want to wake up tomorrow and go to practice.”

But Utah’s defense silenced Arizona’s big scoring guns, who were a combined 6 of 36 shooting.

The Utes did it playing a triangle-and-two defense, with two defenders at the top of the key, one in the middle and two on the baseline cutting off Arizona’s 3-point shooters, who were 4 of 22.

Bibby, the playmaker with a prowess for getting the ball into his teammates’ hands, had one assist, no 3-pointers on seven attempts and seven points. Simon and Dickerson had six points each. Sixth-man Jason Terry led Arizona with 16 points.

For the game, the Wildcats were 17 of 60, joining the 35 other teams that failed to shoot 50 percent against Utah this season.