Wild About '88: The Rise of Arizona Basketball. Chapter 9: NAU and looking ahead to No. 3 Iowa.
This season marks the 35th anniversary of one of Tucson’s most beloved teams of all time, the 1987-88 Arizona Wildcats that finished 35-3 and went to the program’s first Final Four. We will celebrate that team by recapping each game during that unforgettable season by referencing newspaper archives and interviews conducted during the making of the upcoming documentary film ‘Wild About ‘88: The Rise of Arizona Basketball.’
December 8, 1987, vs. NAU
One of the biggest games of the season was only a few days away. The No. 4 Wildcats were licking their chops to get another shot at the No. 3 Iowa Hawkeyes.
Iowa had come into McKale the previous season and left with a victory, but Arizona had another reason the Iowa game was mentally circled on the calendar before the season began.
It was going to be the first time Lute Olson would be going back to Iowa since he left five years earlier. It wasn’t a huge surprise the Arizona players may not have been thinking about the task at hand, a matchup with the NAU Lumberjacks.
Matt Muehlebach admitted after the game that Arizona might have been peering beyond the Lumberjacks while Harvey Mason, Anthony Cook, and Jud Buechler straight out confessed they were looking past NAU.
Steve Kerr didn’t see it that way.
“Maybe we took them a little lightly,” he said. “It wasn’t a case of overlooking them. It was a case of not putting forth the effort we needed.”1
So what happened?
Arizona led by as many as 19 in the first half but NAU found a way to cut the lead to 8 with 13:02 left in the game.
“That’s the first time all year we didn’t come out and dominate in the first five or six minutes of the second half,” Olson said.2
After that the Wildcats leisurely put away the Lumberjacks, winning 77-59.
“I know the topic of conversation on campus the last two days wasn’t about NAU,” Olson said.3
Sean Elliott would lead the Wildcats with 14 points and 8 rebounds.
'“It wasn’t pretty but we accomplished what we wanted to accomplish for tonight,” Olson said. “We got almost as much time for (the reserves) as we did for the starters.”4
This was good news for Tom Tolbert who was battling the flu. He and Craig McMillan only played 17 minutes a piece, giving the bench a chance to pick up some well-deserved minutes.
“We got the win. We were not happy with our performance, but now we can really look toward Saturday,” Tom Tolbert said. “We’ve got to start thinking Iowa now. I want them bad.”5
Next up: December 12 vs. the No. 4 Iowa Hawkeyes
Blog content and original interview quotations © Waterfoot Films 2022.
Jay Gonzales, “UA overcomes lethargy to defeat NAU: Wildcats set their sights on key game against Iowa,” The Arizona Daily Star, December 9 1987, Page One and Three—Section G.; Jack Rickard, “UA win provides little lift,” The Tucson Citizen, December 9 1987, Page One and Eight—Section E.; Corky Simpson, “Cats’ heads gone to Iowa,” The Tucson Citizen, December 9 1987, Page One and Eight—Section E.
Jay Gonzales, “UA overcomes lethargy to defeat NAU: Wildcats set their sights on key game against Iowa,” The Arizona Daily Star, December 9 1987, Page Three—Section G.
Jack Rickard, “UA win provides little lift,” The Tucson Citizen, December 9 1987, Page One—Section E.
Jack Rickard, “UA win provides little lift,” The Tucson Citizen, December 9 1987, Page Eight—Section E.
Jay Gonzales, “UA overcomes lethargy to defeat NAU: Wildcats set their sights on key game against Iowa,” The Arizona Daily Star, December 9 1987, Page One—Section G.
Jay Gonzales, “UA overcomes lethargy to defeat NAU: Wildcats set their sights on key game against Iowa,” The Arizona Daily Star, December 9 1987, Page Three—Section G.