Jared Cohen
The Arizona Wildcats silenced the critics and defended the three against Belmont to move past the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Now in round three, it is a very similar story as the Wildcats take on the 14 seeded Harvard Crimson who upset third seeded New Mexico Thursday night.
Harvard, like Belmont, prides themselves on their guard play and their ability to shoot the three. That’s what they did against New Mexico as they connected on eight of 18 three-point shot attempts and shoot a little over 40% from behind the arc on the season. The Wildcats did a great job against Belmont, holding them to 29% shooting for the game.
As for Arizona, they upped their tournament record to 6-2 historically in Salt Lake City Thursday. That is the most wins they have at any NCAA Tournament site. This will be the second time the Wildcats face off against the Crimson in their history. Both are wins for Arizona with the last game being played at McKale Center in December of 1977.
Overall Arizona has fared well against Ivy League schools. They are 6-0 all time and the last time they faced an Ivy League School, Sean Elliott, Steve Kerr and the Wildcats knocked off Cornell by 49 points in 1988 in route to the final four.
Despite all of the great shooters that the Crimson have, their leading scorer is a post player by the name of Wesley Saunders who averaged over 16 points per game this season for a Harvard team that averaged 68 points per game. Saunders is actually from the Los Angeles area and was recruited by Sean Miller and Arizona while in high school.
Tip off between Arizona and Harvard is at 3:10pm Arizona time from the Energy Solutions Arena in Salt Lake City. The winner moves onto Los Angeles and the sweet 16.
