# 1988–89 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team

The 1988–89 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team represented the University of Arizona. The head coach was Lute Olson. The team played its home games in the McKale Center in Tucson, Arizona, and was a member of the Pacific-10 Conference. In the Pac-10 Basketball Tournament, Arizona beat Stanford by a score of 73–51 to claim its second consecutive Pac-10 title.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site city, state |
| Regular season ||||||
| Nov 30, 1988* | No. 11 | New Mexico | W 80–67 | 1–0 | McKale Center Tucson, Arizona |
| Dec 2, 1988* | No. 11 | vs. No. 10 North Carolina Diet Pepsi Tournament of Champions | L 72–79 | 1–1 | Charlotte Coliseum Charlotte, North Carolina |
| Dec 3, 1988* | No. 11 | vs. No. 17 Temple Diet Pepsi Tournament of Champions | W 68–50 | 2–1 | Charlotte, Coliseum Charlotte, North Carolina |
| Dec 10, 1988* | No. 10 | No. 9 UNLV | W 86–75 | 3–1 | McKale Center Tucson, Arizona |
| Dec 18, 1988 | No. 9 | Washington State | W 76–59 | 4–1 (1–0) | McKale Center Tucson, Arizona |
| Dec 20, 1988 | No. 9 | Washington | W 116–61 | 5–1 (2–0) | McKale Center Tucson, Arizona |
| Dec 23, 1988 | No. 9 | at Oregon State | W 73–69 | 6–1 (3–0) | Gill Coliseum Corvallis, Oregon |
| Dec 28, 1988* | No. 8 | Loyola-Chicago | W 106–82 | 7–1 | McKale Center Tucson, Arizona |
| Dec 30, 1988* | No. 8 | Pittsburgh | W 88–62 | 8–1 | McKale Center Tucson, Arizona |
| Jan 5, 1989 | No. 8 | at Stanford | L 78–83 | 8–2 (3–1) | Maples Pavilion Stanford, California |
| Jan 7, 1989 | No. 8 | at California | W 64–55 | 9–2 (4–1) | Harmon Gym Berkeley, California |
| Jan 12, 1989 | No. 12 | Oregon State | W 85–64 | 10–2 (5–1) | McKale Center Tucson, Arizona |
| Jan 14, 1989 | No. 12 | Oregon | W 95–71 | 11–2 (6–1) | McKale Center Tucson, Arizona |
| Jan 19, 1989 | No. 9 | at USC | W 97–69 | 12–2 (7–1) | L.A. Sports Arena Los Angeles, California |
| Jan 21, 1989* | No. 9 | Villanova | W 75–67 | 13–2 | McKale Center Tucson, Arizona |
| Jan 26, 1989 | No. 6 | at Arizona State Rivalry | W 96–71 | 14–2 (8–1) | ASU Activity Center Tempe, Arizona |
| Jan 29, 1989* | No. 6 | No. 19 Stanford | W 72–52 | 15–2 (9–1) | McKale Center Tucson, Arizona |
| Feb 2, 1989 | No. 4 | California | W 86–59 | 16–2 (10–1) | McKale Center Tucson, Arizona |
| Feb 5, 1989 | No. 4 | at Washington | W 85–68 | 17–2 (11–1) | Bank of America Arena Seattle, Washington |
| Feb 9, 1989 | No. 1 | at Oregon | W 78–57 | 18–2 (12–1) | McArthur Court Eugene, Oregon |
| Feb 12, 1989* | No. 1 | at No. 5 Oklahoma | L 80–82 | 18–3 | Lloyd Noble Center Norman, Oklahoma |
| Feb 16, 1989 | No. 2 | USC | W 93–70 | 19–3 (13–1) | McKale Center Tucson, Arizona |
| Feb 18, 1989 | No. 2 | UCLA Rivalry | W 102–62 | 20–3 (14–1) | McKale Center Tucson, Arizona |
| Feb 23, 1989 | No. 2 | Arizona State Rivalry | W 109–74 | 21–3 (15–1) | McKale Center Tucson, Arizona |
| Feb 26, 1989* | No. 2 | vs. No. 9 Duke | W 77–75 | 22–3 | Brendan Byrne Arena East Rutherford, New Jersey |
| Mar 2, 1989 | No. 1 | at Washington State | W 74–48 | 23–3 (16–1) | Friel Court Pullman, Washington |
| Mar 4, 1989 | No. 1 | at UCLA Rivalry | W 89–86 | 24–3 (17–1) | Pauley Pavilion Los Angeles, California |
| Pac-10 Tournament ||||||
| Mar 10, 1989* | (1) No. 1 | vs. (8) Washington State Pac-10 Tournament Quarterfinal | W 62–54 | 25–3 | The Forum Inglewood, California |
| Mar 11, 1989* | (1) No. 1 | vs. (4) Oregon State Pac-10 Tournament Semifinal | W 98–87 | 26–3 | The Forum Inglewood, California |
| Mar 12, 1989* | (1) No. 1 | vs. (2) No. 12 Stanford Pac-10 tournament championship | W 73–51 | 27–3 | The Forum Inglewood, California |
| NCAA Tournament ||||||
| Mar 16, 1989* | (1 W) No. 1 | vs. (16 W) Robert Morris First round | W 94–60 | 28–3 | BSU Pavilion Boise, Idaho |
| Mar 18, 1989* | (1 W) No. 1 | vs. Clemson Second Round | W 94–68 | 29–3 | BSU Pavilion Boise, Idaho |
| Mar 23, 1989* | (1 W) No. 1 | vs. (4 W) No. 15 UNLV West Regional semifinal – Sweet Sixteen | L 67–68 | 29–4 | McNichols Sports Arena Denver, Colorado |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. W=West. ||||||

### NCAA basketball tournament

Seeding in brackets
* West
** Arizona (1) 94, Robert Morris (16) 60
** Arizona 94, Clemson (9) 68
** UNLV (4) 68, Arizona 67

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Final |
| AP | 11 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 12 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Coaches | 11 | — | 9 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
^Coaches did not release a Week 1 poll.

## Awards and honors

* Sean Elliott, Pacific-10 Player of the Year
* Sean Elliott, Pacific-10 Conference men's basketball tournament Most Valuable Player
* Sean Elliott, Adolph Rupp Trophy
* Sean Elliott, Associated Press College Basketball Player of the Year
* Sean Elliott, John R. Wooden Award
* Sean Elliott, State Farm Division I Player of the Year Award

## Team players drafted into the NBA

| Round | Pick | Player | NBA Club |
| 1 | 3 | Sean Elliott | San Antonio Spurs |
| 1 | 24 | Anthony Cook | Phoenix Suns |