1988–89 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team

1988–89 Pacific-10 Conference men's basketball standings
	† 1989 Pac-10 Tournament winner ; As of April 15, 1989; Rankings from AP Poll

1988–89 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball
1988–89 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball
Pacific-10 Regular-Season Champions; Pacific-10 Tournament Champions
NCAA Tournament, Sweet Sixteen
Conference	Pacific-10
Ranking
Coaches	No. 1
AP	No. 1
1988–89 record	29–4 (17–1 Pac-10)
Head coach	Lute Olson (6th season);
Assistant coaches	Kevin O'Neill (3rd season); Jessie Evans (1st season);
Home arena	McKale Center (Capacity: 14,545)
	Seasons ← 1987–88 1989–90 →

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.

Roster[]

1989–90 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
F	00	Anthony Cook	—	—	Sr	Van Nuys HS	Los Angeles, CA
G	11	Kenny Lofton	—	—	Sr	Washington HS	East Chicago, IN
G	24	Matt Muehlebach	—	—
SF	32	Sean Elliott	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Sr	Cholla HS	Tucson, AZ
SF	35	Jud Buechler	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Jr	Poway HS	Poway, CA

Head coach

Lute Olsen

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

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^[2]	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^[3]
- Arizona 94, Clemson (9) 68^[4]
- UNLV (4) 68, Arizona 67^[5]

^[6]

Rankings[]

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.
	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^[7]
Sean Elliott, Associated Press College Basketball Player of the Year
Sean Elliott, John R. Wooden Award^[8]
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

^[9]

References[]

^ "2017-18 Men's Basketball Media Guide". Pac-12 Conference. p. 72. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
^ "Oklahoma Stakes No. 1 Claim, 82-80". The Washington Post. February 13, 1989. Retrieved August 30, 2020.
^ "Arizona Quickly Slams the Door on Robert Morris". Los Angeles Times. March 17, 1989. Retrieved August 23, 2020.
^ "Arizona Wins Over Clemson in Victory". Los Angeles Times. March 19, 1989. Retrieved August 23, 2020.
^ "No. 1 Arizona Upset On 3-Pointer at :002". The New York Times. March 24, 1989. Retrieved August 23, 2020.
^ "RotoWire Fantasy Football, Baseball, Basketball and More".
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-01-07. Retrieved 2009-04-17.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-04-13. Retrieved 2009-05-07.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-03-17. Retrieved 2009-05-07.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[1] "2017-18 Men's Basketball Media Guide". Pac-12 Conference. p. 72. Retrieved February 16, 2018.

[OU-2] "Oklahoma Stakes No. 1 Claim, 82-80". The Washington Post. February 13, 1989. Retrieved August 30, 2020.

[3] "Arizona Quickly Slams the Door on Robert Morris". Los Angeles Times. March 17, 1989. Retrieved August 23, 2020.

[4] "Arizona Wins Over Clemson in Victory". Los Angeles Times. March 19, 1989. Retrieved August 23, 2020.

[5] "No. 1 Arizona Upset On 3-Pointer at :002". The New York Times. March 24, 1989. Retrieved August 23, 2020.

[6] "RotoWire Fantasy Football, Baseball, Basketball and More".

[7] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-01-07. Retrieved 2009-04-17.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[8] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-04-13. Retrieved 2009-05-07.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[9] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-03-17. Retrieved 2009-05-07.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

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v t Arizona Wildcats men's basketball
Venues	Bear Down Gym (1926–1973) McKale Center (1973–present)
Rivalries	Arizona State UCLA
Culture & lore	Bear Down Wilbur and Wilma "Fight! Wildcats! Fight!" 2017–18 corruption scandal
People	Statistical leaders NBA draftees
Seasons	1904–05 1975–76 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22
NCAA national championship in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

1988–89 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball
Pacific-10 Regular-Season Champions Pacific-10 Tournament Champions
NCAA Tournament, Sweet Sixteen
Conference	Pacific-10
Ranking
Coaches	No. 1
AP	No. 1
1988–89 record	29–4 (17–1 Pac-10)
Head coach	Lute Olson (6th season)
Assistant coaches	Kevin O'Neill (3rd season) Jessie Evans (1st season)
Home arena	McKale Center (Capacity: 14,545)
Seasons ← 1987–88 1989–90 →

1988–89 Pacific-10 Conference men's basketball standings
v t	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 1 Arizona †	17	–	1	.944	29	–	4	.879
No. 13 Stanford	15	–	3	.833	26	–	7	.788
UCLA	13	–	5	.722	21	–	10	.677
Oregon State	13	–	5	.722	22	–	8	.733
California	10	–	8	.556	20	–	13	.606
Washington	8	–	10	.444	12	–	16	.429
Arizona State	5	–	13	.278	12	–	16	.429
Washington State	4	–	14	.222	10	–	19	.345
Oregon	3	–	15	.167	8	–	21	.276
USC	2	–	16	.111	10	–	22	.313

† 1989 Pac-10 Tournament winner As of April 15, 1989^[1]; Rankings from AP Poll