Third time should be charming for UA-UCLA

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LAS VEGAS – With as much focus – internal and external – on the Friday matchup between the UCLA and the Arizona teams Friday night in the MGM Garden Arena, the winning coach will have to almost immediately remind his squad of something afterward:

The third meeting of the season between the Bruins and Wildcats will not have been for the conference tournament championship and the Pac 12’s automatic bid to the 68-team NCAA Tournament field.

Although the UCLA-UA matchup has the most sizzle — and if you are even a neophyte in following all things Pac-10 and, now, Pac-12 hoops, you know why – there will still be one more game for the winner to play come Saturday night.

The Utah-Oregon semifinal that follows the Bruins and Wildcats (at approximately 8:30 p.m., PT) will provide the other side of the Saturday (8 p.m.) tourney final.

It will be compelling in its own right, in large because of the way each of the teams earned its way into Friday’s action.

Both needed overtimes – and dynamic plays in the closing moments of regulation just to get into OT – to knock off Cal and Washington, respectively.

Jarred DuBois is a left-handed guard from L.A. Westchester High who signed a letter of intent at SMU before enrolling and playing for three seasons at Loyola Marymount, earning all-WCC honors in the process.

After earning his degree, Dubois – through NCAA rules – was able to transfer to Utah and played immediately.

Well, maybe he can write a Master’s thesis on the adrenalin that must have been pumping through his system when he launched – and hit – a 3-pointer over the top of Cal’s 6-foot-9 David Kravish with four seconds to go that put the Utes into OT.

Coach Larry Krystkowiak’s team – which won its final two regular-season conference games to take an 11-17 record into the tournament before edging USC by three points in a 7-10 first-round game Wednesday (the Utes were the 10) – dominated the five minutes of extra time to eliminate the No. 2 seed from the tourney.

Regardless of what happens tonight, Krystkowiak and his staff have the Utes’ program humming along nicely in the right direction.

Cal’s strong November and February – when the Bears were a combined 14-1 – should be enough to get Mike Montgomery’s team on of the 37 NCAA tourney at-large bids doled out Sunday.

And tiny (5-8) point guard Jonathan Loyd – ironically enough from Las Vegas – made the defensive play of the day in the tourney.

He stripped Washington’s C.J. Wilcox of the ball before he could launch what might have been a game-winning jump shot in regulation and then combined with forward Arsalan Kazemi (formerly of Rice; he was a beast down the stretch and in OT) to pull away in OT.

As for the first game tonight, it should be a dandy, of course.

The Bruins beat the Wildcats in their two regular-season meetings (which helped UCLA to its one-game advantage for UA, Cal and Oregon in the final standings for the regular-season title) and Coach Sean Miller’s players no doubt have “revenge” as motivation.

Coach Ben Howland’s club came from 15 points down early in the second half behind the play of should-have-been-conference-player-of-the-year Larry Drew to edge Arizona State Thursday.

The thinking in the Bruins’ camp is that a third win over Arizona – coupled with a win Saturday night – might be enough to get the team slotted in the West regional, with a second- and third-round spot in San Jose or Salt Lake City.

Of course the other interesting element to the matchup is the programs are basically involved with every high school prospect in the region – often going head-to-head for players.

Again, of course, just being on the same court at the same has been motivation enough for Arizona and UCLA players since that fellow Lute Olson came to Tucson some 30 years ago.