1987–88 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team

The 1987–88 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team represented the University of Arizona during the 1987–88 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. 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 Pacific-10 Basketball tournament, Arizona beat Oregon State by a score of 93–67 to claim its first Pac-10 title. The Wildcats built on that momentum by reaching the Final Four of the NCAA tournament.

1987–88 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball
Great Alaska Shootout champions Pacific-10 Regular-Season Champions Pacific-10 Tournament champions
NCAA tournament, Final Four
Conference	Pacific-10
Ranking
Coaches	No. 2
AP	No. 2
Record	35–3 (17–1 Pac-10)
Head coach	Lute Olson (5th season)
Assistant coaches	Ricky Byrdsong (6th season) Kevin O'Neill (2nd season)
Home arena	McKale Center (Capacity: 14,545)
Seasons ← 1986–87 1988–89 →

1987–88 Pacific-10 Conference
men's basketball standings

	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 2 Arizona †	17	–	1		.944			35	–	3		.921
Oregon State	12	–	6		.667			20	–	11		.645
UCLA	12	–	6		.667			16	–	14		.533
Stanford	11	–	7		.611			21	–	12		.636
Oregon	10	–	8		.556			16	–	14		.533
Washington State	7	–	11		.389			13	–	16		.448
Arizona State	6	–	12		.333			13	–	16		.448
USC	5	–	13		.278			7	–	21		.250
California	5	–	13		.278			9	–	20		.310
Washington	5	–	13		.278			10	–	19		.345
† Conference tournament winner As of April 15, 1988[1] Rankings from AP Poll

Roster

1987–88 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown F 00 Anthony Cook — — Jr Van Nuys HS Los Angeles, CA PG 11 Kenny Lofton 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Jr Washington HS East Chicago, IN G 20 Craig McMillan 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) — Sr Cloverdale HS Cloverdale, CA C 23 Tom Tolbert 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Sr Cerritos College   PG 24 Matt Muehlebach 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) — Fr Stillwell HS Rockhurst, KS G 25 Steve Kerr 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 175 lb (79 kg) RS Sr Palisades Charter HS Los Angeles, CA SF 32 Sean Elliott 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Jr Cholla HS Tucson, AZ F 33 Joe Turner 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) — Sr Foothill HS Bakersfield, CA C 34 Brian David 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) — So Kuemper HS Templeton, IA SF 35 Jud Buechler 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) So Poway HS Poway, CA C 42 Sean Rooks  6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 250 lb (113 kg) Fr Fontana HS Fontana, CA G 44 Harvey Mason 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) — RS So Crescenta HS La Crescenta, CA F/C 45 Mark Georgeson  6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Fr Marina HS Huntington Beach, CA	Head coach Lute Olson (Augsburg) Assistant coach(es) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt

Sean Elliott in 1987

Schedule and results

The victory over Long Beach State in the home opener at McKale Center began a 71-game home court winning streak.^[2]

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-conference regular season
11/27/1987*	No. 17	vs. Duquesne Great Alaska Shootout	W 133–78	1–0	–	–	–	Sullivan Arena  Anchorage, AK
11/28/1987*	No. 17	vs. No. 9 Michigan Great Alaska Shootout	W 79–64[3]	2–0	18 – Tolbert	11 – Tolbert	–	Sullivan Arena  Anchorage, AK
11/30/1987* ESPN	No. 17	vs. No. 1 Syracuse Great Alaska Shootout	W 80–69[4]	3–0	16 – Elliott	–	–	Sullivan Arena  Anchorage, AK
12/4/1987*	No. 9	Long Beach State	W 94–62	4–0	–	–	–	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
12/5/1987*	No. 9	Pepperdine	W 73–68	5–0	17 – Tolbert	–	–	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
12/8/1987*	No. 4	Northern Arizona	W 77–59	6–0	–	–	–	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
12/12/1987* 6:05 pm	No. 4	at No. 3 Iowa	W 66–59[5]	7–0	18 – Tolbert	–	–	Carver-Hawkeye Arena  Iowa City, IA
12/16/1987*	No. 2	Arkansas-Little Rock	W 77–59	8–0	–	–	–	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
12/20/1987	No. 2	at Washington	W 110–71	9–0 (1–0)	–	–	–	Hec Edmundson Pavilion  Seattle, WA
12/22/1987	No. 2	at Washington State	W 89–55	10–0 (2–0)	–	–	–	Friel Court  Pullman, WA
12/29/1987*	No. 1	Michigan State Fiesta Bowl Basketball Classic	W 78–58	11–0	–	–	–	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
12/30/1987* 8:00 p.m.	No. 1	No. 9 Duke Fiesta Bowl Basketball Classic	W 91–85[6]	12–0	31 – Elliott	–	–	McKale Center (13,270) Tucson, AZ
1/2/1988*	No. 1	at New Mexico	L 59–61[7]	12–1	27 – Elliott	–	–	The Pit (18,100) Albuquerque, NM
Pac-10 regular season
1/7/1988	No. 3	California	W 80–51	13–1 (3–0)	–	–	–	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
1/9/1988	No. 3	Stanford	W 90–65	14–1 (4–0)	–	–	–	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
1/14/1988	No. 1	Oregon State	W 70–48	15–1 (5–0)	–	–	–	Gill Coliseum  Corvallis, OR
1/16/1988	No. 1	Oregon	W 70–54	16–1 (6–0)	–	–	–	McArthur Court  Eugene, OR
1/21/1988	No. 1	USC	W 92–48	17–1 (7–0)	–	–	–	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
1/24/1988	No. 1	UCLA Rivalry	W 86–74	18–1 (8–0)	–	–	–	McKale Center (13,258) Tucson, AZ
1/28/1988	No. 1	Arizona State Rivalry	W 99–59	19–1 (9–0)	–	–	–	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
1/30/1988*	No. 1	No. 13 Illinois	W 78–70	20–1	–	–	–	McKale Center (13,227) Tucson, AZ
2/4/1988	No. 1	at Stanford	L 74–82[8]	20–2 (9–1)	22 – Elliott	–	–	Maples Pavilion (7,500) Stanford, CA
2/6/1988	No. 1	at California	W 74–62	21–2 (10–1)	–	–	–	Harmon Gym  Berkeley, CA
2/11/1988	No. 3	Oregon	W 89–57	22–2 (11–1)	–	–	–	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
2/14/1988	No. 3	Oregon State	W 77–62	23–2 (12–1)	–	–	–	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
2/18/1988	No. 3	at USC	W 103–68	24–2 (13–1)	–	–	–	Los Angeles Sports Arena  Los Angeles, CA
2/20/1988	No. 3	at UCLA Rivalry	W 78–76 OT	25–2 (14–1)	–	–	–	Pauley Pavilion (12,037) Los Angeles, CA
2/24/1988	No. 3	at Arizona State Rivalry	W 101–73	26–2 (15–1)	–	–	–	ASU Activity Center  Tempe, AZ
3/3/1988	No. 3	Washington State	W 79–41	27–2 (16–1)	–	–	–	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
3/5/1988	No. 3	Washington	W 89–71	28–2 (17–1)	–	–	–	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
Pac-10 Tournament
3/11/1988*	(1) No. 3	(9) California Pac-10 Tournament Quarterfinal	W 88–64	29–2	–	–	–	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
3/12/1988*	(1) No. 3	(4) Stanford Pac-10 Tournament Semifinal	W 97–83	30–2	–	–	–	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
3/13/1988*	(1) No. 3	(2) Oregon State Pac-10 Tournament Championship	W 83–67	31–2	–	–	–	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
NCAA Tournament
3/18/1988* CBS	(W 1) No. 2	vs. (W 16) Cornell First Round	W 90–50	32–2	24 – Cook	5 – Tied	5 – McMillan	Pauley Pavilion  Los Angeles, CA
3/20/1988* CBS	(W 1) No. 2	vs. (W 8) Seton Hall Second Round	W 84–55	33–2	20 – Cook	6 – Cook	3 – Tied	Pauley Pavilion  Los Angeles, CA
3/25/1988* CBS	(W 1) No. 2	vs. (W 5) No. 17 Iowa Sweet Sixteen	W 99–79[9]	34–2	25 – Elliott	9 – Tolbert	8 – Tied	Kingdome  Seattle, WA
3/27/1988* CBS	(W 1) No. 2	vs. (W 2) No. 7 North Carolina Elite Eight	W 70–52	35–2	24 – Elliott	6 – Tolbert	3 – Tied	Kingdome  Seattle, WA
4/2/1988 6:12 pm, CBS	(W 1) No. 2	vs. (SE 1) No. 4 Oklahoma Final Four	L 78–86[10]	35–3	31 – Elliott	13 – Tolbert	5 – Kerr	Kemper Arena  Kansas City, MO
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Sources^[11]

NCAA basketball tournament

Seeding in brackets

• West
  • Arizona (1) 90, Cornell (16) 50
  • Arizona 84, Seton Hall (8) 55
  • Arizona 99, Iowa (5) 79
  • Arizona 70, North Carolina (2) 52
• Final Four
  • Oklahoma 86, Arizona 78

^[12]

Rankings

See also: 1987–88 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

Awards and honors

• Sean Elliott, Pacific-10 Conference men's basketball tournament Most Valuable Player
• Sean Elliott, Pacific-10 Player of the Year

Team players in the 1988 NBA draft

Main article: 1988 NBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
2	34	Tom Tolbert	Charlotte Hornets
2	50	Steve Kerr	Phoenix Suns

^[13]