1988–89 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team

American college basketball season

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
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
	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

† Conference tournament winner As of April 15, 1989 Rankings from AP poll

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

1988–89 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	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

Main article: 1988–89 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked
	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

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".
"About Us". Archived from the original on January 7, 2009. Retrieved April 17, 2009.
"Wooden Award - Athletics". Archived from the original on April 13, 2009. Retrieved May 7, 2009.
"1989 NBA Draft on Basketballreference.com". Archived from the original on March 17, 2010. Retrieved May 7, 2009.

v t e 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	Head coaches NBA draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 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 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA national championship in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

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