--Interim coach Russ Pennell didn't feel much like celebrating, even after his team beat Oregon 87-77 on Feb. 7 for its fifth straight victory.

"If 16 wins got you in (the NCAA Tournament), I'd be excited about that, but it doesn't," Pennell was quoted as saying by the Arizona Daily Star. "I really can't even worry about that. I look at it now, we got 16 wins and say, 'How did we get here?'

"We got here with hard work, by going about it, being a blue-collar team."

Blue collar describes the kind of ceaseless work the Wildcats' Big Three of Jordan Hill, Chase Budinger and Nic Wise put in during the Oregon trip. The threesome played all 40 minutes of both games, and delivered whenever necessary.

"The big three really got going," Oregon coach Ernie Kent said after the trio combined for 66 points and keyed a game-changing 20-4 run.

Hill said the Cats are encouraged, but not satisfied.

"We got our first road sweep. That's a good feeling," he said. "But we gotta keep pushing and going at it."

--Pennell wouldn't say why he has stopped shaving, and gave no indication it had anything to do with the Wildcats' five-game win streak. "I'll hit a black cat with a ladder as I walk underneath it," he said. "I'm not superstitious."

--The Wildcats were 0-6 on the road before pulling off the sweep in Oregon.

QUOTE TO NOTE
"Those guys have got a lot of experience. They have a great feel for what we need, when we need it." -- Arizona interim coach Russ Pennell, on the impact of juniors Chase Budinger and Nic Wise.

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