1986–87 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team

The 1986–87 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team represented the University of Arizona during the 1986–87 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. The Wildcats finished with an overall record of 18–12 (13–5 Pac-10) and reached the NCAA tournament, but lost in the opening round for the third consecutive year.

1986–87 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball
Fiesta Bowl Classic Champions
NCAA tournament, first round
Conference	Pacific-10
Record	18–12 (13–5 Pac-10)
Head coach	Lute Olson (4th season)
Assistant coaches	Ricky Byrdsong (5th season) Scott Thompson (4th season) Kevin O'Neill (1st season)
Home arena	McKale Center (Capacity: 14,545)
Seasons ← 1985–86 1987–88 →

1986–87 Pacific-10 Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 15 UCLA †	14	–	4		.778			25	–	7		.781
Arizona	13	–	5		.722			18	–	12		.600
Washington	10	–	8		.556			20	–	15		.571
California	10	–	8		.556			20	–	15		.571
Oregon State	10	–	8		.556			19	–	11		.633
Stanford	9	–	9		.500			15	–	13		.536
Oregon	8	–	10		.444			16	–	14		.533
Arizona State	6	–	12		.333			11	–	17		.393
Washington State	6	–	12		.333			10	–	18		.357
USC	4	–	14		.222			9	–	19		.321
† 1987 Pacific-10 Tournament winner As of March 25, 1987^[1] Rankings from AP poll

Roster

1986–87 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown F 00 Anthony Cook — — So Van Nuys HS Los Angeles, CA PG 11 Kenny Lofton 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 180 lb (82 kg) So Washington HS East Chicago, IN G 20 Craig McMillan 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) — Jr     G 22 Bruce Fraser 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 172 lb (78 kg) Sr Long Beach City College Long Beach, CA C 23 Tom Tolbert 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Jr Cerritos College   G 25 Steve Kerr     6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Sr Palisades Charter HS Los Angeles, CA SF 32 Sean Elliott 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 210 lb (95 kg) So Cholla HS Tucson, AZ SF 35 Jud Buechler 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Fr 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 (attendance) city, state
Non-conference regular season
Nov 21, 1986*	No. 19	at No. 5 UNLV Preseason NIT	L 87–92^[2]	0–1	Thomas & Mack Center  Las Vegas, NV
Dec 4, 1986*	No. 20	at San Diego State	W 110–78	1–1	Peterson Gym  San Diego, CA
Dec 6, 1986*	No. 20	Utah	L 67–68	1–2	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
Dec 8, 1986*	No. 20	at Northern Arizona	W 76–69	2–2	Walkup Skydome  Flagstaff, AZ
Dec 10, 1986*		Hawaii Pacific	W 105–85	3–2	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
Dec 13, 1986*		at No. 13 Georgetown	L 74–82	3–3	Capital Centre  Landover, MD
Dec 27, 1986*		St. Bonaventure Fiesta Bowl Classic	W 70–64	4–3	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
Dec 28, 1986*		Texas Tech Fiesta Bowl Classic	W 53–40	5–3	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
Pac-10 regular season
Jan 2, 1987		at Oregon State	W 54–48	6–3 (1–0)	Gill Coliseum  Corvallis, OR
Jan 4, 1987		at Oregon	L 54–55 ^OT	6–4 (1–1)	McArthur Court  Eugene, OR
Jan 8, 1987		USC	W 78–44	7–4 (2–1)	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
Jan 10, 1987		UCLA Rivalry	L 83–84	7–5 (2–2)	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
Jan 15, 1987		at Washington State	W 96–59	8–5 (3–2)	Friel Court  Pullman, WA
Jan 17, 1987		at Washington	W 73–72	9–5 (4–2)	Hec Edmundson Pavilion  Seattle, WA
Jan 19, 1987		Stanford	W 77–70	10–5 (5–2)	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
Jan 22, 1987		California	L 81–82 ^2OT	10–6 (5–3)	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
Jan 24, 1987*		at No. 9 Illinois	L 63–67	10–7	Assembly Hall  Champaign, IL
Jan 29, 1987		at Arizona State Rivalry	W 82–67	11–7 (6–3)	ASU Activity Center  Tempe, AZ
Feb 3, 1987		Arizona State Rivalry	W 66–54	12–7 (7–3)	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
Feb 5, 1987		Oregon	W 68–53	13–7 (8–3)	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
Feb 7, 1987*		No. 4 Iowa	L 80–89^[3]	13–8	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
Feb 12, 1987		at UCLA Rivalry	L 65–81	13–9 (8–4)	Pauley Pavilion  Los Angeles, CA
Feb 14, 1987		Oregon State	W 71–61	14–9 (9–4)	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
Feb 17, 1987		at USC	W 73–61	15–9 (10–4)	L.A. Sports Arena  Los Angeles, CA
Feb 19, 1987		Washington State	W 84–58	16–9 (11–4)	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
Feb 21, 1987		Washington	W 81–70	17–9 (12–4)	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
Feb 26, 1987		at Stanford	L 73–75	17–10 (12–5)	Maples Pavilion  Stanford, CA
Mar 1, 1987		at California	W 70–51	18–10 (13–5)	Harmon Gym  Berkeley, CA
Pac-10 Tournament
Mar 6, 1987*	(2)	vs. (7) Oregon Pac-10 Tournament Quarterfinal	L 63–72	18–11	Pauley Pavilion  Los Angeles, CA
NCAA Tournament
Mar 13, 1987*	(10 W)	vs. (7 W) UTEP First round	L 91–98 ^OT[4]	18–12	McKale Center  Tucson, AZ
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Sources^[5][6]

Rankings

See also: 1986–87 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

References

1. "2011-12 Men's Basketball Media Guide". Pac-12 Conference. p. 67. Retrieved November 23, 2011.
2. "Rebels rally to overcome Arizona". Las Vegas Sun. November 21, 1986. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
3. "Gamble Pays Off as Iowa Comes From Behind to Defeat Arizona". Los Angeles Times. February 8, 1987. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
4. "Arizona Is Ousted by UTEP". Los Angeles Times. March 14, 1986. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
5. "1986-87 Arizona Wildcats Schedule and Results". Sports Reference. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
6. "Arizona Men's Basketball 2018–19 Media Guide" (PDF). University of Arizona Athletic Department. Retrieved July 21, 2019.