Scouting the Pac-12 Basketball Arenas: Arizona's McKale Center

Scouting the Pac-12 Basketball Arenas: Arizona’s McKale Center

A look at the history, characteristics, and some key stats of each facility

September 28, 2020October 11, 20207 months ago Dane Miller featured, recent

Posted on September 28, 2020


  By Dane Miller, SportsPac12

Each Pac-12 basketball arena has unique characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages, ranging from its capacity to the way it’s structured and its history and tradition.

In this 12-part series, I look at what makes each facility unique, and recount some of the key moments and stats* in the Pac-12 Era. We continue in this fourth installment with Arizona’s McKale Center.

McKale Center

Built: 1973
Capacity: 14,655
Elevation: 2,450

Overall Record: 135-18
Overall Conference Record: 67-14
Overall Nonconference Record: 68-4

Home of the Arizona Wildcats, McKale Center is one of the most difficult buildings to win at in the entire country. The Cats have led the Pac-12 in attendance since 1984-85, a 34-year stretch that has no end in sight. From calendar year 2013 through calendar year 2018, Arizona went 96-6 in the 14,000+ seat arena. That stretch included a 49-game win streak from 2013-2016.

Since 2011-12, Sean Miller has guided his program to nonconference victories over No. 5 Florida, No. 9 Gonzaga, Michigan, Texas Tech, and UConn en route to a 68-4 nonconference mark. The four defeats came from No. 6 Gonzaga in 2019, Baylor in 2018, San Diego State in 2011, and Bucknell in the 2012 NIT.

Arizona’s Sean Miller at McKale Center | Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Within the Conference, the Cats are 67-14 including a victory over No. 3 Arizona State in 2017. Utah, USC, Stanford, Oregon State, and Colorado are winless in the building. And Arizona State, California, and Washington State have just a single victory.

UCLA and Oregon, however, have figured out how to win in the desert confine. Both the Bruins and Ducks are 4-3 during the Pac-12 Era, and the Wildcats have failed to beat either program when they enter the building ranked in the Top 25.

Washington has had similar success, posting a 3-4 mark during the period.

Still, when ranked in the Top 25, the Cats are a jaw-dropping 107-9 at McKale Center. Of the 153 games played in Tucson, Miller’s squad was ranked in 116 of them (75%).

Arizona is the only team in the Pac-12 to take the floor at it’s home arena ranked No. 1 in the nation during the Pac-12 Era. The Cats played 8 games from 2013-14 ranked as the top squad in the country, going 8-0 over that stretch.

The arena has been the site of 10 matchups between ranked teams. In those games, the Wildcats are 6-4 with the defeats coming at the hands of No. 5 UCLA in 2017, No. 6 Gonzaga in 2019, No. 14 Oregon in 2020, and No. 23 Oregon in 2016.

There has been just a single game against a Top 25 opponent when Arizona was unranked. Last season, Miller and company defeated No. 20 Colorado as an unranked program.

However, the absence of an Arizona victory over a ranked UCLA or Oregon team is a tell-tale sign of the recent trend in the two rivalries. The Cats have even dropped three games to unranked Bruin squads.

The 14-point loss to Washington State in 2019 is arguably the sole shocking defeat in the Era, though the 11-point loss to Bucknell in the 2012 NIT is similarly head-scratching.

Putting all that aside, there’s no denying that McKale Center is one of the toughest, if not the toughest, road game for every team in the Pac-12. The hostile environment is notoriously unwelcoming to opposing fans, and the Cats historically back it up with victories.

Records vs. Top 25 and When Ranked

Record vs. Top 25: 7-4
Record vs. Top 25 When Unranked: 1-0
Record vs. Top 25 When Ranked: 6-4

Record When Ranked: 107-9

Highest Home-Game Rankings

Highest Ranking for Home Game: No. 1 (2013-2014)
Victory over Highest Ranked Team: No. 3 Arizona State (2017)

Highest Ranked Opponent: No. 3 Arizona State (2017)

Noteworthy Wins

Noteworthy Conference Wins: No. 3 Arizona State (2017); No. 8 Utah (2015); No. 20 Colorado (2020); No. 23 USC (2016); No. 25 California (2016)

Noteworthy Nonconference Wins: No. 5 Florida (2012); No. 9 Gonzaga (2014); Michigan (2014); Texas Tech (2013); UConn (2017); Missouri (2015); Illinois (2019); UNLV (2013, 2015)

Blemish Losses

Bucknell by 11 (2012 NIT)
Washington State by 14 (2019)

Record of Pac-12 Teams at McKale Center

Oregon: 4-3
UCLA : 4-3
Washington: 3-4
California: 1-6
Washington State: 1-6
Arizona State: 1-8
Stanford: 0-7
Oregon State: 0-7
USC: 0-7
Colorado: 0-8
Utah: 0-8

*Stats for Pac-12 Era only, courtesy sports-reference.com.

—Up Next—

USC’s Galen Center

—Previously—

Utah’s John M. Huntsman Center

Colorado’s CU Events Center

Arizona States’s Desert financial Center

—Recent Dane Miller Stories—

Author
Recent Posts

Dane Miller

covers Pac-12 Basketball and Football as a Senior Writer and Assistant Editor for SportsPac12.com. Miller also co-hosts and produces "The Dane & Nick Show," a SportsPac12 Radio Podcast.