TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The Wildcats are off to the Sweet 16 after a tough win against the Oregon Ducks Sunday night.
The University of Arizona Campus Store wasted no time in getting the next round of merchandise out on the shelves for fans.
The Arizona Sweet 16 T-shirts arrived Monday afternoon and will be available in the Campus Store, the A-Store at McKale and online.
Cori Rhodes, U of A's sales manager says they have hundreds of shirts ready to go.
"Waiting for everyone to come buy theirs. We have them in adult sizes, women's v-necks and kids," Rhodes said.
She says they always sell out, so make sure you get yours ahead of time.
"Everybody's always looking for a Sweet 16 shirt. Everybody's just looking for March Madness shirts, which is great and we want to support that," Rhodes added.
One of those fans getting ahead of the game was Barbara Silvers. She bought three shirts, two for her grandson because she doesn't know his size and one for herself.
"Well we're kind of excited that the U of A is in the Sweet 16 again," Silvers said.
Though there may be some controversy in her household.
"My daughter is actually a graduate of both the U of A and Duke, so it’s going to be a complicated game for us," Silvers said.
Though it’s not a rare occurrence for Arizona to make the Sweet 16, fans throughout our neighborhoods are still plenty excited to watch the Cats take on the top seed in the east, Duke.
Marcus Clements, U of A junior, says he was on the edge of his seat when they played Oregon, but it all paid off.
"So my emotions was really all over the place cause when we started off, we were 17-4 and so I was really scared and I thought we were gonna lose and I put money on it too so that wasn't fun. But at the end of the game once it started ramping up and we started hitting big shots, I really started getting really happy," said Clements. "I was actually in the middle of studying and I stopped studying completely to watch the game."
Clements put $50 on Arizona to win and walked away with $250 after hitting a parlay.
He says they have a strong team and he's confident in their ability to beat Duke.
“Because Caleb Love has beaten Duke before and we have a really solid team, a lot of chemistry. I think we’re going to do really good against Duke," said Clements.
Alexis Pacheco, a U of A student from Mexico, says the spirit in this town for Arizona is unlike no other.
“It’s really nice to see all the community connected. You know, really motivated by the basketball team and the sports in general," Pacheco said.
Alumni are sure to support the Wildcats too. Plenty of them are making their way to Bob Dobbs to watch the games, including Ernie Lopez.
“This bar has been here since 1984, or the Bob Dobbs bar, and we went through a lot with Lute Olsen and all the coaches, Sean Miller," Lopez said.
He says Thursday will be a tough game, but he has faith in his team.
"It’s gonna be exciting. I think we can beat 'em. I think we can. If we play like we did last night, maybe make some changes, whatever, but it’s great," Lopez said.
You can cheer on Zona as they take on Duke in Newark, New Jersey on Thursday with tip-off set for 6:39 p.m.
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Vanessa Gongora is KGUN 9's Westside reporter.. Vanessa fell in love with storytelling by growing up in sports. She was fascinated by how sports reporters go beyond the x's & o's to tell players' stories, and how sports bring people together, inspiring Vanessa to provide the same impact as a journalist. Share your story ideas and important issues with Vanessa by emailing vanessa.gongora@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram, and X.
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