Arizona earned its first win over a ranked opponent this season, holding on to beat No. 16 Cincinnati 70-67 on Saturday at Cincinnati after blowing a 19-point second-half lead.
Arizona experienced a collapse like this before, blowing a 13-point lead in the second half against UCLA last month in a loss at Phoenix.
After Arizona (8-5, 2-0 Big 12) led Cincinnati 52-33 with 13:19 left, the complexion of the game changed immediately.
The Bearcats (10-3, 0-2) went on an 8-0 run.
They later outscored Arizona 21-6 to tie the game at 64 with 58 seconds left.
Jaden Bradley, who led Arizona with 15 points, made a layup with 43 seconds left and then converted two free throws with 24 seconds left to put Arizona ahead 68-64.
The free throws came after KJ Lewis blocked a 3-point attempt by Dan Skillings Jr. and then Lewis controlled the rebound.
Skillings was blocked again a drive to the basket by Carter Bryant. Dillon Mitchell was called for a foul, sending Caleb Love to the free-throw line.
Love missed the front end of a one-and-one with 14 seconds left but the ball bounced out of bounds off Cincinnati.
Lewis was fouled with 12 seconds left and Lewis made both free throws, giving Arizona a 70-64 lead.
Day Day Thomas made a 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds left.
Anthony Dell’Orso was fouled a second later and made both free throws to seal the victory.
Love finished 12 points on 3-of-15 shots from the field with six rebounds. He also had two steals.
Bryant, belied his freshman status, by making all five of his shots, including three from 3-point range, to finish with 14 points and four rebounds.
The Wildcats were outrebounded 39-34 and were outscored in the paint 36-32, but they outscored Cincinnati 31-16 in points off the bench.
Bryant, Lewis (nine points) and Henri Veesaar (eight) accounted for the scoring of the reserves.
Arizona improved to 5-0 in its series against Cincinnati, that includes Miles Simon’s miraculous 3-pointer from the other side of the court at the buzzer at Phoenix in 1996 — giving Lute Olson his 500th career victory.
The Wildcats next play at West Virginia on Tuesday at 5 p.m. before returning to McKale Center next Saturday against UCF at 8 p.m.
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