Arizona, on a three-game winning streak to end non-conference play, was looking to continue the streak with a win over Utah to open Big 12 play Monday afternoon at McKale Center. Despite a valiant effort, the Wildcats couldn’t complete the comeback, falling to the Utes 63-62.
The Wildcats started the game playing with purpose. After trading baskets most of the first quarter with Utah, Arizona closed the quarter on a 7-0 run and held a 19-15 lead as the quarter expired.
If there was a quarter Arizona (9-3, 0-1 Big 12) would like to forget, it would be the second quarter against Utah. The Utes outscored the Wildcats 24-4.
“If you’re looking for me to sit up here and be happy about a moral victory, that’s not how I feel, but I am really, really proud of them in a lot of different aspects of this game,” Arizona head coach Becky Burke said.
“I mean, I think you take away the second quarter and we win by probably close to 20, and it’s frustrating. They know. It just happened to be our worst scoring quarter of our entire season, you know? And we even it out the rest of the way as far as our scoring goes. We held them to 63. Thought that was really, really impressive defensive effort, aside from that second quarter wasn’t our best defensive quarter, wasn’t our best offensive quarter. So take that thing out. I think we walk away by double digits minimum.”
Micky Perdue added, “I think we seen a lot of shots rolling in and out and it kind of like you know kind of everybody is dropping their heads and stuff like that. In those moments, those are the moments that we have to show how tough we are.”
Utah (10-3, 1-0) was able to crowd the paint, causing Arizona to shoot from outside. Despite good looks at the hoop, the basket seemed to have a lid on it and the shots wouldn’t fall.
“We’ve got to be a really good mid-range shooting team this year if we can’t elevate to the rim at our size,” Burke said.
The Utes went into the locker room at the half up 39-23.
Utah’s Lani White was a problem for Arizona. The senior guard accounted for 20 of the Utes’ 39 points in the first half and ended with a game-high 26 points.
“We answered the bell in that second quarter, started to hone in on our defensive game plan and allowed the ball to move on offense,” Utah head coach Gavin Petersen said on the success his team had in the second quarter.
“Our offense and the pace we play on offense had something to do with that. Because we are getting stops, we’re able to run.”
Burke’s halftime speech appeared to resonate with her team as Arizona opened the third quarter on an 11-0 run. A Utah lead that was once as much as 18 points was down to nine.
Arizona would get as close as six points before Utah pushed their lead to 53-43 as the quarter ended.
Arizona didn’t let up on the intensity on either side of the ball in the fourth quarter.
At the 4:56 mark in the fourth quarter, the Wildcats cut the Utah lead to eight.
With 1:09 left in the game Arizona was within five points at 61-56.
Perdue was fouled on a 3-pointer and hit all three free throws to cut the Utah lead to 63-59 with 31.4 seconds to go in the game.
Tanyuel Welch fouled Utah guard LA Sneed with 8.7 seconds to go hoping for at least one missed free throw. Sneed missed both and the crowd went insane with “U of A” chants echoing off the McKale rafters.
Perdue hit a 3-pointer on an inbounds pass to cut the Utah lead down to one.
With 1.6 seconds to go, a jump ball was called. The arrow favored Arizona. Burke called a timeout to draw up a final play to try to get the win.
The ball went to 6-foot-7 post player Achol Magot under the basket but she didn’t get a good look and the quick layup hit off the rim, allowing the Utes to grab the win.
Perdue led the team with 16 points and added a rebound.
Lani Cornfield notched a double-double with 11 points and 10 assists.
“What we showed today is that we belong in this league,” Burke said. “What we showed today is that we’re not going to be a team that people are excited to play and that we are going to be a team that competes every night.”
Up Next:
Arizona will head to Boulder, Colo., to face the Colorado Buffaloes on New Year’s Eve. Tip is set for 7:00 p.m.
Recommended for you
