When Arizona needed Anthony Dell’Orso the most, the man from Down Under rose to a high level.
Dell’Orso scored 22 points — the most in his two-year Wildcat career after transferring from Campbell — to lead the fourth-ranked Wildcats to a 75-68 victory Wednesday night over No. 23 BYU, leading them to a sweep over the Cougars in the regular season.
The Australian’s scoring output off the bench helped loosen the load with Arizona’s second-leading scorer Koa Peat out indefinitely with a lower-leg muscle strain. Dell’Orso made 8 of 15 shots from the field, 4 of 8 from beyond the arc.
Dwayne Aristode (illness) missed his second straight game for Arizona.
BYU’s Richie Saunders, who had 18 points and nine rebounds in last month’s game at Provo, Utah, is out for the rest of the season with an ACL tear.
Arizona (24-2, 11-2 Big 12) snapped a two-game skid after achieving a school-record 23 straight wins to start the season.
BYU (19-7, 7-6) has lost five of its last seven games.
AJ Dybantsa, who scored 35 points, made a 3-pointer to help a 7-0 run that cut the lead to 73-68.
Robert Wright III (13 points after scoring a career-high 39 in a win over Colorado on Saturday) had a chance to cut into the lead but the ball was stripped of him in the lane by Motiejus Krivas.
Jaden Bradley tied his career high with his 10th assist following the steal, feeding Dell’Orso for a dunk with 32 seconds left to seal the victory.
Bradley had a double-double adding 12 points to his assist total.
Ivan Kharchenkov finished with 18 points and Brayden Burries had 11.
Dell’Orso reached 15 points in the first half on 5-of-9 shooting from the field, 3 of 5 from 3-point range, including a last-second shot from beyond the arc to give Arizona a 42-35 lead at halftime.
Dybantsa and Wright combined for 27 points in the first half on 9-of-20 shooting from the field.
Arizona outscored BYU 7-2 in one stretch to take a 53-43 lead with 13:39 left with the last four points by reserve forward Sidi Gueye on an alley-oop pass from Bradley and score off an offensive rebound.
Gueye took advantage of his added minutes in place of Peat. His 10 minutes were a season high. He finished with four points and a season-high four rebounds.
Dybantsa scored 14 of BYU’s first 18 points of the second half, including 12 consecutive points, to help keep the Cougars in range.
The Wildcats appeared to take control, increasing the lead to 69-53 with 5:25 left on a Burries 3-pointer.
BYU went on an 8-0 run, with five points from Kennard Davis Jr., to cut the lead to 69-61 with 3:19 left.
Arizona responded with two free throws by Bradley and a steal and dunk by Kharchenkov that increased the lead to 73-61 with 2:37 left.
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