No. 4-ranked UA loses a close one to No. 5-ranked UCLA, 77-72, in a Pac-12 showdown Saturday night. Allonzo Trier (above) scored 28 points for the Wildcats.
TUCSON - UCLA had five players score in double figures and collect 13 offensive rebounds to beat the Wildcats 77-72 and snap UA’s 21-game homecourt winning streak Saturday at McKale Center.
The loss pushed Arizona (26-4, 15-2) back into a first-place tie in the Pac-12 and made a slightly somber senior day for UA guard Kadeem Allen, who badly missed a final 3-point try with eight seconds left that could have tied the game at 75.
The Wildcats had never before lost in a senior day under coach Sean Miller.
The Bruins (26-3, 13-3) outrebounded UA 34-29 overall and scored 19 second-chance points on 13 offensive rebounds, collecting nine offensive rebounds in the second half when they overcame a four-point
UA halftime lead.
Allonzo Trier led UA with a careerhigh 28 points, but the Wildcats made just 4 of 18 3-pointers after making 11 of 20 on Thursday against USC.
UA is back tied with Oregon at 15-2 in the Pac-12 after the Ducks beat Stanford earlier Saturday. Oregon holds the tiebreaker for the No. 1 seed in the Pac-12 tournament based on their Feb. 4 win over Arizona. Both schools have only games with their instate rivals remaining.
Up 43-39 at halftime, Arizona went ahead by up to seven points early after halftime, but the stats for both teams were remarkably similar through the first seven minutes of the second half: Both were shooting about 48 percent from the field but less than 30 percent from 3-point range. And while Arizona outrebounded UCLA overall 24-20, the Bruins had converted six offensive rebounds into 10 second-chance points (six more than UA had).
UCLA’s Thomas Welsh scored six unanswered points to take their first lead of the second half, 54-53, with 12:52 left.
The Bruins then parlayed that into a 19-4 overall run that gave them a 67-57 lead with 6:47 left, when Miller called his final timeout. The Bruins had converted nine offensive rebounds into 17 secondchance points at that point, including a rebound basket from Holiday after Ball missed a 3-pointer.
UCLA kept the lead from there, though a 3-pointer from Trier cut it to 75-70 entering the final minute and Lauri Markkanen hit a pair of free throws to cut it to 75-72 with 29 seconds left. But even though Aaron Holiday missed the front end of a one-on-one with 19 seconds left, giving the Wildcats to tie it with a 3-pointer, Allen then missed his 3-pointer and two free throws by Bryce Alford gave UCLA the final five-point margin.
Allen is still nursing a dislocated pinkie finger on his shooting hand and was seen grabbing at it on several occasions during the game.
In the first half, Trier had 16 points and Jackson-Cartwright made some late-half heroics to lead Arizona to a 4339 halftime lead.
UA had a number of key recruits watching the game including 2017 fivestar talents Brian Bowen of Michigan and Trevon Duval of Delaware. Duval is taking an official visit to UA while Bowen is visiting unofficially (unpaid) because he has already taken an official visit to Tucson.