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Arizona Wildcats Survive in OT 75-73

By Mark Barrera

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This weekend’s Wooden Legacy tournament has a potential match-up with Michigan State. But Santa Clara was first in the line for Arizona, and it proves to be an unexpected fight.

After some inconsistent play early on, Miller and the Wildcats look to put finally together a full game.

Ok everyone, take a deep breath and exhale. Check your heart rate, get up and walk around. Are we good? Alright, let’s begin…

Sean Miller and the Arizona Wildcats enter the Wooden Legacy tournament as a top favorite to win the weekend. In the end, there is a potential match-up against Michigan State. But first, Arizona must avoid the upset and beat Santa Clara. Easy right?

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Coach Miller switched things up for the starting five tonight. The first group to walk out on court were Kadeem Allen, Gabe York, Ryan Anderson, Kaleb Tarczewski, and Allonzo Trier. Trier was starting and replaced Mark Tollefsen in the starting line-up.

This was another game where Arizona needed to show how powerful they can be. Santa Clara was 0-5 entering the game as a 22.5 point underdog. The teams traded punches early on, with several Arizona players scoring.

Early in the game you could see that Santa Clara could not stop Arizona once they got inside. York had a nice quick dish to Zeus for a dunk. Kadeem Allen showed a lot of burst off of the dribble and got an inside lay-up. York was quickly moving inside as well, coming off of screens, and scored on a floater. With the depth Arizona has and the long weekend ahead, Miller went to his bench early but didn’t get the result he was looking for.

Nov 26, 2015; Fullerton, CA, USA; Arizona Wildcats guard Kadeem Allen (5) is defended by Santa Clara Broncos forward Nate Kratch (43) during the first half at Titan Gym. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Just when things were going to start clicking, the turnovers began to creep up. In the first eight minutes of the game, Arizona had five turnovers. The passes were lazy, players were dribbling too much, and Santa Clara was drawing offensive fouls on Arizona. In hopes of stopping the poor play, Miller quickly went back to his starters.

After Arizona had begun to slow down their game, the passes and spacing began to look cleaner. The two teams were trading shots for the first eight minutes of the game, and then Arizona quickly turned a three-point lead into a 17 point lead, the score was 32-15 with 4:50 remaining in the first half.

Just as Arizona stretched the lead to 17, Jared Brownridge for Santa Clara started what would be a torching of Arizona’s defense. Parker Jackson-Cartwright and Dusan Ristic had a couple fouls and allowed Santa Clara to get closer, and the score was 32-18.

After a couple more Arizona turnovers and a missed three by York (York only made out of the 11 he shot), Brownridge scored his 13th point of the evening and cut the lead to nine; the score was now 32-23.

After Allen had committed Arizona’s 9th turnover, Santa Clara cut the lead even to five and trailed 32-27. Arizona would turn the ball over for the 10th time before heading into the half with a 34-27 lead. Santa Clara went on a 12-2 run to cut Arizona’s 17 point lead down to 7.

Nov 26, 2015; Fullerton, CA, USA; Arizona Wildcats head coach Sean Miller is held back by a referee during the second half against the Santa Clara Broncos at Titan Gym. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Coach Miller had this to say at the half:

"“Brownridge can score on any team and we’re having trouble guarding him. Our zone offense needs to get going. We are 1/11 from 3, and we need to take better shots, and do a better job of getting the ball inside. I probably subbed too much.”"

Beginning the second half, Brownridge and Santa Clara picked up right where they left off. They closed the gap down to just two points (34-32,) extending their 17-2 run. After the 12th turnover by Arizona, Brownridge scored AGAIN to tie the game up at 34-34.

Miller had been throwing several players at Brownridge all night, but no one could stop him. Elliott Pitts got the final call to stay on him all night, but at this point it didn’t matter who guarded him. Arizona could just not stop him.

Ryan Anderson finally stopped the Santa Clara streak. Doing what he does best: grabbing the rebound with pure strength, and getting the put-back while surrounded by several players. His second chance points would keep the Wildcats in the game.

After Pitts forced Brownridge to turnover the ball, Anderson was there to clean up and made a strong dunk. This seemed to light a fire in the team, a fire that seemed to be missing all night. Arizona was able to stop Santa Clara and push the fast break. PJC found Tollefsen down low for an easy lob, and Tollefsen flushed it with the reverse dunk.

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At this point in the game, Arizona was one for 13 from behind the arc and would end up shooting only 13.6% or an abysmal 3 out of 22 in three-point attempts. What was frustrating was that the team continued to settle for threes most of the night. It’s a double-edged sword when you think about it. When you’re in a funk, you don’t want to stop immediately. Sometimes you need just to see one fall in. But if you continue to miss, you’re hurting your team more and more. In the most opportune time, Trier finally ended the drought for Arizona by hitting a corner three.

Just as it had happened for most of the game, Brownridge and the Broncos were right there to respond. Midway through the second half, Santa Clara was shooting 70% from the field. Yeah… 70%. The Arizona defense was not the typical defense we have seen from a Miller coached team. And with just under nine minutes left, the game was tied at 54 a piece.

Nov 26, 2015; Fullerton, CA, USA; Arizona Wildcats forward Ryan Anderson (12) is defended by Santa Clara Broncos guard Jarvis Pugh (4) during the first half at Titan Gym. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Tollefsen, Pitts, York, and Anderson were doing all they could down the stretch to close out the game. Tollefsen made a much-needed floater put the Wildcats up by two, 56-54. After York had hit two free throws, Santa Clara answered right back with a three. After more trading of baskets, the game was tied up ay 65 with 6.7 seconds left.

Santa Clara had a chance to go up 2, but their player missed both free throws. After a desperation shot by York, this game was headed into Overtime.

Sometime during the second half, Tarczewski fell awkwardly on his left ankle, not the ankle he was resting preseason. He tried to walk it off, but no doing, he sat out the rest of the game with ice on his ankle.

York and Anderson were the answer for the Wildcats in OT. The game continued to stay close for the entire extra five minutes. York, with a shooter mentality, refused to stop. He hit a much-needed 3, not only for the team, but for him since it was the only three he was to make tonight. After an Arizona stop, York took the ball inside to earn an and-1. Making one out of two free-throws to put Arizona up 71-68.

The Arizona Wildcats fans in the stands cranked up their intensity, answering the requests of their team and the gym was rocking!

Brownridge drew the 4th foul on Pitts and was able to hit both free throws, increasing his scoring total to 41 points on the night. After a game break, Miller drew up the perfect play to get an alley-oop lob to Anderson. He finished the play, fighting through pain, with a big throw down. With Arizona up 73-70, Brownridge did it again, with a step-back three over Pitts, making his total now 44 on the night.

With 35 seconds left, and the game tied at 73, Miller went to his go-to player, Gabe York. York was able to draw a blocking foul, but only hit one of two free throws. After costly turnovers by Santa Clara, Ryan Anderson was able to put the game to rest with one of two free throws, as the Wildcats were able to survive 75-73.

Arizona faces a tough team in the second round against Providence, and one of the best guards in the nation, Kris Dunn. If Arizona plays defense like they did tonight, Dunn could have a career day. Instead, it was a career game for Brownridge who seemed to draw a foul every time he came down the court and scored 44 points including all 15 free throws he shot.  The Wildcats will need to be at their best on defense to stop Dunn.

Next: Arizona Volleyball: Finish November Strong and the NCAA Tournament Awaits

After a couple of close calls, the Wildcats received a huge eye opener. Arizona very easily could have lost this game. If Santa Clara made their free throws at the end of the first half, we could be having a different discussion. But this is maybe exactly what the Wildcats needed. Maybe this is the awakening moment for Arizona.

I sure hope so, because if we get past Providence, there is a good shot Arizona faces Michigan State. This is a match-up I want to see, but Arizona needs to dig down and figure things out, and fast and without Kaleb most probably out at least on Friday (pure speculation).

Some take-a-ways from the game:

Sean Miller after the game summed it up, “We got a heavy dose of a lot of lessons.”

In the end, it’s always nice to get the W.

BearDown Arizona!

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