Arizona Wildcats Basketball: Cat’s long road trip is finally over

The Arizona Wildcats basketball team proved they have a lot of heart and never give up. Even so, they only won one out of three games on their recent road trip and left Los Angeles empty-handed.

USC is undefeated at home this season, proudly owns an overall 14-3 record and sits at the top the Pac-12 one spot over the Wildcats. After defeating the No. 7 Arizona Wildcats basketball team in quadruple overtime, they have to feel pretty good about themselves. After all, they played in front of the largest crowd they’ve drawn yet; a season-high 6,854 at the Galen Center in which a third were Arizona Wildcats fans.

When the Trojans and the Bruins come to McKale, they will face a sold-out hostile arena, it will not be easy for them to leave with a win.

Sean Miller said pre-game that the Wildcats faced one of the most difficult road trips in the season with visiting three schools. First they visited their rivals in an away game with a hostile crowd. Then they traveled to Los Angeles to face UCLA, a team who beat Kentucky. Lastly, they faced a much-improved team in the USC Trojans.

Miller pointed out that the Trojans have some returnees this year, and with their new coach they are making waves.

Losing to the Trojans and the Bruins in basketball is not something you saw coming, or ever thought you would live through, but like a nightmare, it did happen.

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If the Cats would have beaten all three teams, they may have moved up in the rankings, and if they lost all three, they might have dropped out of the standings. They won the first game against ASU decisively, then lost by three at the buzzer in Westwood, followed by a quadruple overtime loss by two points at the Galen Center. The fans showed up in droves and made their presence known, but it wasn’t enough.

Most Wildcats fans we spoke to would disagree that Justin Simon, in the fourth overtime, fouled USC’s Elijah Stewart, it looked more like a jump ball. Fans watching at home say that Justin hit Stewart on the forearm. That said, the game shouldn’t have to come down to one call. Stewart posted a season-high 27 points.

Full highlights of all four overtime periods:

The only saving grace here is that the Cats were not blown out in the last two games and did stage exciting comebacks in both. We will all find out on Monday what happens to their ranking, but there is still a ton of basketball to play Wildcats fans.

Former Arizona Wildcats guard and record breaker Matt Muehlebach, a current Pac-12 Networks analyst, thought the game was one of the best ever in Pac-12 history.

Comebacks are only fun when you end up winning. When you lose a close game, you start grabbing for answers. The Wildcats were plagued once again with having to defend a team who could shoot 3-point shots. You might assume that USC shot and made way more 3-pointers than the Cats, right? No Sir, Arizona went 10-23 with

Allonzo Trier

making 4-10, and USC made 9-24, with Stewart making 5-8.

Trier played for 53 minutes! He ended up with 25 points by shooting 10-19 field goals, made four 3-pointers and made one out of four free-throws. He showed down the stretch that he was the go-to player making exciting shots and playing with confidence.

We now know why Trier missed his free throws, he broke his fourth metacarpal on his shooting hand. Miller issued a statement and Zo could be out for 4-6 weeks. Big blow for the team, hopefully depth in the roster will help.

Gabe York surpassed Trier with playing the most minutes on the team at  55 and was a perfect 6-6 on his free-throws. York shot 50% making 6-12 fields goals and 3-5 3-pointers. Miller put the ball in York’s hands as PG in the fourth quarter, although you might have seen Trier asking Miller during Stewart’s free-throws if he could bring the ball up the court. Miller motioned a definite ‘NO,’ although we only guess at what the interaction was about.

Kaleb Tarczewski has come back from injury with a vengeance. He made a huge Derrick Williams-ish block in the fourth overtime. Referee’s once again slowed him down in the first half with foul calls; he and his fans were frequently surprised by calls on the Cats.

Seems sometimes all he has to do is stand there, and referee’s blow whistles. Zeus played for 40 minutes and scored 16 points, making 2-2 of his free-throws, he recorded a double-double earning 12 rebounds.

The Pac-12 referees want you to believe that a seven-foot center plays for 40 minutes, only gets fouled once in a quadruple overtime game.

Unbelievable stat, is it not? You can’t keep yourself from scratching your head on that one. Not only that, center Dusan Ristic was only fouled once during the game as well. In all, the Wildcats shot sixteen free-throws and in contrast, USC shot 33, that’s double! The total foul count between the teams was 40; the game was played for 60 minutes.

What comes with a quadruple overtime win? Stats, lots of stats. Here are just a few of the most interesting.

Two more free throws, one more foul called, one more basket, or one less foul called against the Wildcats, and they could have come home with a win against USC and/or UCLA. It was that close.

More wildcats: Arizona Wildcats Basketball: Wildcats rise on stats and record lists

Proud of the Cats for fighting back, for not giving up, the 49 rebounds, and for keeping their cool under the circumstances. Disappointed in the silly mistakes, the Pac-12 referees, and the 19 turnovers.

On to the next one! Arizona HAS TO beat the Huskies, absolutely has to!