Arizona Blows 23-Point Lead but Holds on for 73-66 Win at USC

Arizona has only won two games the last three trips to LA. The Wildcats looked to start the LA trip out right with a win over USC.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but after blowing a 23-point lead in the second half, Arizona held on for a 73-66 win over USC.

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Lauri Markannen led the team with 23 points, going 5-6 from deep, 8-12 from the field, also pulling down eight rebounds, but it was his off-the-glass three with 33 seconds left that helped seal the win.

Lauri was one of four Wildcats who scored in double figures on the night. Rawle Alkins scored 14, Kadeem Allen had 11, and Kobi Simmons finished with 10.

Dusan Ristic had only four points on the night, taking zero shots in the first half, as Arizona struggled mightily against the zone. Dusan had been putting up large scoring numbers as of late. Thursday night he made his presence known on the glass, pulling down 12 rebounds.

It was an ugly start to the game, with a good 10-12 minutes in the second half, finishing with an ugly final four minutes. In five out of the last eight games, Arizona has struggled to put the final nail in the coffin.

Both teams struggled greatly shooting the ball in the first half. USC’s zone defense gave Arizona fits for the full 20 minutes while Arizona’s defense forced USC into rushed shots. But even with the Wildcats playing pretty good defense, part of the Trojans’ 26 percent shooting was due to him missing wide-open shots.

Sean Miller had been going down low to Dusan often as of late. When the team went inside, even against zones, everything ran smoothly. Thursday night was a different story and Arizona couldn’t do much in the post.

What kept Arizona ahead was the three-point shooting. Rawle hit his first two shots from deep. Lauri also made an early three-pointer to help lead the Wildcats. Even though the Wildcats had early success from deep, they began to settle with deep, contested shots.

Since the zone was giving Arizona so much trouble, the Wildcats used up a lot of shot clock on several possessions. The ball would move side to side but rarely down low. If they did get the ball somewhat close to the post, USC forced a turnover.

The Wildcats took a 10-point lead into halftime, 29-19. One of the oddest stats in the first half was Arizona taking zero free throws. Arizona has been one of the best teams in the conference, even in the nation, at getting to the foul line.

When you rarely go inside, there’s a very good chance you won’t get to the line. Everything on offense looked out-of-sync, something Miller agreed with heading into the break.

“We didn’t look confident. We didn’t look comfortable. USC’s zone really took our guys off of their game. If we can get the ball into the middle, low post, we need to get it there. Our defense played well, but USC also missed a lot of open shots.”

For a solid 15 minutes in the second half, Arizona owned USC, looking like a completely different team. USC went to a man-to-man zone which allowed Arizona to attack at will. Immediately Miller went inside to Dusan for his first bucket of the game.

Rawle finally got Arizona on the stat sheet with the first free throws of the night. And after Lauri hit from deep, the Wildcats quickly scored 10 points to go up 39-21 and pushed to a 23-6 run to take a 44-21 lead with just over 15 minutes left in the game.

Arizona and USC began trading baskets for the next six minutes. At the 9:11 mark is when déjà vu set in as USC, just as several other teams have, went on a run to make things interesting.

USC went on a 17-4 run to close the gap to single digits, 60-52, with just under five minutes to play. Arizona’s defense went out the door along with their offense. When asked about the second half meltdown, Dusan was short but to the point, “We stopped playing defense,” he said.

The bleeding didn’t stop there. Elijah Stewart (20 points) and Jordan McLaughlin (14 points, eight assists) pushed their team to continue attacking the Wildcats. With 1:03 remaining in the game, USC pulled within 67-64, the closest it had been since the first half.

With 33 seconds left, Lauri hit a shot-clock beating desperation three, off the glass, to give Arizona a 70-64 lead. USC wouldn’t get any closer than 70-66 as the Wildcats held on for the 73-66 win.

In the post-game radio interview, Sean Miller was very vocal about his disappointment with his team’s lack of effort. Simply put, he laid into his guys.

“I’m very excited about winning. Nobody has to remind me of how hard it is to win on the road. We had a good week of practice, and it was great to leave here with a win. Having said that, there’s a bigger story within our own team.”

“We’ve been that first half team defensively. I think tonight we played for about 26 minutes, then the final 14, give USC a lot of credit. Our ability to endure, to play for 40 minutes, to give everything you have for Arizona, is non-existent. I wish I had an answer. I don’t. Some of it might be depth, some certainly playing a youthful group.”

“This isn’t the first time a team went on a 30-11 run. I think it’s about the sixth time, and we’ve hung on like this a number of times. It’s really a bad sign moving forward. As thrilled as we are for a win, if you continue to see teams go on large runs, you have to address it if you’re the coach.”

“What I’m going to start doing is sitting a couple of guys, and everyone will know the reason they’re sitting is he’s not giving effort, he’s not playing hard enough. One thing you can control as a team is your effort level. We gave up on our effort level too many times in the second half. Now you say, well coach that happens. It’s happened ten times.”

Miller also went on to say UCLA will win by 30 if the team continues to struggle and allow teams to come back in the second half.

Thursday night was an ugly win, but there are lessons to be learned. At the end of the day, the players know they can’t keep this up. It’s a win, on the road, in L.A, and that is huge.

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Arizona is now 6-0 in Pac-12 play heading into Saturday’s showdown with high-scoring UCLA. As Miller mentioned, if Arizona has a similar second half let down at Pauley, UCLA will win handily. For now, with rest coming Friday, Arizona can re-charge, re-focus, and look to show the Bruins they haven’t seen a defense like what Arizona has. Arizona’s tip-off 1:00 pm PST/2:00 pm MST and will air on CBS. BEAR DOWN Arizona!