Arizona Basketball Bull-Rushed in Boise, Upset 89-68 in NCAA Tournament

The 13 seed Buffalo Bulls shot 50% from distance in their 89-68 rout of the 4 seed Arizona in the first round of the NCAA tournament – the second largest margin of victory by a 13 seed in the first round in tournament history.

The Arizona Basketball team saw their roller-coaster season come to an abrupt end on Thursday night, losing 89-68 to the Buffalo Bulls.

UB shot 34-62 from the field (54.8%), including 17-30 (56.7%) in the second half.

The Bulls led Arizona 40-38 at halftime and outscored the Wildcats 49-30 in the second frame.

Arizona Wildcats Basketball

Wes Clark, a 6-foot senior, led Buffalo with 25 points on 10/14 shooting. Clark shot 3/5 from distance, and went 2-2 at the line. Clark previously played for Buffalo Head Coach Nate Oats when both were at Romulus HS in Michigan.

Jeremy Harris was the second leading scorer for Buffalo, scoring 23 points on 10/20 shooting. CJ Massinburg followed with 19 on 6/11 shooting.

Dusan Ristic led the way for the Cats offensively with 16 points and 4 rebounds. Ristic shot 7/8 from the field, with his lone miss coming from behind the arc. He was a perfect 2-2 from the line, but was limited to 26 minutes due to foul trouble.

Deandre Ayton scored 14 points and collecting 13 rebounds for his 24th double-double, which is currently tied for the NCAA lead.

Rawle Alkins was easily the Wildcats’ most versatile player; he scored eight points on 4/9 shooting, grabbed five rebounds, dished out five assists to lead the team, and also notched a block and a steal.

Arizona received 13 points from its bench, outscored Buffalo in the paint 42-30, and was out-rebounded by the Bulls 32-31.

The Cats came out of the gates slow, finding themselves in a 19-12 hole. They fought back, however, and went on an 11-2 run to take the lead on a Dusan Ristic jumper with 7:55 remaining.

Both teams battled, and Arizona took its largest lead of the second half on another Ristic jumper that put the Cats ahead by 1, 46-45, with 17:23 to go in the game.

Wes Clark responded with a layup 15 seconds later, and the Wildcats never saw the lead again. The deficit reached it’s largest following a Wes Clark 3 ball to put the Bulls up by 25, 89-64.

That basket was immediately followed by a Nate Oats substitution timeout with 1:11 to go in the game to empty his bench.

Two Ira Lee free throws and a Lee jumper brought the game to its final margin of 21.

LSU currently owns the worst defeat as a four-seed by a 13-seed in NCAA tournament history. LSU lost to Navy in the 1985 NCAA tournament by the score of 78-55, a 23 point defeat. Vanderbilt lost to Siena 83-62 in the 2008 NCAA tournament, a 21 point defeat.

This marks the third straight year Sean Miller’s Wildcats have bowed out of the tournament in an upset; Arizona lost to (11) Xavier in 2017 as a three-seed and (11) Wichita St. in 2016 as a six-seed.

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The Wildcats end their season at 27-8, and end the year as the only Pac-12 team without double-digit losses. The Bulls improve to 27-8 and advance to take on Kentucky in the second round.