PAC-12 Tournament: Arizona Basketball rallied but fell to USC in round one

Arizona Basketball took on the USC Trojans in the first game of the PAC-12 Tournament with the hopes to move on, but unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be.

It’s a one and done tournament, so this was a must-win for Arizona Basketball to have any hopes for the NCAA Tournament. T-Mobile Arena is big, but you could barely find any USC Trojans fans, most folks in attendance were wearing the big Block /A\!

Brandon Williams came out on fire until he got his first foul, hitting a three then making both free-throws off of a foul.

Chase Jeter and Brandon Randolph started the game on the bench while Ira Lee and Dylan Smith got the call. Jeter and Randolph entered the game about four minutes in.

Doutrive entered the game in the first five minutes as well, but it took one play for Miller to put Williams back in.

The Wildcats bench was fully engaged, then shocked as Benny Boatwright obviously committed an offensive foul pushing IRa Lee, but they called it on Devonaire Doutrive,

A sign of things to come?

Turnovers would be something to watch in this game, and with 13 minutes left, Arizona had committed three to one from USC who was also making 67% of their three’s vs. Arizona’s 40%.

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Thank goodness Williams makes his free throws, he kept the Wildcats in the game. Down by 10, Williams drove to the basket for two, then got the rebound and drew a foul making one more.

USC was in the penalty with eight fouls with 6:24 left in the half. That’s when Arizona stopped turning over the ball, the Doutrive took a charge and the energy started changing, the WIldcats only down seven. Ryan Luther played some tough defense, then Justin Coleman committed his second foul in 30 seconds, Miller called a timeout with 3:58 to go. It worked and Coleman brought the WIldcats within five. Dylan Smith got the Cats within three and with a USC turnover, the Wildcats fans broke into UOFA Chants! Now that’s more like it!

Each Wildcat contributed and played with heart.

Luther tied up the game at 38 with a minute to go and then Randolph hit a layup to pull the Cats ahead only to have the lead taken away from them by Thornton who tied it up as both teams headed to the locker room. The Wildcats hit their last six shots in the half.

Boatwright continued to be a threat and hit back to back three’s to start the second half but the Cats were out-rebounding the Trojans who had committed 17 fouls vs. eight.

Things started to fall apart with 10:34 to go, the Cats, down 61-45, couldn’t make their shots and the Trojans couldn’t miss. The bench lost their energy as well, the team needed to start scoring fast, even though the Trojans hadn’t committed a foul in ten minutes, which is hard to believe. It was time to drive to the basket and get some of their guys into foul trouble.

A glimmer of hope, Williams, Smith and Lee cranked up the volume! I have never seen Ira jump so high, he grabbed a key rebound as Alex Barcello entered the game and played point guard.

Out of a time out, Boatwright hit an air ball which was fun, followed by a nice slam dunk by Lee. Both teams were in the bonus with seven minutes to go.

Finally, Williams started driving the basket and the refs found their whistle and MIller had the team press but Jeter couldn’t catch a break triple and quadruple teamed and the ball bouncing around the rim on several shots. Doutrive found a three to keep the Cats in the game, but with four minutes left hopes were dashing. Arizona was down 17 points, 74-57 with 3:01 to go.

Luther found his mid-range shot and that should have been part of the strategy. Smith hit a three and brought the deficit down to 13, there was still a chance with 2:14 left, intentional fouls and free-throws with a bit of luck and there was a chance. Miller still had two timeouts but the Cats were down 15 with about a minute to go, they stopped pressing and gave up on winning.

In the end the Trojans were too much for the Wildcats and they ended up falling by 13, 87-65. You had to think the locker room was hard to be in, especially for Luther and Coleman. You know what Wildcats fans say, “Once a Wildcat, always a Wildcat.” Bear Down and just know that is not the way the team wanted it to go down and if you think otherwise or some expert says that’s the case, it just plain isn’t.