Arizona Basketball survives an overtime thriller over TCU

SAN DIEGO, CA – It was a battle, but Arizona Basketball (33-3, 18-2) came away with the thrilling overtime win over TCU (21-13, 8-10). 

It wasn’t the prettiest game, but it is all about surviving and thriving at this point. And Arizona Basketball needed all 45 minutes of its basketball action on Sunday evening to come away with the thrilling, 85-80 overtime win.

Led behind the 30 points and eight rebounds from Bennedict Mathurin, the sophomore wing was in dominant form on Sunday, as he virtually willed Wildcats to victory in this one.

In addition, Christian Koloko was once again dominant on both ends of the floor, finishing his evening with 28 points, 12 rebounds, and three blocks.

However, it was truly a group effort in this one as Arizona earned yet another win, and live to see another day in the NCAA Tournament.

Weathering inconsistent play and officiating, Arizona Basketball was able to escape the weekend as winners of the San Diego region.

Arizona would start the game a bit flat, falling behind 8-0 early on. And luckily, the Wildcats would respond, tying the game at 17-17, and briefly taking the lead 18-17 before a battle would ensue in this one.

And with every run the Wildcats had in this one, the Horned Frogs seemingly had a response, matching Arizona shot for shot in this one for much of the first half.

Arizona would pull ahead 34-29 with 4:01 to play in the half, but unable to create separation, TCU battled back, trailing Arizona just 39-36 at the half.

Hoping to use a strong effort in the second half, TCU would open the half on a 14-5 run to take a six-point lead with just 17:02 to play in this one.

Luckily for us, Arizona would not panic and would start to attack, eventually taking the lead at 54-52, and even built a fairly comfortable 67-58 lead just moments later.

Unfortunately, as we said, TCU would not go away, climbing back in and regaining the lead at 68-67 and eventually pushing their lead to 70-67 with 3:39 to play.

Despite trailing 75-72 with 36 seconds to play, Arizona would not panic as Mathurin rose up and sank a deep three that tied this one and sent the game to overtime.

In overtime, Arizona would battle, relying on some big buckets from Mathurin and Koloko as the Wildcats were able to escape with the 85-80 win over the Horned Frogs.

So where does Arizona Basketball go from here?

With the win, Arizona improves to 33-3 (18-2) and now will have a few days off before playing Houston in the Sweet 16, who is fresh off a thrashing of 4th seeded Illinois. Houston is also coming off a Final Four run from last year.

Listen to the team following the Wildcats’ win!