No. 5 Arizona Basketball rallies, survives against Washington

TUCSON, AZ – Despite trailing by as many as 14, No. 5 Arizona Basketball (14-1, 3-1) rallied to beat Washington (9-7, 1-4) by a 70-67 final. 

Fresh off of a big win over rival Arizona State on Saturday, No. 5 Arizona Basketball was back in action inside the friendly confines of the McKale Center to resume Pac-12 play.

Taking on a Washington team that just lost to UCLA by 26 at home, the Huskies came out firing, giving Arizona’s best shot for 40 minutes.

Despite Arizona falling behind by as many as 14 in the first half, and having to withstand a strong second-half surge by the Huskies, the Wildcats were able to hold on and earn the 70-67 win.

Arizona had its fair share of offensive struggles in this one, especially as the Wildcats shot 36.4 percent from the field including 33.3 percent from three.

Luckily, Azuolas Tubelis and Oumar Ballo had strong games, scoring 18 and 15 points respectively while Tubelis grabbed 10 rebounds to Ballo’s seven.

Beyond that, Pelle Larsson was big down the stretch, making plays on both ends of the floor to finish with 12 points and five rebounds, meanwhile, freshman Kylan Boswell had one of his best games yet, finishing with nine points, six rebounds, and six assists.

A competitive showing kept No. 5 Arizona Basketball on its heels, but luckily, the Wildcats were able to deliver the win.

This one did not start in Arizona’s favor. And from the tip, things looked off, especially as the Wildcats fell behind 11-3 early on. And unfortunately for Arizona, the Wildcats couldn’t seemingly get shots to fall for much of the first half as the Huskies outscored the Cats 27-21 over the next 11-plus minutes of the game to take a commanding, 38-24 lead.

Needing to show life, the Wildcats finally would come alive in the first, using a stifling defense that led to transition offense as Arizona closed out the half on a 17-4 run to cut Washington’s lead to one.

Hoping to carry that momentum into the second half, unfortunately, Arizona would look a little lackadaisical to start as the Huskies used an 8-2 run to lead 50-43 after the first seven-plus minutes of play.

Luckily, that didn’t last long as Arizona finally came to life, responding with an 8-0 run to take the 51-50 lead. Withstanding Washington’s competitive play, the Wildcats ended the game by outscoring the Huskies 19-17 over the final 9:38 to play to come away with the 70-67 win.

With the win, the Wildcats improve to 14-1 (3-1) on the season and will resume basketball action on Saturday when they take on Washington State at home. Tip-off against the Cougars on Saturday is set for 3:00 PM MST.

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