Arizona held on after Connecticut rallied from a 13-point second-half deficit to win 71-67 in Storrs on Wednesday night. Connecticut had a 22--7 run over a 10:32 run in the second half to take a 62-60 lead with 3:02 remaining. Arizona outscored UConn 11-5 from there to secure the win.
Jaden Bradley led Arizona with 21 points and continued to be the closer. Bradley had a huge layup with 16 seconds left in the game to extend the Arizona lead to 71-67. Eric Reibe missed two free throws for Connecticut with eight seconds left that could have cut into the Arizona lead.
Tobe Awaka made all four of his free-throw attempts in the final six seconds to ice the game. Silas Demary Jr. made a three-point shot in between the Awaka free throws to give UConn a chance. Koa Peat had 16 points and 12 rebounds and Mo Krivas had nine points and a career high 14 rebounds.
Reibe led UConn with 15 points and had four rebounds before fouling out. Four players finished in double figures for UConn. Solo Ball scored 14, Demary had 13 and Jaylin Stewart finished with 10. Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd praised freshman Ivan Kharchenkov for his defense on Alex Karaban.
Karaban played on UConn's 2023 and 2024 national championship teams. Karaban scored eight points on two of five from the field with three rebounds. Connecticut made 44.6 percent of its shots from the field, but only eight of 25 on three-point attempts.
Arizona outrebounded UConn 43-23, had a 42-24 advantage on points in the paint, a 16-5 advantage in second chance points and 13-7 off the bench. Arizona committed 10 turnovers to five for UConn. The Wildcats shot 51.9 percent and committed only two turnovers in the second half.
What's next for Arizona?
Arizona is off until Monday when it hosts Denver at 8:30 PM Mountain Standard Time on the CBS Sports Network. Denver has losses to Seattle, Washington and Texas-San Antonio and a win over Montana State.