Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd stated that the Wildcats have to be cleaner at the end of games and not put it in the refs' hands. Leading by nine with a minute left, Arizona held on late for an 86-83 win. A few questionable calls went against Arizona in the final minute.
Leading 83-77 with 37 seconds remaining, Ivan Karchenkov turned the ball over for Arizona. Arizona guard Brayden Burries committed a Class A technical flagrant foul on BYU star A.J. Dybansta on the subsequent possession.
Dybansta made his two free throws but missed a jump shot as BYU maintained possession because of the flagrant foul. Burries split a pair of free throws to extend the Arizona lead to five points. BYU answered with an alley-oop by Kenard Davis Jr. to cut the deficit to three points.
Jaden Bradley was called for a questionable offensive foul on the inbounds pass that could have gone either way. Keba Keita made a layup for BYU to cut the Arizona lead to 84-83 with 16 seconds remaining.
"I have an all-American point guard...I don't know if he got fouled or not...It's not too often you see a jump ball and then no calls like that...at the end of a game....I'm really confident with the ball in JB's hands and I kind of wanted to save our timeout...In hindsight, I would have done something different...you just can't put it in the refs' hands....You got to be cleaner....We gave up free offensive free throw rebounds....Ivan had the ball, had it over his head, they made a nice play, tipped it out. JB has the ball...they make a play...then, AJ picks up the one and we foul him, so he doesn't get in, it turns into a flagrant one...."Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd
Uncharacteristically, Bradley committed a turnover on the next Arizona possession. Lloyd called a timeout for Arizona. Bradley played exceptional tight defense on Robert Wright III as he drove into the lane, Burries blocked Wright's shot and made two free throws as Arizona earned the win.
Arizona miscues that included senior forward Tobe Awaka and Burries each splitting free throw attempts in the last minute doomed the Wildcats. Lloyd questioned the referees without blaming them for the game getting close.
"It felt like everything at the end kind of went against us, but you know what? Our guys have competitive character and hung in there and found a way, but that easily could have that easily could have went the other way for sure."
Ultimately, Arizona deserves the praise for overcoming the near collapse and making the plays at the end of the game to preserve the win. Arizona has four days off before playing at Arizona State on Saturday. Expect Arizona to use the days off partially to work on playing cleaner to close out games.