The University of Arizona men’s basketball team (15-6, 9-1 Big 12) secured its fourth straight victory on the road, winning 81-72 against rivals ASU (12-9, 3-7 Big 12) on Saturday, Feb. 1 at 11 a.m. in Desert Financial Arena. The Wildcats stunned the Sun Devils in what remained a narrow match until the final minutes, where Arizona pulled ahead with a 9-point lead.
Despite being ejected from the game after receiving two technical fouls, Caleb Love led the Wildcats with 27 points, including going 5-of-9 from beyond the arc. He also tacked on six rebounds and seven assists. Following Love was Jaden Bradley, who scored 14 points and went a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line. Bradley would grab four rebounds and dish out two assists.
First half
Basheer Jihad, the Sun Devils’ second-leading scorer, put up the first shot of the night with a 3-pointer. It didn’t take long for Arizona to come back, as Trey Townsend and Anthony Dell’Orso shot back-to-back jumpers, taking the 4-3 lead.
Tapping into an offensive rhythm, Carter Bryant sank a 3-pointer to extend Arizona’s lead to 5 points. With 12:37 left in the first half, the Sun Devils scored only 7 points, trailing the Wildcats 13 points after a layup by Tobe Awaka.
The Wildcats proceeded to turn the ball over five times, prompting a 9-0 ASU scoring run. Their run would be capped off by a BJ Freeman 3-point jumper. Arizona remained scoreless for three straight minutes, falling to an 18-17 score. Miller hit a 3-pointer, lifting the Sun Devils by 2-points at 21-19.
Notably, a technical foul was handed out to Sun Devil head coach Bobby Hurley reacting to a foul called on Miller. Hurley distressfully proceeded to remove his tie. Shortly after, Bradley found a layup on the fast break but received a technical foul for a slight reaction toward the ASU bench.
With under five minutes remaining in the first half, Bradley tied the game at 23 with a made layup. The two programs were separated within a few points of each other, battling for the lead. Conrad Martinez scored a 3-pointer, getting within 1-point of the 29-28 ASU lead.
Jihad hit a layup in the final four seconds of the first period, but the Wildcats went into halftime with a 1-point lead over ASU, 35-34. Love led Arizona in the first half with 9 points, four rebounds and three assists while Bradley had 8 points. Notably, the Wildcats went a perfect 8-of-8 on free throws in the first half.
Second half
ASU went into the second half ready to score as Miller pulled up with a 3-point shot, reclaiming the 2-point lead. Following a layup by Love, Jihad made an impressive dunk to go up by 5 points with 17:21 remaining, leading to an Arizona timeout.
Soon after, Love hit a shot from beyond the arc, followed by a Bryant steal as he attempted to finish at the rim, but was denied by Jayden Quaintance. Both teams struggled with untimely shots and constant turnovers, resulting in limited success. Mason Alston found a 5-point lead for the Sun Devils after making a 3-pointer, but the advantage was slowly erased by four free throws taken by KJ Lewis.
Following his success from the line, Lewis scored a jumper to take a 48-47 lead with 15:29 left in the second half. Battling a tight score, Bryant gave Arizona a 6-point lead that was answered with a 3-point jumper shot by Alston to shrink the score to 58-55.
With 7:40 left in the game, Quaintance made a dunk and tied the game at 62 for the Sun Devils. Shortly after, Arizona found a spark as Henri Veesaar came up with back-to-back dunks as the Wildcats extended their lead to 68-62.
Love drained his fifth 3-pointer of the night, extending Arizona’s lead to 76-69. Veesaar scored a crucial layup, putting Arizona ahead by 6 points, leading 78-72 with under two minutes remaining in the game.
The final minutes of the match-up included two ejections on Love and BJ Freeman after an altercation between the two players when Freeman made contact with Love. Ultimately, the Sun Devils could not find a way to come back, resulting in an 81-72 Arizona victory. With this victory, the Wildcats mark their current 9-1 Big 12 record and continue making their case for the conference championship.
Looking ahead
The Wildcats remain on the road to face BYU as they head to Provo, Utah for the matchup on Tuesday, Feb. 4 at 9 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN.
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