The number seven is considered by many to be lucky, but for Arizona men’s basketball it’s quite the opposite. After losing to Colorado in Boulder by seven points, the Wildcats now sit at seven consecutive losses this season. The loss to the Buffs marks the second year in a row that Arizona has lost in Boulder.
Stretches in both halves where offense was nowhere to be found doomed the Wildcats as their conference record of 5-8 places them in 10th place in the Pac-12. UA trailed for the majority of the night, even tying the game briefly in the second half, but Colorado rode a 12-23 shooting performance in the final 20 minutes to pull out its fifth consecutive win.
Arizona tied the game at 36-36 early on in the second half, but CU’s McKinley Wright went on a personal 7-0 run to push the Buffaloes ahead. UA was never able to cut the deficit under two possessions the rest of the night.
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Free-throw shooting also plagued the Wildcats as they missed four of six from the line in the second half and six of 10 overall.
On the bright side, Arizona found consistent offense throughout the night from Ryan Luther and Dylan Smith who both caught fire from beyond the arc, each hitting four 3-pointers. Luther led the team with 17 points while Smith was right behind him at 16.
The ‘Cats statistically shot the ball well, especially in the second half, making 13-25 (52 percent), but went through three different stretches in the half where they didn’t score for over two minutes.
Brandon Randolph also may have started to turn the corner for UA as he scored nine points on 4-11 shooting, his highest total since Jan. 31 against ASU.
Arizona will come back home to face California Thursday night, where the losing streak has the best odds of coming to an end. The Bears are winless in 13 conference games so far.
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