LAS VEGAS — No. 3 Arizona men’s basketball had three chances to win the game late but lost its perfect record at UNLV on Tuesday night. The Wildcats (12-1) lost their first nonconference regular season game since December 2011.
UA forward Stanley Johnson turned the ball over with two seconds left and the Wildcats down by two.
Thanks to a 6-0 run with about 14 minutes left, the Runnin’ Rebels (8-3) tied the game at 50. Arizona regained the lead right away, but UNLV tied it at 62 with 5:18 left.
With 4:47 left, UNLV took the lead for good, going up 63-62.
Johnson missed a layup with about 33 seconds left and down by one. Forward Brandon Ashley missed a jump shot with about 10 seconds left and also losing by a point.
Johnson scored 13 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and had three steals.
Arizona point guard T.J. McConnell had 14 points, three steals and seven assists.
Forward Christian Wood scored 24 points for UNLV, and forward Rashad Vaughn added 21 points.
Arizona forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson struggled with foul trouble and was disqualified with 7:14 left. Brandon Ashley added 13 points and had nine rebounds for the Wildcats.
The Wildcats shot 43 percent from the field, 33 percent from the 3-point line and 59 percent from the free-throw line. The Runnin’ Rebels shot 44 percent from the field, 31 percent from behind the arc and 63 percent from the charity stripe.
The Runnin’ Rebels out-rebounded the Wildcats 46-33. Only three other teams (Missouri, San Diego State and Gonzaga) had done that before the game.
Game nuggets:
-The UA is 1-8 all-time against UNLV in Las Vegas
-Sean Miller is 1-2 against the Runnin’ Rebels
-There were four ties and five lead changes
-Arizona had eight steals and 19 points off of turnovers
-The Runnin’ Rebels are 1-3 against Pac-12 Conference teams this season, losing to Stanford at home, losing against ASU on the road, losing against Utah at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and defeating Arizona.
Check in with us later tonight for a full recap and an analysis column of tonight’s action.
