Call it a team of destiny. Call it luck. Call it payback for last year’s Pac-12 Championship game loss.
Call it whatever you want.
At the very least, the No. 3 Arizona (13-0, 1-0 Pac-12) basketball team knows how to put on a show.
Somehow, Arizona pulled out a thrilling, improbable 92-83 overtime win against Colorado (10-3, 0-1) in McKale Center on Thursday.
The Wildcats never led in the first half, coming the closest in an early 6-6 tie. Then they trailed for all but 9.2 seconds of the rest of the game.
On the heels of five straight points from Mark Lyons, Arizona tied the game at 80.
Colorado’s Sabatino Chen appeared to end the Wildcats’ valiance with what initially looked like a buzzer-beating 3-pointer, but after further review the ball was ruled to have left Chen’s hand after zeroes had already hit the clock and Arizona brought the game into overtime.
For most of the game, Arizona played closer to the 2011 version of the Wildcats. But, in overtime, the Wildcats looked like the No. 3 team in the nation.
Thanks to a scoring barrage from Lyons, who led all scorers with 24 points and went 10-of-10 from the free throw line, Arizona outscored the Buffs 12-3 in the overtime period.
Check back to dailywildcat.com shortly for more in-depth coverage of the thrilling overtime win, including quotes from head coach Sean Miller and players.