Arizona basketball’s rally turns futile in loss to Colorado
BOULDER, Colo. – Bennedict Mathurin dug himself out of Sean Miller’s doghouse, but he couldn’t completely get the Arizona Wildcats past an early 17-point deficit in Saturday’s 82-79 loss to Colorado.
The UA held slight leads throughout much of the second half thanks to Mathurin’s 22 points and some aggressive drives from guard James Akinjo, Colorado’s Evan Battey ultimately won it by hitting all four free throws he took in the final 15 seconds despite suffering an apparent injury after a late foul from UA’s Terrell Brown.
The loss dropped Arizona to 13-6 overall and 7-6 in the Pac-12, continuing the Wildcats’ tough history in Boulder. They have now lost four straight at the CU Events Center and are 2-6 at Colorado since the Buffs joined the conference in 2011-12.
Arizona has now lost three of its past four games. Three of the Wildcats’ next four games come against the conference’s top teams: Oregon, UCLA and USC.
Colorado improved to 14-5 overall and 8-4 in the Pac-12.
The game was tied at 76 entering the final minute when Akinjo drove inside and tried to pick up a foul. The Wildcats lost possession when it was ruled a jump ball, with the possession arrow going to Colorado.
McKinley Wright then drove downcourt and hit a 12-footer. The Wildcats pulled back even with 23 seconds left on a Christian Koloko dunk.
Battey then was fouled by Mathurin and hit both ensuring free throws to make it 80-78 with 15 seconds left, giving UA a final possession to win or send the game into overtime. Kerr Kriisa inbounded the ball to Brown and then raced to the left wing, while Brown drove inside and picked up a foul with 5.6 seconds left.
Brown missed the first free throw, forcing the Wildcats to foul on the Buffs’ inbound. After Battey took the inbounds pass, Brown then dove at Battey, knocking him over. He made both free throws to give the Buffaloes the final three-point margin.
Arizona shot 50% from the field despite missing its first 10 shots en route to a 19-2 deficit, while Colorado shot 55.8%.
Mathurin hit 7 of 9 shots, and made 4 of 5 3-pointers, while Akinjo had 16 points and shooting 4 of 11 from the field but hitting all eight free throws he took.
For Mathurin, it was a move toward getting back in Miller’s good graces. The coach did not start Mathurin the second half of the Wildcats’ 73-58 loss at Utah on Thursday and said afterward he was disappointed in Mathurin’s attitude.
Miller also did not start Mathurin on Saturday, but put him in after just 47 seconds of what turned out to be the Buffs’ 19-2 run. Mathurin played 16 minutes in the half.
Arizona gradually cut into Colorado’s double digit leads late in the first half and early in the second, then took its first lead with 10:48 left after Mathurin hit a 3-pointer and Azuolas Tubelis made a short jumper.
Mathurin later returned for another jumper to put UA up 55-54, while Kriisa scored his first points as a Wildcat when he drained a three straight into the next with 9:01 left, giving UA a 60-59 lead. Koloko then rebounded a miss by Wright and scored on the other end to make it 62-59 entering the eight-minute mark.
Arizona held a one-possession lead for most of the rest of the way, while Colorado’s Eli Parquet tied it at 76 on a 3-pointer with 1:11 left.
Having cut their early 17-point deficit to just nine at halftime, the Wildcats continued to tighten it during the early minutes of the second half thanks to some aggressive play from their guards.
Akinjo picked up fouls that resulted in four free throws within the first six minutes, pulling UA within 45-41 and, in between those possessions, Kriisa threw himself down in a legal guarding stance while Colorado’s Wright was approaching the Buffs’ basket on the break. Kriisa fell to the ground and drew the charge.
Akinjo went on to drive inside for layups that cut Colorado’s lead to 48-46 and 60-48 before the Wildcats took their first lead on Tubelis’ jumper.
Arizona missed its first 10 shots from the field to trail 19-2 early, then immediately went on a 7-0 run to make their task a bit more manageable. The Wildcats went on a 9-0 run near the end of the half to cut Colorado’s lead to 38-32 before Parquet hit a buzzer-beating 3 to give Colorado a 41-32 lead at halftime.
The Wildcats didn’t score a field goal for the first 8:27 of the game until Jordan Brown put back a missed shot from Mathurin.