Final score:Β Arizona 94, Arizona State 82Β
Location:Β Wells Fargo Arena, TempeΒ
What went down:Β In a heated game between the rivals, Arizona guard Gabe York dropped 22 points (5-12 FGs, 4-7 3-pointers), collected five rebounds and had six assists to lead the Wildcats.Β
Miller's record against ASU:Β 9-4Β
Bruce Pascoe's game story:
TEMPE β Gabe York might be a Californian like most of his Arizona Wildcats teammates, but let's just say he's been socialized a bit.
You could tell it the moment he lifted his arms and grinned in the final moments of Arizona's 94-82 win over ASU on Sunday, having led the Wildcats to their first victory at their in-state rivals' home in three seasons with 22 points, five rebounds and six assists.
Afterward, you could tell it by the way York's eyes lit up when he was asked about that moment.
It was ASU-UA. Not quite the tense football rivalry, to be sure. But a rivalry game nonetheless.
And one that the UA had lost in Tempe the past two years, with teams that York played a key role on.
"It was amazing," York said. With "all the mess they talk and all the things you hear throughout the game, especially the last three years, it was definitely fulfilling to go clap my hands, raise my hands and just let them know it was a hard-fought win and that we did it."
As usual, UA players and coach Sean Miller spoke respectfully about ASU after the game and about how all Pac-12 road games will be tough this season. That will probably be true, of course, but what was also true about Sunday was that a certain emotion was in the air that you don't always feel, even in conference play.
After Arizona tore off an 18-2 run to take a 41-35 halftime lead in a game it ultimately won by shooting 55.6 percent and outrebounding ASU 37-30, things became noticeably more heated.
Some examples:
Normally mild-mannered UA center Kaleb Tarczewski questioned an official repeatedly as he walked downcourt after a foul under the basket and was called for a technical.Arizona coach Sean Miller tossed his coat aside in apparent disagreement over the fact that Kadeem Allen did not draw a foul on a drive to the basket. York was clocked β or, as officials ruled, not clocked β by an elbow during a tussle for the rebound. Then, with just over a minute left, ASU coach Bobby Hurley was called for two technicals within 14 seconds while disputing the officiating, earning himself an automatic ejection. They were his third and fourth technicals of the season, his first at ASU.
"I really wouldn't have changed anything that I did today as far as anything that happened, as that's as far as I'm going to comment about any of that," Hurley said. "Other than I always want the spotlight to be on the performers, the guys in the game, and it shouldn't be about anything more than that, and that goes for all of us. It should always be about the players. Players should decide the game."
Ultimately, they did. Neither the technical from Tarczewski, which led to two free throws and the cutting of UA's lead to five points, nor the Hurley technicals made enough difference in the final margin.
What did: York's 22 points, Allonzo Trier's 20 and another double-double from Ryan Anderson (10 points, 10 rebounds), plus the fact that Arizona successfully reinserted Tarczewski (eight points, five rebounds) after he missed the past five weeks into a center rotation that also includes the fast-rising Dusan Ristic (10 points).
Hurley's technicals, however, did give York a chance to keep working on the confidence he's shown more often as a senior this season.
York went to the line 10 times in the final 1:18, hit eight of them β and actually beat himself up over missing two.
"Coach trusts me to shoot free throws," York said. "I've gotta get about 1,700 free throws in before the next game. Can't miss two like that. But it was a great win for us."
The win moved Arizona to 13-1 overall and 1-0 in the Pac-12 leading up to a game at UCLA on Thursday, while ASU dropped to 10-4 and 0-1. UA will also face re-energized USC in Los Angeles on Saturday before opening home conference play on Jan. 14 against Washington.
While three road games aren't an easy way to start conference play, the fact that the Wildcats have older guys like York probably helps.
With four 3-pointers early in the second half of UA's win at Gonzaga on Dec. 5, and an all-around game that included another four 3-pointers Sunday, York is showing the kind of veteran's confidence that thrives in home or adverse road situations alike.
"That's the growth of a player," Miller said. "They tend to be more of the same regardless of where the game's played, and Gabe's that guy for us."
As York's well-documented story at the UA goes, it started at the bottom. York was a seldom-used freshman reserve, a role player as a sophomore, a key player last year and now a full-time starter and team leader.
"The different seat on the bus now is that he's a senior leader, and one of our best players," Miller said. "If you just look at what he's done at Gonzaga and at ASU, not just because he's making shots but because he's a better defensive player and gives us our team confidence."
York also didn't shy away from a tough situation Sunday. When ASU's Willie Atwood appeared to connect with York's forehead while clearing space after a rebound, York fell backward.
That prompted officials to review the play, though they ultimately made no call.
"They said that I didn't get hit," York said. "So I told the refs, 'You can come see me tomorrow when I have a black eye.'"
Still, York shrugged it off, saying Atwood told him it was unintentional and that York believed him.
"It was, I guess, a hard play on the ball," York said. "We're not too worried about it."
Not long after the York-Atwood incident, though, Tarczewski found himself worried about the officiating, so much so that he drew his technical.
That, in turn, earned Tarczewski a mini-lecture from Miller as he returned to the bench, though Miller excused his senior center somewhat because he was playing his first game in more than five weeks. Tarczewski suffered a stress reaction and muscle strain in his left foot against Santa Clara on Nov. 26.
"It's an emotional game, and someone like Kaleb, being out for as long as he has on the sidelines, it's not easy all of a sudden to get out there and play," Miller said. "So from our perspective, we just want to make sure he controls his emotions."
On a day like Sunday, at a place like ASU, that wasn't easy for anyone on either side.
