Fifth-ranked Wildcats figure it out, beat rival ASU after weathering Sun Devils' run

TEMPE — The defensive stops kept piling up and, for seven long minutes, the nation’s top-rated offense couldn’t do a thing about it.

To begin the second half of No. 5 Arizona’s 69-60 win at ASU on Saturday, the Wildcats threw up a missed 3-pointer. A missed jumper. A turnover. Another turnover. And, before long, ASU was going on a 19-4 run that pulled the Sun Devils within two points.

It was the sort of run that could have sent the Wildcats into a panic, cowering under the increasingly noisy crowd at Desert Financial Arena.

The sort of run that, for many coaches, calls for a timeout, after 45 or 90 or maybe 120 seconds, tops. To reset, to adjust, to cool things off, for just a bit.

But, nah.

These are Tommy Lloyd’s Wildcats, and it was their mission Saturday to figure it out themselves. With the cushion of a 45-28 halftime lead, the Wildcats had the chance to learn from the sort of lesson that can’t be replicated during an everyday practice at McKale Center or Richard Jefferson Gym.

So, as Lloyd likes to say, he kept letting it rip.

“I trust my team,” Lloyd said. “I’ve got veteran guys and if they put themselves in that position, sometimes they’ve got to figure it out on their own.”

Eventually, they did. In fact, the Wildcats still never trailed the entire game Saturday, moving to 13-1 overall and 2-1 in Pac-12 play with what became their fifth straight win over ASU and third straight in Tempe.

It just didn’t look that way for a while.

ASU (11-3, 2-1) cut Arizona’s 17-point halftime lead to just 49-47 by the time Devon Cambridge made a pair of free throws with 13:06 left. The Wildcats made just 2 of 11 shots to begin the second half and had four turnovers in the first eight minutes, a spell reminiscent of how they fell behind 14-1 at the start of their game at ASU last season.

But they won last season’s game at Tempe 91-79 and they went on to win Saturday by nine, turning it around with a 10-3 run capped by a dose of Oumar Ballo.

The Wildcats’ big man from Mali blocked a layup from Luther Muhammad on one end and then took a feed from Courtney Ramey to throw down a dunk on the other end, giving UA a 59-50 lead.

After that, Arizona never trailed by less than six points, scoring their last six points, fittingly, at the line, where the Wildcats dominated the Sun Devils. The Wildcats took 18 more trips to the free throw line than ASU, and made 24 of their 28 free throws.

ASU hit 7 of 10 free throws, winding up with 17 fewer points at the line than the Wildcats. Not surprisingly, this differential might have something to do with why ASU coach Bobby Hurley bounced up and down during a heated first-half timeout discussion with official Randy McCall.

Individually, Azuolas Tubelis led the Wildcats with 21 points and nine rebounds while Ballo collected 12 points and 12 rebounds, and guard Kerr Kriisa had 12 points and five assists.

For ASU, Frankie Collins had 12 points, five rebounds and six assists while center Warren Washington had six points, seven rebounds, four assists and three blocks.

It was one of Washington’s most complete games of the season because, in a way, it had to be. The 7-footer, who began his college career at Oregon State, had to take on the bulk of the blows from Ballo and Tubelis.

“I knew they were going to come at me so I felt like I had to be physical and match their energy,” Washington said. “It gives me confidence playing against these guys because they’re really good and they have a big effect on college basketball.”

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After shooting just 28.9% from the field in the first half, while missing the first 13 3-pointers they took, the Sun Devils as a whole played more confidently in the second half.

They were playing so well that Lloyd said he might have even called a timeout earlier in the second half had he known the Sun Devils would put together that long of a run. But the UA coach kept seeing signs the Wildcats would break ASU’s momentum at some point.

“I know Kerr had a good look at one of his 3s and I’m like, ‘Well, if he makes that, it’s probably better than me calling a timeout,’” Lloyd said.

Kriisa’s miss left UA with a 49-42 lead with 16:14 left and, after a media timeout, the Sun Devils kept going, with jumpers by Austin Nunez and Luther Muhammad plus a free throw from Devan Cambridge.

That left UA ahead just 49-47 with 13 minutes left. Three seconds later, Lloyd called a timeout. Then, with a second media timeout at the 11:41 mark and the Wildcats up 51-47, there was time for reflection.

“I just said to the guys, ‘If somebody would have told me we were up two points with 12 minutes to go in the game, I would have taken it, because I’m confident in our ability to close,’” Lloyd said. “Then at the 8-minute timeout, I think we were up six or eight (actually 59-52) and told them the same thing. I just wanted to let them know we were in good position to win the game.

“It’s about winning the game. It’s not about who makes a strong run at the start of the second half. It’s about finding a way to close out and win the game and our guys did a good job.”

Lloyd’s message sunk in. Tubelis expressed appreciation that his coach didn’t call a quick timeout while guard Courtney Ramey said the Wildcats instead just looked at themselves on the court, and told each other to take care of the ball.

They were figuring it out.

“I think Tommy is one of the coaches who gives us the most confidence,” said Ramey, a grad transfer from Texas who is playing for his third different college coach. “I know he trusted us. When we looked at him, he just told us to play, and he knew we were fine.”

Ultimately, the Wildcats were fine. They left Desert Financial Arena with their first road win of the season and, in the process, put themselves in position to defend their Pac-12 regular-season title over the nine weeks ahead.

Nine weeks that will almost certainly find the Wildcats in more tense positions, with a coach who might not always insert himself into them.

No matter what anyone says.

“Listen, coaching is far from a perfect science,” Lloyd said. “I’ll just say this: People who say I should or shouldn’t call timeout, I mean, a lot of people have answers to tests they’ve never passed. I’m pretty comfortable in what I’m doing.”

Photos: No. 5 Arizona beats rival Arizona State in Tempe