Despite new role, Arizona wing Anthony Dell'Orso shows 'cojones' against UCLA

LOS ANGELES — After ensuring Arizona’s trip to the Sweet 16 by hitting all four free throws he took in the final nine seconds of a second-round NCAA Tournament game against Oregon last season, Anthony Dell’Orso already had the clutch part down.

But coming off the bench for heroics? That was something new.

Dell’Orso pulled off both tricks Friday, scoring 20 points while hitting two game-sealing free throws with 17 seconds left, helping No. 5-ranked Arizona beat No. 15 UCLA 69-65 at the Intuit Dome.

He had to do it all by starting in the cold. Not just sitting cold on the bench for the first four minutes of the game, as he has all season so far after moving into a starting role most of last season, but also by wandering into the cold of his teammates’ early struggles.

UCLA, which beat Arizona 57-54 last season during the teams’ first post-Pac-12 meetup, hit three 3-pointers over the first five minutes of the game in taking a 15-5 lead. After Southern California native Brayden Burries opened the scoring with a 3-pointer for the Wildcats, they had missed five shots in a row.

That prompted a timeout during which UA coach Tommy Lloyd took forward Koa Peat out and replaced him with Tobe Awaka, giving Awaka and 7-footer Motiejus Krivas extended time together. Peat wound up with just seven points and four rebounds over 21 minutes.

He also put Dell’Orso in, and the Aussie wing hit three 3-pointers over the next five minutes, almost singlehandedly tying the game at 15 with 10:36 left in the first half and giving the Wildcats a quick reset.

Maybe it helped that Dell’Orso had time to watch the Bruins’ defense play out in real time, after studying it beforehand.

“Obviously, we have practice so you have a good understanding of what teams are going to do, but at the end of the day, you’ve just got to be aggressive, play your game and be reactionary in a way,” Dell’Orso said. “I just came in and saw areas that as a team, I knew we could exploit.”

There were holes he saw, even despite UCLA’s size and typically rugged defense. Dell’Orso not only threw in 4 of 7 3-point attempts but also drove inside aggressively, having become more comfortable turning to that part of his game, after adjusting to high-major ball last season as a transfer from Campbell.

It’s one reason why Dell’Orso took an intense approach to the offseason, re-signing quickly with Arizona and starting workouts just a few days after the Wildcats’ season ended in their Sweet 16 loss to Duke.

“Something that goes unnoticed is that part of my game,” Dell’Orso said of driving to the basket. “Before I came to this school, that’s really all I did. I was a very downhill guy, a free-throw-line guy, and then obviously coming to the bigger level, you get met with physicality, bigger guys, and you kind of have to adapt.

“That’s something that in the offseason that I’ve gained, this muscle and this understanding of the offense. It’s not really something I have to develop. It’s already been there. It’s just kind of been hidden.”

With 17 seconds left on Friday, Dell’Orso picked up a foul from UCLA center Xavier Booker, giving him a one-on-one opportunity with Arizona leading just 67-65. A missed free throw would give the Bruins plenty of time to tie or win it; a make and then a miss would give the Bruins a chance to tie with a 3-pointer.

“You know how much better it feels to be up four points than two or three on that last possession?” Lloyd said. “That takes some cojones to make those free throws, and he did that.”

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Earlier in the second half, after UCLA erased UA’s three-point halftime lead and went up by eight points, Dell’Orso had also popped up. After the Wildcats gradually chipped away at that deficit, the Wildcats took a 60-59 lead when Dell’Orso hit his fourth 3-pointer of the game with 2:51 left.

Overall, it was an evening when the Wildcats’ veterans carried them. Big men Krivas (10 points and eight rebounds) and Awaka (eight points, 10 rebounds) made significant impacts inside, while Dell’Orso and point guard Jaden Bradley attacked from the wing.

After Dell’Orso’s final 3-pointer, it was Bradley’s turn. Over the next 90 seconds, he drove inside for a layup and, after Krivas threw it back out to him, hit a go-ahead 3-pointer that gave UA a 65-63 lead with 1:03 left.

“JB has got a great ability to figure it out, and with his experience, to be fearless and not afraid to make big plays,” Lloyd said. “When he got that kickoff from Mo on that broken play, I had a really good feeling about that 3.”

It was the sort of shot that Bradley said Lloyd has encouraged him to take.

“Coach Lloyd has been harping on it, taking the right shots,” Bradley said. “If you’re going to take a midrange shot, value it. If you’re going to take a 3-pointer, value it. I’ve been working on that, and kudos to Mo for hitting me on time and on target, and I was able to knock that down.”

While Bradley’s 3 gave UA the lead for good, 65-63 with 1:18 left, it was his drives to the basket before and after that that may have bothered UCLA coach Mick Cronin the most.

He’s “a hell of a player. He definitely ain’t gonna miss layups. We didn’t rotate to him on a perimeter pass,” Cronin said. “I mean, literally, the whole stadium was wondering, is anybody going to rotate to him?”

Bradley’s final layup gave the Wildcats a 67-63 lead with 28 seconds left, before UCLA’s Donovan Dent made a layup on the other end to cut UA’s lead back to just two points.

Then Dell’Orso put it away, chosen to be on the floor at the end even if he wasn’t at the beginning.

“When you have a coach that backs you and trusts in you, that’s all you can ask for,” Dell’Orso said. “It gives you the ultimate confidence to go out there, play your game, and if things go good, it’s good; if things go bad, he’s got you no matter what.

“I think he does that to a lot of our guys, and that just makes us go down the stretch, building confidence that we can perform and execute and get the win.”