3 takeaways from No. 14 Arizona's pair of road losses to close out regular season

No one ever said Pac-12 play would be a breeze.

And especially not on the final weekend of regular season play.

The Wildcats know this all too well from previous Februarys.

Still, No. 14-ranked Arizona just couldn’t shake it off and finish strong.

The Wildcats — now 21-8, 11-7 in Pac-12 play — dropped both games at the Oregon schools to dash any hopes of hosting the first rounds of the NCAA Tournament in a few weeks.

Arizona still holds the fourth seed for the Pac-12 Tournament next week and will get a bye in the first round. The Wildcats will play either No. 5 UCLA or No. 12 Arizona State on Thursday at 1 p.m. at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas. The Bruins and Sun Devils, forced into action a day prior to the top four teams taking the court, will go against each other Wednesday at 1 p.m.

UA’s fourth consecutive bye in the Pac-12 Tournament is the second longest such streak next to Stanford. The Wildcats have won at least 10 league games in each of the last four seasons — the first time Arizona has accomplished the feat since 2002-05.

It’s also the second time in the last four years that UA has won more than 20 games during the regular season; the Wildcats won 24 in 2019-20.

The back end of league play wasn’t just hard on the Wildcats. Others had challenges, as well.

Stanford didn’t get out of the airport on their way from Boulder to Salt Lake City until 4:30 a.m. Saturday morning and had a noon tip-off for a game that determined the regular season league championship and who would grab that No. 1 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament.

Utah dismissed the Cardinal with disruptive defense (21 turnovers), 84-78. The two teams are now co-champions with Stanford getting the nod for the top seed in the tournament since the Cardinal beat Colorado twice this season; the Utes split their two games with the Buffaloes.

UCLA lost to Washington State Thursday, then came back with a big third-quarter push to defeat UW Saturday. USC came back from a 32-16 deficit at the half against WSU to force two overtimes before coming out on top 68-65.

Prior to playing at Utah Saturday, Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said, “Postseason has been going on for a long time in the conference. There are some great teams (in this league).”

Pac-12 teams beating each other up this season may help the Wildcats going into postseason play since they now have experience playing these types of matchups.

Here’s a few additional takeaways from this weekend’s UA games:

1. Conner is clutch

Madison Conner has developed into a key player this season — especially during league play.

She’s been a spark off the bench and helped the Wildcats win games.

We already know that her shot has improved. She is hitting 38% from the field and 38% from the three-point line. She’s also one of the best free throw shooters in the country (94%). She only missed two during Pac-12 play and one in non-conference action. Her confidence has increased and along with her energy, she’s earned more minutes as the season has gone on. She is now averaging nearly 15 minutes per game.

Conner’s defense has improved tremendously. Case in point: Saturday’s game against Oregon State. With Cate Reese and Maya Nnaji in foul trouble and Helena Pueyo sitting on the bench after getting stitches to her forehead, Conner went to work.

Her assignment was to defend 6-4 OSU freshman Raegan Beers, who has at least five inches on Conner.

Conner was aggressive and one moment that stood out was when she guarded Beers after an inbounds play and drew an offensive foul with her tenacious defense.

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“She did a really good job of guarding Raegan Beers. She was undersized and did a great job,” UA coach Adia Barnes said. “She had some big threes. She gave us energy, light, hustle and that’s what we need.

“She’s tough and she’s not afraid. And she doesn’t care what position you put her in. She jumps in and tries her best,” Barnes added. “She’s getting better and better as the season progresses. She’s improved so much from a year-and-a-half ago. It’s fun to see. I can’t wait to coach her all four years and see what she does in the future.”

2. Injuries are piling up

The long season is starting to show.

Going into Saturday’s matchup against Oregon State, we learned that Jade Loville had broken a toe a few weeks ago. This may or may be causing her shot not to fall. Over the weekend shots seemed to either rattle in and out or just miss. She averaged four points per game. Although, the baskets she did make came at key moments, unfortunately for Arizona, there just weren’t enough of them.

On Saturday, Helena Pueyo got clocked by Oregon State’s big Jelena Mitrovic, who stands at 6-9. Pueyo left the game with a cut and a bump on her forehead. She sat on the bench the rest of the game.

“She got Mitrovic’s tooth on her forehead,” Barnes said.

Pueyo got stitches at halftime in the locker room and Barnes said she is not in concussion protocols.

Barnes also said that Shaina Pellington may have a sprained ankle. However, this did not affect her ability to dish assists as she had seven against OSU or grab steals (4). Also, eight of Pellington’s nine points came on drives and she got in the mix for at least one 50/50 ball.

3. Get it to win it

The Wildcats showed fight over the last 12 minutes or so against Oregon State closing what had been a 20-point deficit down to four points. They showed fight against Oregon, too, pulling within one point in the fourth quarter. In both games Arizona spotted its opponents a big lead, then just didn’t have enough left to finish the comeback.

This is nothing new.

We’ve seen the Wildcats win or lose in many different ways this season. They came back from a 12-point deficit against OSU at home in the beginning of January to win. They came back against USC and UCLA to win in overtime — two against USC and one against UCLA. They completely controlled the games against Utah and Colorado at home. They couldn’t get it going against Stanford.

To put it simply: the Wildcats have been inconsistent.

While UA usually bounces back after a loss with a big performance, this is the second time this season Arizona has lost two consecutive games (both two-game Pac-12 road trips; the first at Colorado and Utah in January).

Now it’s time to look ahead to postseason. It’s the season of win-or-go-home.

“From now on it’s one and done,” Barnes said. “We’re either going to get it or we’re not. We’re going to get it and have a short season or we’re going to get it and we’re going to fight and have a sense of urgency and be consistent with that — if we want to win.”

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