Arizona center Oumar Ballo (11) wags a finger after blocking a shot by Colorado guard Nique Clifford (32) in the first half their Pac-12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Arizona guard Kylan Boswell hangs on the rim after polishing off a steal with a dunk against Colorado in the first half of their Pac-12 game at McKale Center on Feb. 18, 2023. Boswell earned a technical on the play.
Former Arizona players Dalen Terry, left, Justin Kier, Bennedict Mathurin and Christian Koloko have court-side seats for the Wildcats game against Colorado at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Colorado forward Tristan da Silva (23) clobbers Arizona guard Cedric Henderson Jr. (45) as he tries to dunk over him in the first half their Pac-12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Colorado guard KJ Simpson (2) swats the ball out of the hands of Arizona guard Courtney Ramey (0) and out of bounds in the first half their Pac-12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Arizona guard Pelle Larsson (3) looks for a pass into the lane around Colorado guard Luke O'Brien (0) in the first half their Pac-12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Colorado guard Luke O'Brien (0) slips in to block a shot from Arizona center Oumar Ballo (11) from behind in the first half their Pac-12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Arizona guard Cedric Henderson Jr. (45) gets handled Colorado guard Luke O'Brien (0) trying to drive into the lane in the first half their Pac-12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Arizona center Oumar Ballo (11) takes his shots as the team warms up to face Colorado in the pre-game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Arizona center Oumar Ballo (11) picks up the charging foul, bowling over Colorado guard KJ Simpson (2) on a drive in their Pac-12 game at McKale Center on Feb. 18, 2023.
Arizona guard Cedric Henderson Jr. drops a dunk in the middle of the Colorado defense during the second half in their Pac-12 game at McKale Center on Feb. 18, 2023.
Arizona guard Kerr Kriisa gives a salute back toward the defense after draining a 3-pointer against Colorado in the second half of their Pac-12 game at McKale Center on Feb. 18, 2023.
Arizona guard Courtney Ramey (0) takes a forearm to the head from Colorado guard Luke O'Brien (0) on a drive in the second half at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023. O'Brien was assessed with a flagrant foul.
Arizona guard Pelle Larsson signifies picking up a two-shot foul after being hammered on a drive to the bucket against Colorado at McKale Center on Feb. 18, 2023.
Arizona guard Pelle Larsson, left, draws a foul from Colorado guard Luke OβBrien in the second half of their Pac-12 game at McKale Center on Feb. 18, 2023. The foul was OβBrienβs fifth of the night.
Colorado head coach Tad Boyle has words with one of the game officials late in the second half of their Pac-12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Arizona guard Pelle Larsson gestures for more noise from the crowd as the Wildcats start to put the game away against Colorado in the second half of their Pac-12 contest at McKale Center on Feb. 18, 2023.
Arizona guard Kerr Kriisa (25), left, ties up Colorado guard KJ Simpson (2) in front of teammate forward Azuolas Tubelis (10) in the second half of their Pac-12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Arizona guard Pelle Larsson (3) gets fouled from behind by Colorado center Lawson Lovering (34) in the second half at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Arizona guard Kerr Kriisa (25) has the ball poked out of his grip and out of bounds in the second half against Colorado at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
A member of the pomline performs during the player introductions as Arizona takes the floor against Colorado at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Arizona forward Azuolas Tubelis (10) muscles his way into the lane through Colorado guard Luke O'Brien (0) in the first half of their Pac-12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Arizona center Oumar Ballo (11) gets tied up by Colorado guard Luke O'Brien (0) trying to get off a shot from under the basket in the first half of their Pac-12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd calls out onto the court as his Wildcats take on Colorado in the first half of their Pac-12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Arizona guard Kylan Boswell (4), left, and guard Kerr Kriisa (25) put the double team on Colorado guard Harrison Carrington (31) in the first half of their Pac-12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Arizona center Oumar Ballo (11) wags a finger after blocking a shot by Colorado guard Nique Clifford (32) in the first half their Pac-12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Kelly Presnell PHOTOS, Arizona Daily Star
Former Arizona players Dalen Terry, left, Justin Kier, Bennedict Mathurin and Christian Koloko have court-side seats for the Wildcats game against Colorado at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Kelly Presnell / Arizona Daily Star
Colorado forward Tristan da Silva (23) clobbers Arizona guard Cedric Henderson Jr. (45) as he tries to dunk over him in the first half their Pac-12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Kelly Presnell / Arizona Daily Star
Colorado guard KJ Simpson (2) swats the ball out of the hands of Arizona guard Courtney Ramey (0) and out of bounds in the first half their Pac-12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Kelly Presnell / Arizona Daily Star
Arizona guard Pelle Larsson (3) looks for a pass into the lane around Colorado guard Luke O'Brien (0) in the first half their Pac-12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Kelly Presnell / Arizona Daily Star
Colorado guard Luke O'Brien (0) slips in to block a shot from Arizona center Oumar Ballo (11) from behind in the first half their Pac-12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Kelly Presnell / Arizona Daily Star
Arizona guard Cedric Henderson Jr. (45) gets handled Colorado guard Luke O'Brien (0) trying to drive into the lane in the first half their Pac-12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Kelly Presnell / Arizona Daily Star
Arizona center Oumar Ballo (11) takes his shots as the team warms up to face Colorado in the pre-game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Kelly Presnell / Arizona Daily Star
Arizona center Oumar Ballo (11) picks up the charging foul, bowling over Colorado guard KJ Simpson (2) on a drive in their Pac-12 game at McKale Center on Feb. 18, 2023.
Kelly Presnell, Arizona Daily Star
Arizona guard Kerr Kriisa gives a salute back toward the defense after draining a 3-pointer against Colorado in the second half of their Pac-12 game at McKale Center on Feb. 18, 2023.
Kelly Presnell, Arizona Daily Star
Arizona guard Courtney Ramey (0) takes a forearm to the head from Colorado guard Luke O'Brien (0) on a drive in the second half at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023. O'Brien was assessed with a flagrant foul.
Kelly Presnell / Arizona Daily Star
Arizona guard Pelle Larsson signifies picking up a two-shot foul after being hammered on a drive to the bucket against Colorado at McKale Center on Feb. 18, 2023.
Kelly Presnell, Arizona Daily Star
Arizona guard Pelle Larsson, left, draws a foul from Colorado guard Luke OβBrien in the second half of their Pac-12 game at McKale Center on Feb. 18, 2023. The foul was OβBrienβs fifth of the night.
Kelly Presnell, Arizona Daily Star
Colorado head coach Tad Boyle has words with one of the game officials late in the second half of their Pac-12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Kelly Presnell / Arizona Daily Star
Arizona guard Pelle Larsson gestures for more noise from the crowd as the Wildcats start to put the game away against Colorado in the second half of their Pac-12 contest at McKale Center on Feb. 18, 2023.
Kelly Presnell, Arizona Daily Star
Arizona guard Kerr Kriisa (25), left, ties up Colorado guard KJ Simpson (2) in front of teammate forward Azuolas Tubelis (10) in the second half of their Pac-12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Kelly Presnell / Arizona Daily Star
Arizona guard Pelle Larsson (3) gets fouled from behind by Colorado center Lawson Lovering (34) in the second half at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Kelly Presnell / Arizona Daily Star
Arizona guard Kerr Kriisa (25) has the ball poked out of his grip and out of bounds in the second half against Colorado at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Kelly Presnell / Arizona Daily Star
A member of the pomline performs during the player introductions as Arizona takes the floor against Colorado at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Kelly Presnell / Arizona Daily Star
Arizona forward Azuolas Tubelis (10) muscles his way into the lane through Colorado guard Luke O'Brien (0) in the first half of their Pac-12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Kelly Presnell / Arizona Daily Star
Arizona center Oumar Ballo (11) gets tied up by Colorado guard Luke O'Brien (0) trying to get off a shot from under the basket in the first half of their Pac-12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Kelly Presnell / Arizona Daily Star
Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd calls out onto the court as his Wildcats take on Colorado in the first half of their Pac-12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Kelly Presnell / Arizona Daily Star
Arizona guard Kylan Boswell (4), left, and guard Kerr Kriisa (25) put the double team on Colorado guard Harrison Carrington (31) in the first half of their Pac-12 game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 18, 2023.
Losers on three of the previous six Saturdays, Arizona was slipping quickly down that path again this time. Literally.
Four turnovers fell out of the Wildcatsβ hands in the first two minutes of their eventual 78-68 win over Colorado on Saturday, allowing an opponent that is sub-.500 in the Pac-12 to take an early five-point lead at McKale Center.
Thatβs when Cedric Henderson had seen enough.
So with Arizona down 7-2, Henderson drove and elevated with a not-always-seen fierceness for a dunk from the right side. The shot didnβt go in, but Henderson drew a foul from Coloradoβs Tristan da Silva and made two free throws.
βHonestly, I was just getting mad,β Henderson said. βWe turned the ball over (four) times. We werenβt locked in to start the game off and something had to give. Somebody had to give a spark and I thought maybe I could try it.β
The Wildcats did have a fifth turnover after Hendersonβs free throws, one that helped the Buffs take an 18-6 lead but Henderson had sent a message β to Colorado and maybe to his teammates, who didnβt commit a sixth turnover until the second half.
That allowed things to go back to normal for the Wildcats. That is, it allowed UA to outscore Colorado 40-24 in the paint, thanks to another career night from center Oumar Ballo.
While forward Azuolas Tubelis rebounded somewhat from two straight foul-plagued games with 13 points, Ballo was dominant, collecting 18 points and a career-high 16 rebounds.
He, too, appeared a little ticked off with that opening.
βWe just had a slow start,β Ballo said. βWe have to get ourselves together and play as a team and do what we usually do.β
In the end, the Wildcats still picked up a win that moved them to 24-4 overall and 13-4 in the Pac-12 while Colorado dropped to 15-13 and 7-10.
But UA had early turnover troubles at the beginning of both halves and, even though they went ahead by as many as 17 points in the second half, the Wildcats never led convincingly enough to prompt UA coach Tommy Lloyd to go deeper than his usual top seven guys.
In other words, Lloyd wasnβt real happy either.
βWeβve got to start out better than that,β Lloyd said. βWe didnβt play great tonight by any stretch and Colorado gets some credit for that. Our guys have to take some accountability for that. Weβve got to play better. Weβve got to play cleaner. Weβve got to play tougher. Weβve got to play smarter.β
At times, they did. Times that varied wildly throughout the game.
Although Tubelis made a layup on Arizonaβs first possession of the game, the Wildcats turned the ball over on each of their next four possessions β Kriisa committed the first two turnovers and Tubelis the second two. At the end of that spell, Colorado had taken its 7-2 lead, having scored five points off the turnovers, while Lloydβs head began to spin.
βThe early ones that seem crazy to me,β Lloyd said. βI donβt know what you attribute them to. Casualness, maybe. Weβll take a look at them and weβll evaluate them. We had some turnovers early; we had some turnovers late. And not that you ever want to turn the ball over, but I think you definitely donβt want to turn it over early and you donβt want to turn it over late.
βLetβs get off to a good start. Letβs finish strong. Those two things.β
The Wildcatsβ rough start kept going, too. Down 16-6 after a 3-pointer from da Silva less than four minutes into the game, the Wildcatsβ fifth turnover was from Ballo, leading to a 17-foot jumper by Colorado center Lawson Lovering.
That gave CU a 18-6 lead before Arizona finally calmed down. The Wildcats went on a 12-0 run to tie the game at 18 and began to pull ahead over the final five minutes, with Ballo putting back a blocked shot by Henderson just before the halftime buzzer for the final halftime margin.
Arizona did not commit another turnover before halftime, when they took a 46-34 lead, but then ran into turnover trouble again in the second half.
Early in the second half, Tubelis was whistled for a three-second violation, which led to a 3-pointer from Coloradoβs Nique Clifford, while a pass from Kriisa became a turnover that led to a dunk by Coloradoβs Lawson Lovering.
That cut the Wildcatsβ lead to 46-39 just 70 seconds into the second half. While the Wildcats recovered again, going on to take leads of up to 17 points, they never did put the Buffaloes away.
Because of, again, turnovers. Arizona had three more turnovers β from Tubelis, Ballo and Kriisa β over the final 2:02 of the game while Colorado cut its lead from 15 to 10.
All together, Colorado scored 24 points off UAβs 14 turnovers, allowing the Buffaloes to stay competitive despite shooting just 38.7% from the field.
All that left Lloyd wondering after the game about that favorable placement in the NCAA Tournament that the selection committee gave Arizona earlier Saturday during its annual early reveal. As of Saturday, the committee said it had the Wildcats as the sixth overall seed, putting them as the No. 2 seed in the West Region.
That placement was two overall spots ahead of UCLA, which was handed a tentative No. 2 seed in the East even though the Bruins are two games ahead of the Wildcats in the Pac-12 loss column.
βItβs kind of meaningless,β Lloyd said of the early seeding reveal. βAnd I didnβt feel like we played like that team tonight.β
Photos: University of Arizona fends off scrappy Colorado 78-68, Pac-12 basketball