ASU’s Alonzo Gaffney, left, gets the arm of Arizona’s Dalen Terry during Saturday’s β€œrock fight” at McKale Center. UA pulled away late to win 67-56 and improve to 17-2.

 Kelly Presnell, Arizona Daily Star

Four mornings after Arizona capped a three-game road trip with a 16-point loss at UCLA, and coach Tommy Lloyd still wasn’t quite right.

β€œI still feel it Saturday morning,” Lloyd said, describing the week that led up to UA’s 67-56 win over ASU later Saturday at McKale Center. β€œI mean, it’s real.”

His players may have felt the same sort of hangover. Especially the perimeter shooters.

The Wildcats shot just 24.1% in the first half and missed all 13 3-pointers they took before halftime, but turned to defense, big men and a significant foul advantage to pull out an 11-point home win over an ASU team that has lost six of its previous seven games.

Arizona still shot just 32.2% overall for the game but held ASU overall to 32.8% and took 17 more free throws than the Sun Devils. Arizona was 26 of 32 from the line, while ASU was 8 of 15, giving UA 18 more points off free throws.

Wildcats guard Bennedict Mathurin gets one of the team’s few easy buckets during the 11-point win. UA coach Tommy Lloyd said the team is still recovering from a three-game road trip.

β€œObviously, this game was a rock fight,” Lloyd said. β€œI think both team shots 32%? I haven’t been a part of many games like that.”

Even when it wasn’t a rock fight β€” when the Sun Devils did give the Wildcats nice open looks at the basket β€” the Wildcats’ offense still didn’t hum like it has so much of the season so far.

Sophomore guard Kerr Kriisa was at the forefront, extending and then breaking what became a 0-16 shooting slump, while all the Wildcats’ perimeter players struggled in some form.

Kriisa was 2 for 8 from the field, taking all his shots from 3-point range, while guards Dalen Terry and Justin Kier were 1 for 5 and sore-ankled Azuolas Tubelis was 2 for 9.

Then there was Bennedict Mathurin, who had to work pretty hard for his 14 points, going 0 for 8 from 3-point range and 5 of 16 overall from the field.

UA's Bennedict Mathurin has a drive to the basket stopped short in the first half. The Wildcats will rest for a few days before UCLA visits for a rematch of last week's Bruins win.

But through it all, UA centers Christian Koloko and Oumar Ballo said they kept encouraging their perimeter mates to keep going.

β€œFor sure,” Ballo said. β€œEvery day, we say just keep shooting.”

Added Koloko, who led the Wildcats with 12 points and 13 rebounds, β€œWe know the next shot is going to go in.”

Those two kept ensuring they had even more chances to shoot. Koloko had five offensive rebounds and Ballo had three while the Wildcats had 17 as a team, resulting in 13 second-chance points even as the Wildcats mostly kept missing.

β€œWe know they are able to make those shots and we trust them,” Ballo said. β€œWe will be glad for them to shoot and we will crash the offensive glass and give the ball back to them again, because we know they can shoot the ball. So they will never get frustrated if their shot won’t fall.”

Koloko led the Wildcats with 12 points and 13 rebounds β€” plus five blocks β€” while Ballo had 14 points and five rebounds in another big role with Tubelis limited and forward Kim Aiken still all but off the team.

And, eventually, the perimeter shots did start to fall in. While an unexpected bank shot from Pelle Larsson keyed a pivotal 10-0 run in the second half, Kriisa also broke his streak of misses while Mathurin had success driving the ball inside in the second half.

Wildcats guard Kerr Kriisa takes a second to kiss the "A" logo at mid-court after he finally hit a basket during the second half. He had missed 13 straight 3-pointers up until then.

Kriisa made his last shot (a 3-pointer) at Cal on Jan. 23 but missed all 12 shots, nine of them from 3, at UCLA on Tuesday and first four shots on Saturday, all from 3-point range. Finally, he hit a 3-pointer that gave UA a 41-37 lead with 15:25 left in the game.

However, he missed again just 45 seconds later and finished 2 for 8 from 3.

Lloyd might have winced.

β€œAfter he hit his first one, I was happy but then he came down and he shot a really tough next one,” Lloyd said. β€œThat’s not how you get yourself back on track. The way you get yourself back on track is you shoot quality shots within the rhythm of the offense, and I felt like maybe we were trying a little bit too hard at some points today to kind of get ourselves going a little bit.”

At the same time, Lloyd said he wasn’t about to fault them for that sort of attitude. Playing in front of a near-capacity red-out crowd on their homecourt after a 16-point loss at UCLA, the Wildcats did not appear flat and emotionless.

Just off the mark.

β€œListen, it’s because guys care,” Lloyd said. β€œThey want to contribute to the team, so it’s not a bad thing. But we’ve just got to have a little better understanding of what efficient good shots can be because those are the ones you’re gonna make.”

Problems in shot selection and shot-making were most acute in the first half. In the first half, Mathurin went 2 for 10, Tubelis went 1 for 5, Dalen Terry was 1 for 4 and Kriisa was 0 for 4.

Some of the early troubles might have been a surprising offshoot of the press the Wildcats’ threw out defensively early against ASU. The Sun Devils had six turnovers in the first five minutes but UA shot 1 for 11 over that period while trailing 12-8.

The No. 3-ranked Arizona Wildcats held off rival Arizona State 67-56 Saturday afternoon at McKale Center. Christian Koloko led the Wildcats with 12 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks.

β€œThe pressing looked good, it felt good, but offensively, we weren’t getting any separation from them,” Lloyd said. β€œSo I just felt like we probably needed to get back on the half court and just be a little more solid defensively. I thought they were going to struggle if we got them in the half court defensively.”

They did. ASU shot just 23.5% in the second half, making UA’s early shooting problems a non-factor in the end.

At least for now. Now having shot less than 33% for the past two games, Arizona will next face UCLA in a rematch of the Bruins’ 75-59 win at Pauley on Tuesday.

The good news for Arizona is that game won’t be played until Thursday night, a rare opportunity to break from a suddenly clogged-up schedule that will force the Wildcats to play five games over 10 days starting with UCLA.

β€œRest. Rest,” Lloyd said, when asked about the team’s plans before the UCLA game. β€œWe’re gonna rest. Take a breath. I mean, I’m still tired from last week and I can’t imagine what the guys are going through.

β€œSo it’s just resting, trying to get our energy level back up, clear our minds a little bit and try to make that next push.”

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Contact sports reporter Bruce Pascoe at 573-4146 or bpascoe@tucson.com. On Twitter @brucepascoe