Just wait. It’s coming. The Wildcats are going to get their second wind, turn up the defensive pressure a few notches and take the Buffaloes down to the wire.
Arizona Wildcats forward Isis Beh (33) fights for possession of the ball against the Utah Utes defense at McKale Center, Dec. 31, 2024.
Unfortunately, the shots weren’t falling quite enough as Colorado held on to take down Arizona, 56-47 at CU Events Center in Boulder on Wednesday night.
Arizona drops to 14-10, 5-6 Big 12, while Colorado improves to 16-6, 7-4 Big 12.
The Wildcats held the Buffaloes 13.7 points under their average of 69.7 points.
After a lull, the Wildcats found that intensity with a little more than three minutes left in the third quarter as Jada Williams scored her first points of the game – a 3. Skylar Jones picked a steal and scored and Williams hit a rainbow jumper from well beyond the 3-point line to pull within nine points at the end of the quarter, 43-34.
On that second one from long range, Isis Beh picked up her 100th career assist.
The Wildcats got as close as four points, 45-41, with seven minutes left in the game on two free throws by Jones. This was as close as they would get the rest of the way.
Colorado is never an easy matchup at home. The Buffaloes are now 12-1 at home and then there is the altitude that usually hits teams sometime in the second half.
Arizona shot 36.4% (4 for 11) in the final quarter – 32.7% for the game. The shots just weren’t falling.
"It was just an off night," Arizona coach Adia Barnes said. "Jada, 3 for 14, and she had some good looks. She usually converts on some of those shots. And then Paulina (Paris), 0 for 5. And then Mailien (Rolf) was 2 for 3. I think it's just being like 5 for 23 whatever that quick math is, it's hard to win like that."
Beh and Jones led the way with 12 points each. They were the only Wildcats in double figures.
Arizona had no answer for Jade Masogayo, who finished with 19 points, pulled down 14 rebounds and had three blocks. She picked up the double-double in the first half (14 points, 10 rebounds). Part of this was Breya Cunningham getting in early foul trouble and Beh having to move over to play the five position. Cunningham was only on the court four minutes in the first half, scored four points, but never put her imprint on the game. She only played 13 minutes, scoring four points, pulling down two rebounds and getting one block and one assist.
Beh led the charge in the first half – just as she had against Utah on Friday night. Beh led all Wildcats with seven points. She had two assists, including one of Cunningham’s baskets. In that one, Beh dribble near the baseline and pulled both defenders on her, leaving Cunningham open.
Arizona guard Skylar Jones (4) gets grabbed from behind while trying to get past Cincinnati guard Chloe Mann (0) in the third quarter of their Big 12 game in Tucson on Jan. 22, 2025.
Arizona was out rebounded in the first half, 27-14. Six of those 27 rebounds were on Colorado’s offensive end, leading to six second chance points. This led to Colorado taking a 29-21 lead into halftime.
She said it
"Colorado really outplayed us tonight. I thought that they out hustled us. I thought that they wanted it a lot more. I thought they got all 50-50 balls. They made big shots. They were relentless on the boards. I thought they played a really good game, and I know that they're short handed. They're without one of their best players (Frida Formann), and I think that everybody stepped up, and unfortunately, we did not have that today." — Barnes
Stuffing the stat sheet
Williams: 9 points (3 for 14), 2 steals, 4 rebounds, 1 assist
Beh: 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal
Jones: 3 rebounds, 3 steals
By the numbers
21: Colorado had 21 turnovers and Arizona scored 18 points off them.
16: Colorado out rebounded Arizona by 16, 43-27.
8: Arizona had eight assists on 18 made field goals
