The sixth-ranked Arizona Wildcats battled back from a 14-point deficit only to fall to ASU 81-77 in Tempe Friday night.
After grabbing a late lead, the Wildcats gave it right back and couldnโt capitalize in the waning seconds.
These stats explain how the Cats couldnโt escape Tempe with a win:
2: The game turned multiple times in the fourth quarter thanks to two technical fouls, one by each team at different stages of the fourth.
As the Wildcats fought back from down 14, a technical foul was called on ASU at 9:50 after Mael Gilles elbowed Cate Reeseโs face. At that point the Cats trailed 61-53, then made both of their free throws.
Arizona went on to tie the game at 68-68 with 5:10 to play then took a 73-70 lead at 4:16.
After ASU made it 73-72, a foul call was called on Reese followed by a technical foul on Helena Pueyo. That allowed the Sun Devils to make four straight free throws that made it 78-73 with 1:25 to play.
30: Arizona point guard Shaina Pellington scored 30 points, her highest-scoring performance as a Wildcat. She was Arizonaโs go-to option much of the night and was getting to the rim with ease, finishing 9 of 16 from the field and 12 of 19 from the free-throw line.
However, she was whistled for a charge with 17.2 to play and Arizona trailing 78-77. The foul gave ASU the ball back, and the Sun Devils hit free throws to help secure the win.
The UA guard has scored 20 or more points in three of her last six games.
42-27: ASU owned the rebounding edge convincingly, grabbing 42 boards compared to 27 by the Wildcats. The Sun Devils had a 23-10 rebounding advantage in the first half as they built a 42-34 lead over UA going into the break.
52: Officials called 52 fouls on Friday โ 25 on Arizona and 27 on ASU. That led to 69 combined free throw attempts, 43 of which came in the second half.
Arizona attempted 23 free throws; ASU shot 34.
66%: The Wildcats struggled from the line, going 23 for 35 (66%). They entered Fridayโs game shooting 70% from the stripe.
Meanwhile, ASU was nearly perfect from the line, making 31 of 34 free throws (91%) โ and 14 of 16 in the fourth quarter.
15: Points scored by players not named Pellington, Reese or Sam Thomas. The rest of UAโs supporting cast struggled against the Sun Devils, shooting 5 for 15 (33%).
28%: The Wildcats did not defend the 3-point line well, nor did they shoot well from long distance. Arizona made just 4 of 14 (28%) 3-pointers, while ASU went 6 for 11 (54%).
It marked just the fourth time all season UA was held under 30% from 3-point range.
