Wildcats forward Azuolas Tubelis gets battered by Oregon’s Quincy Guerrier (13) and Will Richardson on Saturday. UA improved to 24-2 with the 84-81 victory.

 Kelly Presnell, Arizona Daily Star

During the sort of daylong celebration Saturday that Arizona hasn’t experienced in years, the Wildcats were both told they were on track for a No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed and reminded that it guarantees almost nothing.

Teams on the No. 1 seed line, where the NCAA selection committee put the Wildcats as of Saturday morning, still often have to pull out a close game or two just to deliver that expected appearance in the Final Four.

But until No. 3-ranked Arizona beat Oregon 84-81 on Saturday night, the Wildcats had not played a single game decided by three points or less this season. With a 24-2 record that could land them with a No. 2 AP ranking on Monday — thanks to Auburn’s loss Saturday — the Wildcats have won 15 games by 16 or more points and their overall scoring margin is a gigantic plus-19.

They don’t really do close.

Not that it’s their fault or anything.

“Well, listen, I’m trying not to be in close games,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said Saturday. “That’s the goal, right? So when you end up in one, you welcome it. I always tell the guys, `Don’t overthink it. We’ve just got to make one more play than they do.’ “

Wildcats center Christian Koloko blocks Will Richardson in the final seconds Saturday.

That’s exactly what the Wildcats did Saturday. In a game that was tied at 76 entering the final two minutes, the Wildcats then received a 30-foot bomb from Kerr Kriisa, defensive heroics from Christian Koloko and Dalen Terry, a couple of fortunate breaks and just enough free-throw shooting (5 of 8) to make it all work out.

Here’s a closer look at how the Wildcats pulled it out, as the final two minutes ticked off the clock:

1:54 remaining: Dante’s dribble.

With Oregon’s Quincy Guerrier sidelined temporarily with a cramp on a night he hit 6 of 11 3-pointers, Ducks guard Will Richardson found himself enveloped by Terry on the right wing and lost the ball as he drove inside. Oregon center N’Faly Dante recovered it and took a dribble but the ball went out of bounds.

1:26 — Kriisa’s bomb

On its ensuing possession, Arizona passed the ball around seven times while trying to find some sort of opening in the stiff Oregon defense, and Bennedict Mathurin even had to lunge over the midcourt line to save the ball toward the end. But Mathurin wound up flipping it toward Kerr Kriisa, who took two dribbles and pulled up for a 30-footer that gave UA a 79-76 lead.

Considering the sort of swagger and confidence Kriisa has displayed all season, maybe it was no surprise that he hit the shot after missing 3s with 5:16 and 4:40 left to play.

Kerr Kriisa put UA up for a good with a long 3-pointer Saturday night.

“He’s got belief, he’s got confidence,” Lloyd said afterward. “He’s not perfect, and he’d be the first to tell you that. But as that possession played out, I felt like the way they were switching things defensively, a lot of our sets might not have gotten many advantages, so I kind of just wanted to play.”

1:04 — Williams’ big miss

With Guerrier still on the bench, Oregon’s Eric Williams quickly put up a 3-point attempt on the other end. The ball bounced off the front of the rim, and Mathurin rebounded it.

0:44 — Young’s pickoff

As Kriisa sized up his teammates while dribbling just past the midcourt line, Oregon’s Jacob Young lunged in and stole the ball, then drove in for an easy layup to cut it to 79-78.

0:42 — Williams’ ill-advised foul

Immediately after UA’s Dalen Terry inbounded to Bennedict Mathurin, Oregon Williams lunged out of Oregon’s full court press into Mathurin. That sent the Wildcats’ 75% free throw shooter to the line and prompted Oregon coach Dana Altman to cover his face with his hands.

“Not sure Dana Altman wanted that,” analyst Jay Bilas said on ESPN’s telecast. “That was just a wild swing by Williams and unlikely to result in a steal.”

Mathurin hit the front end of the ensuing one-and-one but then missed the second to leave the game at 80-78.

0:38 — More fouling

After Mathurin missed the second free throw and the ball flung into Dante’s hands, UA’s Pelle Larsson fouled Oregon’s big man, who missed the front end of a one-and-one.

UA’s Azuolas Tubelis was immediately fouled when he picked up that rebound, then hit the second of two free throws to make it 81-78.

0:21 — Koloko’s first stop

Switched on the perimeter to defend the 6-foot-3 Young, Koloko didn’t flinch. He shadowed Young all the way into the paint, extending an arm out as Young tried a layup from the left side of the basket. The shot bounced high off the backboard and then the rim without going in.

“Koloko bothered that shot,” Bilas said. “He didn’t block it but he changed it. That just shows the defensive versatility of Koloko to be able to guard a guard out on the wing and stay with him all the way to the basket to bother that shot.”

0:15 — Guerrier’s final answer

Larsson was fouled after pulling down the rebound from Young’s miss, then hit two free throws to make it 83-78. But the game still wasn’t over yet, because Guerrier was back in the game.

The Syracuse transfer inbounded to Young, trailed Young downcourt and then took Young’s pass back to him near midcourt. He immediately threw up a 28-footer to pull Oregon within 83-81.

0:16 — Arizona’s scary inbound

On Arizona’s ensuing inbound, Oregon put five guards on the floor to try to force a turnover and nearly did so. Terry inbounded to Larsson, who almost lost it but batted it back to Terry as he was falling out of bounds.

Terry was then fouled and hit the second of two free throws to make it 84-81 with 10 seconds left.

0:00 — Koloko’s second stop

Having dished game-winning assists against Arizona in each of the previous two seasons, Richardson had a chance to send this one to overtime on the Ducks’ final possession. He also had the 7-foot Koloko switched on to him but, again, that didn’t matter.

Koloko kept close to Richardson on the wing and funneled him to the left of the basket. Not looking to pass — nor seeing anything but Koloko between him and the basket — a flustered Richardson was called for a travel as time ran out.

“I know he wanted to get a 3 and so I just tried to get him to drive,” Koloko said.

Lloyd said he thought the plan called for fouling Oregon before the Ducks set up for a 3-pointer but found leaving things in Koloko’s hands also worked out pretty well.

“I was really comfortable once C-Lo got switched on onto him,” Lloyd said. Richardson was “dancing with the ball and I’m like, `He’s gonna have to hit an incredible shot to tie this game.’ Actually, Christian chased him off the 3-point line, which was great. So I’m happy with how it played out.”

After the game, Lloyd acknowledged that the Wildcats simply haven’t been in that sort of situation a lot. He said they have worked on situations in practice but that the “live bullets” of game experience are particularly good teaching tools.

In other words, the Wildcats didn’t just get a big win Saturday. They also held a dress rehearsal for that tight game or two they might very well become mired in, on a much higher stage, sometime next month.

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