Early offensive struggles doom Arizona in 82-77 loss to Oklahoma in Battle 4 Atlantis semifinal

PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas –While Oklahoma coach Porter Moser was warning his players how good Arizona’s transition offense, how well the Wildcats can move the ball, Sooner point guard Jeremiah Fears already knew the story.

He had lived it. Five months before the Sooners’ freshman point guard had 26 points and five assists to lead Oklahoma over Arizona 82-77 Thursday, kicking the Wildcats down to a third-place game in the Battle 4 Atlantis on Friday against West Virginia, Fears was a reserve guard for USA Basketball during the FIBA U18 AmeriCup tournament.

USA’s coach then was Tommy Lloyd. Arizona’s coach Thursday was Tommy Lloyd.

“I kind of had a feel for what they like to do, which was ducking in (the post) early, so we kind of slowed that down,” Fears said. “That’s what I really what I learned from him, and just the way they moved the ball.

“It was kind of like the same exact thing. The same offense.”

So with Fears’ personal knowledge in mind, plus badgering from Moser that appeared to soak completely in, the Sooners smothered Arizona early. They prompted the Wildcats to miss their first 10 field goals just after UA put together its most complete offensive effort of the season a day earlier in a first-round win against Davidson.

Then Oklahoma polished the Wildcats off in the second half in part by hitting 8 of 14 3-pointers that helped it never give up the lead after the first two minutes, even as Arizona cut it to three points twice late in the game.

“They came out and put us in some tough situations, and our offense took a while to get going,” Lloyd said. “I think they were a little more physical than us, which is disappointing. We’re team that loves to bump and grind and be physical.”

Those 10 initial misses included four 3-point attempts and six shots around the basket, some of which rolled off, adding to the Wildcats’ frustration. They failed to score from the field until Anthony Dell’Orso floated in a layup with 12:54 left in the first half.

What’s more, standout guard Caleb Love, who had appeared to put a two-game slump behind him when he scored 20 against Davidson, missed his first five shots.

Love made a layup late in the half that cut Oklahoma’s lead to 28-23, then hit a 25-foot 3-pointer that hit only net with 32 seconds left, cutting the Sooners' lead to just 34-30. He finished with a team-high 17 points.

But as a team, the Wildcats were unable to penetrate the Sooners’ quick and tenacious defense often enough.

“We sent four guys back (defensively) because they’re just so good,” Moser said. “I wanted them to see the front of our jersey. I wanted them to see eight eyes, eight arms. A lot of times we talk about six eyes, six arms. And the players did it. They got in there, and were believing it, like `we've got to stop their transition.’ “

Arizona trailed by up to 13 points in the first half, by six at halftime and by up to 11 in the second half, never able to take the lead after the first shot of the game in part because Oklahoma kept answering every small Arizona run with a 3-pointer or other notable play. The Sooners hit 8 of 14 3s in the second half, negating UA’s 54.1% second-half shooting from the field.

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“They hit some big shots and maybe some of those 3s are shots you’re going to live with the attempt -- and then they made them,” Lloyd said.

Making matters worse, Lloyd said, was that the Sooners were switching lineups constantly and even inserted little-used big man Luke Northweather as what Lloyd called a “pick-and-pop five.” Northweather, who entered the game averaging just 6.0 minutes a game, hit 2 of 4 3s and finished with 10 points and seven rebounds in 20 minutes.

“It’s crazy,” Lloyd said. “This kid hasn’t played much in the past couple of days … and on short prep, we were kind of on our skates a little bit.”

Another technical foul for celebrating inappropriately, this time by guard KJ Lewis, didn’t help the Wildcats in the second half, either.

Fears hit a 3-pointer to put Oklahoma up 46-36 with 15:30 left in the game, and just over a minute later, Lewis hit a 3-pointer to pull UA within four points – but picked up a technical foul afterward.

Fears took advantage by hitting both ensuing technical free throws, and UA's momentum was slowed.

“KJ has got to do better. He’s got to do better,” Lloyd said. “I love him and I’m going to hang with him. He’s an emotional guy but you just don’t do that to your team.”

Still, even with all those obstacles, UA still managed to pull within 78-75 entering the final minute. But Love, Lewis and Jaden Bradley all missed shots on a possession ending with 20 seconds left, and the Sooners held on from there.

The loss meant that instead of playing for a Battle 4 Atlantis title on Friday, the Wildcats will instead play an all-Big 12 third-place game against West Virginia (4-2) on Friday at 1 p.m. on ESPN2.

The Mountaineers, who are scheduled to host Arizona on Jan. 8, are coming off two straight overtime games, beating No. 3 Gonzaga in the first round Wednesday but losing to Louisville in the other semifinal Thursday. 

While both teams are now in the Big 12, the familiarity isn't there yet. They actually haven't met since the 2007 NCAA Tournament, but their conference matchup in six weeks means both staffs have likely have deep scouting files on each other already.

“Of course we’ve been preparing for them,” Lloyd said. “They’ve got a great guard (Javon Small), a great skill guy (Travis DeVries) and it looks like they have role players. They know what they’re doing. It’s going to be an amazing challenge.”