CINCINNATI — Three weeks after they threw away a 13-point lead in a loss to UCLA, the Arizona Wildcats were in desperate need of some inner strength again Saturday.
Before pulling out a 72-67 win over No. 16-ranked Cincinnati with some late defense and free-throw shooting, the Wildcats kicked away a 19-point second-half lead in less than 13 minutes, prompting the previously quiet crowd of 11,212 at Fifth Third Arena to start damaging ear drums.
It was a classic meltdown in motion.
But, it turns out, UA coach Tommy Lloyd found he didn’t need to turn far for help.
There was a source all along on the Wildcats’ bench. In their locker room. And in the laundry room.
Those are the places where equipment manager, team cheerleader and Cincinnati native Brian Brigger can be found.
“I’ll probably get a little bit emotional but Brian Brigger, that’s a great effing dude,” Lloyd said, unprompted, at the beginning of his postgame press conference. “He’s a Xavier guy, so he doesn’t love the Cincinnati people, and what he’s meant to our program … is so special.
“So we told our guys, when you have to dig deeper today, think of Brian Brigger. The passion he brings every day — and this is the equipment manager — the professionalism he brings to his job, the team player that he is, I mean, says something about our culture and our guys.”
So after Jaden Bradley, KJ Lewis and Anthony Dell’Orso all hit a pair of free throws within the final 24 seconds to help the Wildcats hang on, UA staffers began lifting Brigger up as the Wildcats entered their locker room, everyone celebrating a close victory in UA’s first-ever away game in Big 12 Conference play.
“We just knew we had to pull away with this one,” said UA big man Henri Veesaar, who had eight points and eight rebounds. “Obviously, we had the UCLA game, so we had experience already. With this one, we just knew we had to stay poised and make it play by play.”
Arizona forward Henri Veesaar reacts after scoring during the second half against Cincinnati, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, in Cincinnati.
The win moved Arizona to 8-5 overall and 2-0 in the Big 12 heading into another away game Tuesday at West Virginia, which beat the Wildcats on Nov. 29 in the Bahamas.
Cincinnati dropped to 10-3 and 0-2.
How much Brigger’s presence and spirit meant, of course, is impossible to quantify. But the truth is that the Wildcats somehow found a way to get back on top after Cincinnati’s defense-inspired comeback.
Leading 39-26 at halftime, Arizona built a 19-point lead just three minutes into the second half and again at 13:39, when Caleb Love converted a three-point play. But Cincinnati went on an 8-0 run to cut UA’s lead to 52-41 with 12 minutes left and kept pulling closer over the middle of the second half.
Arizona guard Caleb Love, right, shoots against Cincinnati forward Arrinten Page (22), Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, in Cincinnati.
Cincinnati rattled off a 9-0 run to close within six points, 58-52, after Aziz Bandaogo blocked a shot from Trey Townsend that turned into a 3-pointer from Dillon Mitchell, and Cincinnati guard Day Day Thomas made a layup.
It wasn’t helping the Wildcats that steady but heavily used point guard Bradley had a few unforced errors late in the game, turning the ball over on a dribble with seven minutes left and missing a pair of free throws with just under three minutes remaining.
So the Bearcats kept going. They cut it to 60-55 with six minutes left and then just three, 64-61, after Jizzle James pulled up for a jump shot with 3:11 left.
At that point, Cincinnati was shooting 46.7% from the field while outrebounding the Wildcats 19-9 over the first 17 minutes after halftime.
But after Cincinnati tied it at 64 when Dan Skillings scored inside on an offensive rebound, Bradley found a route to the basket through the Bearcats’ defense on a set play with 39 seconds left. Lloyd said that was one of several options on an untested play his staff had drawn up.
Arizona's Jaden Bradley takes a free throw against Cincinnati, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, in Cincinnati.
“The game was tied, and I’m like, ‘Come on, we’ve got to find a way on this one,’” Lloyd said. “These guys deserve it. They’ve been amazing, and it’ll be kind of a pivotal moment for our season.
“We drew up something in the time out that we’d never really done before and it allowed Jaden Bradley to get downhill. He made a layup and, possession by possession, we were able to find a way from there.”
After Bradley’s layup, Skillings missed a 3-pointer, and the ball went out of bounds. But Cincinnati’s ensuing inbounds pass went nearly into Bradley’s hands before the Bearcats’ James fouled him.
This time, Bradley hit both free throws to give UA a 68-64 lead and, after Bryant blocked a layup from Skillings on the other end with 16 seconds left, Cincinnati fans began leaving Fifth Third.
“We found a way,” Lloyd said.
The Wildcats shot 43.4% and held Cincinnati to just 39.1% shooting. But the Bearcats outrebounded UA 39-34 during a rough game for UA center Tobe Awaka, who had just two points and four rebounds in 14 minutes while grazing Cincinnati center Bandaogo with his elbow in what was ruled a flagrant personal foul.
Skillings led the Bearcats with 18 points, and Bradley had 15 to lead Arizona. Love added 12 points but missed his final six 3-point attempts, while freshman Carter Bryant had 14 points.
In the first half, Bryant had eight points and three rebounds over just eight minutes off the bench to spark Arizona to a 39-26 halftime lead.
Coming into the game with the nation’s fifth-rated defense, Cincinnati held the Wildcats to just 3 of 11 shooting over the first eight minutes — but also couldn’t shoot. The Bearcats were 3 of 10 from the field during that span and missed all five 3-pointers they took, with UA leading 9-8 at the second media timeout with just under 12 minutes left in the first half.
Bryant injected offense shortly after entering, however, making a layup and a 3-pointer to keep the Wildcats ahead at that point.
“Carter is really making progress,” Lloyd said. “The progress he’s made in the last month has been game-changing for us.”
Arizona forward Carter Bryant dunks over Cincinnati forward Tyler Betsey, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, in Cincinnati.
There was so much going on that Lloyd said he didn’t even really notice what the ever-demonstrative Brigger was doing during the game. But he did notice what Brigger did all weekend, ever since the Wildcats’ charter flight landed on Thursday evening.
“He’s been an amazing tour guide,” Lloyd said. “We’ve been driving around. He’s been pointing to everything, showing us his favorite dive bar at Xavier yesterday, and I think he took the guys to a restaurant last night.
“What’s really cool is he went to Xavier, worked with Sean (Miller, who hired him at Arizona), stayed with us. Tonight he’s fired up we won, and he’s fired up to go watch the Bengals play against the Steelers tonight with his dad at home, which is pretty cool.”
