On their rise to a projected No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed so far this season, the Arizona Wildcats hadn't been involved in a single game decided by one possession until Saturday.
It figured that Oregon would change that. The Ducks had beaten Arizona seven straight times, including three tense overtime affairs.
But by pulling out an 84-81 win over Oregon on Saturday at McKale Center, the Wildcats snapped their losing streak to the Ducks and also gained some confidence that they can pull out a close game when they have to.
"I was proud of our guys for hanging in there and finding a way to win a close game," UA coach Tommy Lloyd said. "We haven't had a lot of those."
While they shot 53.4% for the game, the Wildcats ultimately finished this one with defense, getting two key stops in the final 21 seconds to hold off an Oregon team that played much more like the team picked to finish second in the Pac-12 than the one that lost to Cal and ASU over the previous week.
"I knew Oregon was a pretty good team," said wing Bennedict Mathurin, who led the Wildcats with 24 points, seven rebounds and five assists. "They just had a bad game against ASU. So I knew they were gonna come here and have a good game. So we had a plan and our goal was to stick to the plan."
Arizona also flipped the script on Ducks guard Will Richardson, who had dished two game-winning assists against the Wildcats over the previous two seasons.
This time, Richardson lost control of the ball at the end as he tried in desperation to find a teammate or score as the final seconds ran out. He led the Ducks with 22 points but left for several minutes in the second half after getting poked in the eye.
Arizona earlier defended the Ducks throughout the possession in which Oregon guard Jacob Young was prompted to drive inside for a missed layup with 21 seconds remaining.
While Mathurin led Arizona, four other Wildcats finished in double figures. Azuolas Tubelis had 14 points and seven rebounds while Christian Koloko had 10 points and eight rebounds.
The win moved UA to 24-2 overall and 14-1 in the Pac-12, where the Wildcats are now in commanding position to win the conference’s regular season title. With five games remaining, UA has a three-game lead over USC and UCLA, though it must still make the Utah-Colorado trip and play at USC on March 1.
The Wildcats have been playing so well that earlier Saturday, they were given the projected No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed in the South Region during the NCAA selection committee’s early bracket reveal. Ranked third nationally, the Wildcats also hosted ESPN and its GameDay crew for a festive Saturday morning broadcast from McKale Center.
The Ducks dropped to 17-10 and 10-6 in the Pac-12, still probably needing some key wins to get back in the NCAA Tournament hunt. It is possible, however, if Oregon finishes in fourth or fifth place they could face the likely top-seeded Wildcats in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals.
Certainly, the Ducks played like the kind of team that can cause damage in the conference tournament.
Saturday's game was tied at 76 entering the final two minutes before Kerr Kriisa hit a 3-pointer with 1:26 left to give UA a 79-76 lead – but Kriisa lost the ball at the top of the key on the Wildcats’ next possession, with Young swiping it away and racing downcourt for a layup that pulled the Ducks within one.
With 42.1 seconds left, Mathurin put UA up 80-78 when he hit the front end of a one-and-one free throw attempt before Oregon's N’Faly Dante missed the front end of a one and one on the other side of the court.
After Azuolas Tubelis hit the second of two free throws with 38 seconds left, UA led 81-78 and Oregon had plenty of time to tie it up. But Young couldn’t find an open teammate to pass to, so he drove inside for a layup that missed and the Wildcats regained possession.
After the Ducks then fouled Pelle Larsson, the UA guard hit two free throws with 19 seconds left to give the Wildcats an 83-78 lead. But it still wasn't quite over because Oregon’s Quincy Guerrier hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 15 seconds left to pull the Ducks back within two points.
Guerrier, a transfer from Syracuse, had been a problem for the Wildcats throughout the night. He started the game by hitting 3 of 3 from 3-point range over the first four minutes and finished with 21 points on 6 for 11 3-point shooting.
After Guerrier's final 3-pointer, Oregon still needed to foul so it went after Dalen Terry after UA inbounded. Terry then hit only the second of two free throws to make it 84-81, giving Oregon a chance to send the game into overtime on its final possession before Richardson turned the ball over and time ran out.
Lloyd said UA's plan was to foul before the Ducks were in shooting motion for a 3-pointer but that he was confident with the way UA's defensive switches were working, forcing Richardson to look for a potentially tough shot.
Arizona Wildcats fans break out the glow sticks as the team introduced for the game against the Oregon Ducks at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 19, 2022.
"I'm happy with how it played out," Lloyd said. "We've been working on situations (like that) a lot in practice because we haven't been in a lot of close games. And our guys our guys came through and executed a lot of the press breaks and stuff like that pretty well."
The game was tense throughout, living up to the big stage it had been placed on. ESPN carried the game and sent its GameDay crew to McKale Center for broadcasts starting Saturday morning, while UA attracted a sold-out crowd and five-star recruiting target Kylan Boswell.
At the beginning, both teams neared perfection offensively. Oregon took a 15-14 lead after four minutes, hitting 5 of 7 from the field while UA made all six shots it took.
The Ducks led by up to 12 points in the first half and by two at halftime, 47-45, and the teams traded runs early in the second half before the game was tied three times over the final 10 minutes.
With UA leading 71-70 with eight minutes left, Richardson appeared to get a poke in his right eye during contact with Mathurin. Officials reviewed the play but opted to call Mathurin only for a personal foul. Tubelis later tied the game at 76 entering the final two minutes.
Earlier in the second half, UA allowed Oregon to jump ahead by seven after a three-point play from N’Faly Dante and a fast-break layup from Richardson.
But the Wildcats shortly after went on a 13-0 run to take a 60-54 lead by the time Kriisa hit a 3-pointer and Mathurin put back a missed shot by Tubelis.
Guerrier came back with two 3-pointers within two minutes midway through the second half to help keep Oregon take a 66-64 lead with 10:09 left in the game and there were no extended runs after that point.
While UA finished the game with defense, Oregon used aggressive defense in the first half to take the 47-45 lead. The Ducks allowed UA to shoot 70.8% in the first half but converted nine Wildcat turnovers into 13 points before halftime.
"They're good at that," Lloyd said. "They're really handsy. I told our guys, `Hey, you're gonna think you have an advantage and anytime you have an advantage, they're gonna attack it by being scrappy and handsy."
"I think Christian had a high-low in the first half when they just kind of took the ball right from him. You've just got to have a little bit of more awareness to that."
In the first half, Oregon also made the most of its missed shots, turning five offensive rebounds into eight second-chance points. The Ducks collected another nine second-chance points in the second half off six more offensive boards but, on the other end, Arizona turned the ball over only four times.
Oregon scored four points off those four turnovers, but it wasn't enough to keep Arizona from pulling out its eighth straight win and 15th straight at home. Arizona's 24-2 record represents its best start since the Wildcats went 28-2 in 2013-14.
Arizona Wildcats guard Bennedict Mathurin (0) gets face first into Oregon Ducks center N'Faly Dante (1) in the second half of their Pac 12 men's basketball game at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 19, 2022.
"Proud of you guys. You guys have answered almost every call," Lloyd said he told his team afterward. "I mean they they've withstood some tough runs in these games, and they've always bounced back ... they've done a great job just hanging in there and taking punches and then delivering."
