'We didn't have a great approach': No. 4 Arizona falls to unranked Utah in Pac-12 opener

SALT LAKE CITY — In the week before their first road game of the season, the Arizona Wildcats took home a prestigious tournament trophy, did some Thanksgiving-day snorkeling, took a couple of days off and watched themselves elevated to the No. 4 ranking in the country.

All that was quickly put behind them Thursday, when Utah handed them a shocking 81-66 loss at the Huntsman Center. A team that won just four conference games last season led the Wildcats literally from start to finish and holding what was one of the best-shooting teams in the country to just 35.2% from the field.

The Wildcats missed their first five shots and never really caught up.

“We didn’t have a great approach,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said. “Whether it’s the guys being intoxicated off their success or listening to the things people are saying about them, I don’t know, but we’re definitely going to address it. We’re going to have to play better than we did tonight.”

The loss was the Wildcats’ biggest upset loss under Lloyd so far. Last season, the Wildcats were upset at 79-63 at Colorado, but haven’t won there since 2014-15, and lost 72-60 to lower-seeded Houston in the Sweet 16 to end last season. The Wildcats’ other two losses under Lloyd were at UCLA and at Tennessee.

Most of those were somewhat expected.

This one was not.

“Well, I’m human and losing is part of the deal,” Lloyd said, when reminded of how rarely he has lost at UA. “I don’t have any secret formula that means everything I touch wins. You’ve gotta go out and earn victories.”

Instead, the Wildcats went out and muffed shots from the beginning. Arizona shot just 27.3% from the field and hit only 5 of 14 3-pointers in the first half while Utah shot 47.4%.

Starting guards Kerr Kriisa and Pelle Larsson went scoreless before halftime, while forward Azuolas Tubelis missed his first six shots before scoring inside and from 3-point range late in the half.

Tubelis finished with 20 points but shot 7 of 19, while he and several teammates missed close-in baskets that didn’t exactly have the sort of execution Lloyd was looking for.

They need to “get easier shots,” Lloyd said. “Get 1-inchers. Don’t settle. Put it in the basket. I mean, it’s not more complicated for that … (it was) guys being a little bit casual. They want it to be easy. We’re not a program that wants things easy. Because the harder it is the more advantage it is for us.”

The Wildcats also had trouble just holding on to the ball in the first place, much less shoot it. While the Wildcats finished with only 12 turnovers, they also had some critical early turnovers the Utes pounced on.

That helped Utah take leads of up to 19 points in the first half, going on a 13-2 run that gave them a 35-18 run late in the first half when missed dunk by Larsson turned into a dunk on the other end from Utah’s Ben Carlson.

“I just think we made a lot of careless mistakes,” UA guard Courtney Ramey said. “I just didn’t think we came in with the same focus that we did in the other games. That’s on us and it’s something that will be fixed. … early on in the game we played a little sloppy.”

Meanwhile, even though the Utes were playing in front of only about 6,000 fans, many of them likely having been siphoned off to Las Vegas for the Pac-12 football championship game Friday, Utah players had plenty of energy.

In particular, Utah coach Craig Smith said center Branden Carlson, a fourth-year starter, just “had a big-time look” to him throughout the game. Carlson led the Utes with 22 points while stretching mostly beyond and over the Wildcats’ defense by hitting 5 of 9 3-pointers.

“Brandon had an unbelievable game,” Smith said. “Boy, did he make some monster shots tonight.”

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Gritty point guard Rollie Worster also flirted with a triple-double, collecting 12 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists, while the Utes shot 43.% overall. Utah also outrebounded the Wildcats 51-42 and outscored Arizona’s usually dominant interior 42-40 in the paint.

Basically, the way both coaches described it, the Utes simply put more into their effort.

“How often do you get the opportunity to play the No. 4 team in the country?” Smith said. “These are opportunities that don’t happen often and you have to crave it. You have to want it.”

Arizona showed signs of wanting it in the second half, but it wasn’t enough.

After trailing 42-25 at halftime, Arizona hit its first three shots, getting layups from Ballo, Tubelis and Kriisa to cut the Utes’ lead to 45-31. The Wildcats later went on an 8-0 run by going inside, including on a entry pass from Ramey that Ballo converted into an easy layup that made it 49-37.

Later, still trailing by 15 entering the final five minutes, the Wildcats turned to a full-court press that produced some immediate results. They forced a Utah turnover that led to a 3-pointer from Ramey with 4:51 left and Ramey came down for another 3 off a missed 3 from Utah’s Gabe Madsen 36 seconds later.

But Arizona never cut Utah’s lead under nine points the rest of the way, as much as Smith might have been worried inside.

“Championship pedigree teams are never going to go away easy,” Smith said. “No chance. There’s a lot of pride and they trust each other and they will never back down… This is not an easy thing to do. Fortunately, we were able to finish it off.”

Utah 81, No. 4 Arizona 66

ARIZONA (6-0)

A.Tubelis 7-19 5-5 20, Ballo 10-12 2-5 22, Kriisa 1-9 2-3 4, Larsson 0-5 2-3 2, Ramey 4-13 0-0 11, Henderson 1-4 1-2 3, Bal 0-2 0-0 0, Veesaar 2-4 0-0 4, Boswell 0-3 0-0 0. Totals: 25-71 12-18 66.

UTAH (5-2)

Be.Carlson 4-7 2-4 11, Br.Carlson 8-15 1-2 22, Anthony 3-8 0-2 6, Madsen 3-8 2-3 11, Worster 5-12 2-2 12, Stefanovic 3-10 2-2 8, Keita 3-6 1-4 7, Exacte 1-3 0-0 2, Saunders 1-2 0-0 2, Holt 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 31-71 10-19 81.

Halftime: Utah 42-27. 3-Point Goals: Arizona 4-28 (Ramey 3-8, A.Tubelis 1-4, Veesaar 0-1, Bal 0-2, Henderson 0-2, Boswell 0-3, Larsson 0-3, Kriisa 0-5), Utah 9-25 (Br.Carlson 5-9, Madsen 3-7, Be.Carlson 1-3, Exacte 0-1, Worster 0-2, Stefanovic 0-3). Rebounds: Arizona 32 (Larsson 11), Utah 48 (Worster, Keita 11). Assists: Arizona 17 (Kriisa 8), Utah 18 (Worster 9). Total Fouls: Arizona 19, Utah 16.