LAS VEGAS — Justin Kier may have started 119 college basketball games before he even arrived at Arizona last summer, but there was always something missing.
Kier never really had the chance to be the point guard. So he transferred to Arizona as a super senior last summer, saying he did so "definitely" in part for the chance to learn more about the position. Since then, he's played a combo guard role most of the season, and dove fully into the job out of necessity on Friday .
He did not sink. Nor did the Wildcats, who beat Colorado 82-72 on Friday despite missing starting point guard Kerr Kriisa because of an ankle sprain suffered Thursday against Stanford.
Now all but assured of a No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed at 30-3, Arizona will face second-seeded UCLA in the Pac-12 Tournament championship game on Saturday at 7 p.m., after the Bruins beat USC 69-59 in Friday's late semifinal.
LAS VEGAS — The top-seeded Arizona Wildcats punched their ticket to the Pac-12 Tournament championship after beating the Colorado Buffaloes 82-72 on Friday.
Kier played a steady 32 minutes in the Wildcats’ win over Colorado, collecting 13 points on 3-for-8 shooting while getting to the line to hit all six free throws he took and dishing three assists with two turnovers. Kier became one of five Wildcats to score in double figures on a night when Azuolas Tubelis led the way with 20 points and 11 rebounds.
While Arizona allowed Colorado to hit 16 of 32 3-pointers the Wildcats limited the Buffs to just 26.7% from two-point range. The Wildcats also survived giving up 18 turnovers that led to 24 CU points off turnovers in part by making 24 of 25 free throws, tying a school record for percentage in games in which they shoot 20 or more free throws.
“You guys know what Justin means to the program and means to me, and he was awesome,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said. “I literally had zero reservations and with Kerr’s injury, once we kind of knew what it was going to be, I felt like we had a chance to win the game.”
Arizona's Justin Kier (5) tries to keep the ball in bounds against Colorado during the second half.
The Wildcats will need Kier to take over the fulltime job for at least one more game. Lloyd said there’s "a real possibility” Kriisa will be able to play in the NCAA Tournament next week but it was clear Friday, when Kriisa walked into T-Mobile Arena with a boot on his right foot and crutches under his shoulders, that he was done for the Pac-12 Tournament.
"We're just gonna take it day-by-day,” Lloyd said. “But I think all the major stuff checked out OK and now it's just a matter of attacking it.”
The interim plan appears to be fine with both Kriisa and Kier, who spoke before the game about it.
“We talk all the time and he was just like `You got this.’ That’s all he was telling me,” Kier said. He said “You got this. I don't need to tell you anything. I know you're gonna go out there and play great.”
It was the latest progression as a point guard for Kier, who is polishing off the final pieces of his college resume despite Lloyd jokingly noting that he hoped to “petition the NCAA for a seventh year.”
In a month, Kier will be looking for a pro job, maybe as a point guard somewhere, and he said his Arizona experience has helped him grow as one.
Kier said he came to Arizona “because I knew how I would be coached and this coaching staff does a great job making point guards, educating them on what you can do,” Kier said. “Since I've met coach (Lloyd), he's s taught me how to read defenses, hit the roll guys and stay on two feet. He's just helped me so much. So yes, I think that was a big part of it.”
While playing 32 minutes at point guard Friday, Kier took just one 3-pointer and made it to give Arizona its first lead of the first half after the opening moments, 22-21. Kier’s 3 was part of a 7-0 run that gave the Wildcats a 29-24 lead by the time Mathurin hit a 3-pointer from the left corner.
In both the first and second halves, the Wildcats had to overcome the Buffs’ hot shooting from 3-point range. Colorado had three 3-pointers early in the game en route to a 13-6 lead and, after Arizona held a 47-38 lead at halftime, had four three-pointers over the first four minutes of the second half.
The four 3s, two from Evan Battey and one each from Nique Clifford and Julian Hammond, cut UA’s lead to 51-50 with 16 minutes left. Five minutes later, Colorado guard Keeshawn Barthelemy hit another 3-pointer to cut the Wildcats’ lead to 58-51 with 11:22 to go and Arizona wasn’t able to build a double-digit lead until Tubelis scored to make it 76-65 with 2:14 left.
Colorado's Nique Clifford, center left, and Julian Hammond III collide while chasing a ball during Friday's first half.
But that was actually all part of the Wildcats’ plan, the way Lloyd described it -- and it was not a plan he initially was comfortable with.
Lloyd said his staff talked him into a defense having more “gap integrity,” or basically focusing more on stuffing the lanes than extending to the perimeter. That might have appeared a risky move against a team that leads the Pac-12 in 3-point shooting percentage (Colorado entered Thursday's game shooting 38.9% from 3 in conference games).
After some discussion, Lloyd went with it. It was bumpy during those early outbursts of Colorado 3s early in each half but it worked out for the Wildcats.
Eventually, the Buffaloes hit a 1-for-11 stretch from the field midway through the second half that allowed Arizona to build a 62-57 lead with just under 10 minutes to go.
Then, guard Dalen Terry hit a 3-pointer to give UA a 69-62 lead with seven minutes left, and the Wildcats kept control of the game from there.
Afterward, Lloyd opened his postgame press conference by practically choking up about his staffers.
“I almost get emotional thinking with those guys mean to me,” Lloyd said. “They had some great ideas and we hung with it. I told them after the game, I mean, our staff, the care factor is off the charts.
“For those guys to talk me into what we did today, they deserve a lot of credit because I can be pretty hard-headed sometimes.”
Arizona's Dalen Terry celebrates after a play against Colorado during the first half.
And while Lloyd was turning to his assistants for advice, Kier, the Wildcats’ most veteran college player, turned to a sophomore.
He asked Kriisa about getting it done.
“I started asking him questions at halftime, just, 'What do you see out there?’" Kier said. “‘You see anything that I missed?' and he was like, 'Man, just go out there and hoop. You're good. You're doing good. They're shooting the ball really well right now.' And Colorado's a great team. He was letting me know that I was ready for it.
“I knew I was ready but I just wanted to hear some things from him.”
Together, the Wildcats figured it out. They’re in the Pac-12 Tournament championship game as a result.
