5 reasons Arizona lost to Princeton, exited prematurely from NCAA Tournament

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Relaxing in his hotel room before UCLA played Thursday’s final NCAA Tournament game at the Golden 1 Center, Bruins guard David Singleton briefly watched Arizona race ahead of Princeton and figured that was enough.

“I fell asleep in the first half after I saw their lead” reach eight points, Singleton said. “But Abramo (Canka, his roommate) woke me up and said, `Look at the score! Look at the score!’ “

Basketball players, fans and coaches all over the country did the same.

Arizona, once again, had descended into an embarrassing corner of college basketball history.

By losing 59-55 to Princeton in a first-round NCAA Tournament game, Arizona became the only program to have lost twice to a No. 15 seed in the first round as a No. 2 seed. There have actually been only 11 total 15-over-2 results in the NCAA Tournament, with UA last experiencing it 30 years ago when Steve Nash and the 15th-seeded Santa Clara Broncos bounced the Wildcats out of the 1993 event.

Never mind that, this time, Arizona entered the NCAA Tournament with momentum and the look of a Final Four contender, having romped to the Pac-12 Tournament title with wins over Stanford, USC and UCLA. Even well-regarded ESPN analyst Jay Bilas and President Joe Biden picked them to win it all.

That’s why even the replay of it looked shocking to UCLA guard Tyger Campbell — who apparently had no no alarm clock, human or otherwise — interrupting his pregame nap.

“I woke and saw that they had got beat and I was pretty surprised,” Campbell said after UCLA beat UNC Asheville 86-53. “I immediately went on YouTube to watch the condensed game. It was crazy. Princeton played a hell of a game.”

Princeton did what it had to do. The undersized Tigers outrebounded Arizona 38-37. They scored only one fewer point off turnovers than the Wildcats, limiting UA’s fastbreak damage. They hounded standout forward Azuolas Tubelis inside and generally did so while drawing a minimum of whistles. And even though they hit only 4 of 25 3-pointers, the Wildcats were only 3 of 16 themselves.

“We weren’t perfect,” Princeton coach Mitch Henderson said, “but they weren’t getting what they’re really good at.”

Here’s a look at why the Wildcats didn’t get what they wanted:

Pac-12 Tournament tore them up

While point guard Kerr Kriisa might be accurate in saying “everybody’s banged-up this time of year,” the Wildcats’ seven-player rotation left almost no room for error — and left them particularly vulnerable over a three-game run in three days.

Sure enough, during the Wildcats’ run to the Pac-12 Tournament title, Kriisa separated his shoulder in the quarterfinals against Stanford; Oumar Ballo broke his left hand in the semifinals against ASU a day later; and, against UCLA in the finals a day after that, Krissa suffered a cut on his right hand.

Still wearing wraps on his hand and shoulder Thursday against Princeton, Kriisa was 1 for 7 with two assists to four turnovers. Ballo managed a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds but did not use or only gently used his left hand on several occasions that might have wound up an Arizona rebound or basket.

“I was shooting everything with my right hand,” Ballo said. “I tried to limit my left hand as much as possible because I didn’t have great control of the ball on my left hand.”

Ballo said he also didn’t want to risk further injury that might have kept him out later in the tournament, so he made a calculated decision to be especially careful in the first round.

“In my mind, I was confident we were gonna win this game and we had more games to go,” Ballo said. “So I was not trying to take some kind of risk to put my whole competition in jeopardy. I was trying to protect myself a little bit.”

Tubelis was caged

The Tigers swarmed over Tubelis, especially around the basket, daring him and the Wildcats to shoot midrange shots. But Arizona made only 7 of 19 (37%) in the paint other than shots within the restricted-area circle, and just 4 of 9 from 2-point range outside free-throw rectangle

Combined with committing only 11 turnovers to limit the Wildcats on the break, Princeton essentially pushed Tubelis and the Wildcats out of their comfort zone.

“They basically just said, `OK we will give you these type of shots,’ and for us those are good shots,” UA guard Pelle Larsson said. “But even if they’re good shots, they kind of disrupt our offense.”

The Tigers did it all without fouling much. Arizona took its second-fewest trips to the free-throw line of the season, hitting just 4 of 7, unable to take advantage of the fact that Princeton didn’t take a single free throw in the first half and didn’t make any until the final 21 seconds.

After Tubelis repeatedly tried to twist, cut and bully his way for a closer look at the basket, Lloyd found the numbers somewhat mindboggling.

“You sit here in my seat, you have an All-American big guy, an all-conference big guy, you go inside over and over and over again, and you shoot seven free throws?” Lloyd said. “I don’t know if they’re fouls or not. They must not have been, because obviously they didn’t get called.

“When the game is ref’d like that, it makes it tough. When you have an advantage, either they’re really physical and not fouling or they’re not calling the fouls. I haven’t reviewed the game, so I’m not saying one way or the other. It makes it tough.

“I thought we did a good job having the conviction to go inside. We didn’t have enough shots (or) get rewarded with whistles. That’s how it goes.”

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Grad transfers were quiet

Playing on the exact sort of stage that drew them to Arizona for their final college basketball season, grad transfers Cedric Henderson and Courtney Ramey struggled.

Henderson was only 1 for 4 from the field with two points and three fouls. Ramey was blocked by Ryan Langborg on a step-back jumper with Princeton up by one and 50 seconds remaining. And after Princeton’s Caden Pierce hit two free throws to put the Tigers ahead 58-55 with 21 seconds left, Ramey missed a potential game-tying 3 from the right corner with 14 seconds left.

Sitting nearby Ramey in a small room opposite the Wildcats’ locker room after the game, Henderson declined to comment while Ramey tried to put it in perspective.

“Credit to Princeton,” Ramey said. “They stuck with a game plan. They made a couple more shots, made a couple more plays. This is tough right now just to think about it. But I try to stay level-headed and just understand there’s a bigger picture. God has a plan, and part of the plan was today. I just got to think about it like that.”

While Wildcats melted, Tigers grew stronger

Leading by up to eight points in the first half and 12 in the second, Arizona committed six turnovers and shot 3 for 14 after taking a 47-35 lead with 11:46 to go. The Wildcats failed to score in the final 4:42.

Mitch Henderson said Langborg’s block on Ramey, Pierce’s defense down the stretch and the “all over the place” contributions of guard Zach Martini were critical — and also characteristic.

“That’s what got us here,” Henderson said. “It’s what we hang our hat on each season, what we talk about all the time. This is what gets it done.”

The cumulative effect wore on the Wildcats. Lloyd said the Wildcats didn’t put the “hammer” down when they were up by double digits, and Tubelis indicated turnovers were part of the reason.

“Just to take care of the ball and don’t rush with your shots,” said Tubelis, who had a team-high six turnovers. “I feel like we did it every time we were up 10, then they got a fastbreak or and-one, or fastbreak 3.”

Still, Henderson said the Tigers also had good fortune. Tubelis missed a short jumper with 42 seconds left, leading to Pierce’s two free throws, and then Ramey and Kriisa both missed 3s in the final 14 seconds that might have tied it up.

“Those usually go in in a game like this,” Henderson said. “Usually it’s bang, now you’re going to overtime. We got lucky.”

After Kriisa’s miss, Tubelis was forced to foul Princeton’s Tosan Evbuomwan, who hit the front end of a one-and-one to give Princeton an insurmountable four-point lead with three seconds left.

“We got the ball in front of the rim a couple times and didn’t deliver,” Lloyd said. “I didn’t think our end-of-the-game execution, our poise, was what it has been in close games. That’s a little disappointing.”

Tigers might have just wanted it more

While some of his teammates took pregame naps Thursday afternoon, UCLA’s Will McClendon said he watched every minute of the Arizona-Princeton game.

He knew what could happen.

To Arizona, or anyone, really.

“March Madness is full of crazy upsets, crazy games,” McClendon said. “So when teams come out and they don’t give the right respect to the teams that they they’re facing, you can see things happening like that.

“Those are both good teams playing. Princeton isn’t a bad team. They’re a really good team. You’ve just got to come out and play every game no matter who you’re facing.”

Did Arizona respect Princeton enough? Lloyd was told at the postgame interview podium that both Larsson and Kriisa cited a lack of energy.

“That’s interesting,” Lloyd said. “I don’t know. I know that wasn’t the message. I thought we had a good week of preparation. I thought we were trying to build for a tournament run.

“Maybe, I don’t know, some of these guys just were a little bit nervous. Or they expected the game to be easier than what it was. That definitely wasn’t the message from the coaching staff.

“I just know this: Nothing great in life is achieved without energy and enthusiasm. That’s one of those things these players need to take a look in the mirror. What’s controllable by them is their effort and their energy. We can be better there.”