Arizona Wildcats end Pac-12 era on a sour note, losing to Oregon Ducks 67-59 in Pac-12 semis

LAS VEGAS — McKale North roared for a final time Friday, but it wasn’t enough to save the Arizona Wildcats.

In a 67-59 semifinal loss to Oregon on Friday at the Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament, they had too many issues to compensate for. Things like rebounding and standout guard Caleb Love’s continued shooting funk doomed the Wildcats at T-Mobile Arena despite the presence of another overwhelmingly pro-UA crowd that emitted the decibel levels and “U of A” chants often heard at McKale Center.

All that, plus a 1-for-6 shooting night from point guard Kylan Boswell, meant Arizona’s decades of dominance in the Pac-12 and its conference tournament ended on a sour note.

The Wildcats took leads of up to 14 points in the first half, doing so when Oregon center N’Faly Dante missed about 10 minutes after a hard fall under the basket, but trailed by up to 13 in the second half and couldn’t break through after cutting Oregon’s lead to four points in the final minutes.

“We just got stagnant. Generally that’s not us,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said of Oregon’s comeback with Dante. “And then (Dante) was kind of a force around the basket, protecting the rim and kind of raised a couple of layups. Maybe that got in the back of some of our guys’ heads.

“But give him credit. They run their little matchup-to-man zone defense pretty well, and tonight it worked.”

Oregon’s defense held UA to just 38.3% shooting, flustering the Wildcats much more than during Arizona’s two regular-season wins over the Ducks. Rebounding also hurt: Arizona was out rebounded 38-33 overall, and 21-11 in the second half, when the Wildcats had just two offensive rebounds.

Oregon didn’t shoot much better against an Arizona defense that threw out some full-court pressure in the second half, but the Ducks had 15 second-chance points off 11 offensive rebounds. Arizona had just eight second-chance points.

“For our guys to have a belief that being down 10 at half...for them to battle back, it was a very good half,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said. “I think the biggest reason, we just didn’t give them too many second shots. Beating them 10 on the boards that second half, I think, was by far the biggest key.”

Jermaine Couisnard had 20 points and seven assists to lead Oregon while point guard Jackson Shelstad added 21 points while Dante added 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Couisnard had a history of big nights against Arizona, scoring 27 points against the Wildcats in Eugene last season and 39 at McKale Center earlier this month.

Oumar Ballo led Arizona with 14 points and 12 rebounds. The Wildcats shot just 38.3% and allowed Oregon to shoot 50% in the second half after holding the Ducks to just 33.3% in the first half.

The loss dropped Arizona to 25-8, while Oregon (22-11) kept its hopes of earning the Pac-12’s automatic NCAA Tournament bid if they can also win the championship game Saturday against third-seeded Colorado, a 58-52 winer over Washington State in the other Pac-12 Tournament semifinal game.

Oregon erased UA’s 14-point first-half lead within the first eight minutes of the second half, then took leads of up to 13 before hanging on in the final minutes. The Ducks led 63-59 into the final minute but Caleb Love missed a 2-pointer with 38 seconds left, forcing UA to foul Oregon guard Jackson Shelstad with 29 second left before the Ducks took a shot.

Shelstad hit both ensuing free throws to put Oregon up 65-59 and Arizona failed to score on its next possession, while Kario Oquendo hit another two free throws with 18 seconds left to seal it for the Ducks.

Love finished the game with just six points on 2-for-11 shooting, the second time in the Wildcats’ past three games he has been held to single-digit scoring. Love had two points on 1-for-10 shooting last Saturday at USC.

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Love had tied the Matthew Knight Arena record with 36 points on 12 for 20 shooting on Jan. 27, while point guard Kylan Boswell had just four points on 1-for-6 shooting. Boswell had averaged 16.5 points while hitting 7 of 12 3-pointers in two games against Oregon this season.

“Two guys who killed us went 2 for 10” on Friday, Altman said. “That’s just part of the game.”

On a team level, things also turned around from their regular-season matchups. Arizona beat the Ducks 87-78 in Eugene and 103-83 in Arizona’s home season finale on March 2.

However, Oregon has a history of causing the Wildcats plenty of trouble in recent years, beating the Wildcats seven straight times before UA won 84-81 at McKale on Feb. 19, 2022.

Oregon also had the motivation of needing to win the Pac-12 Tournament to get into the NCAA Tournament field, while Arizona also may be locked into a No. 2 NCAA Tournament seed.

“We live another day,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said. “Jermaine and Dante are our leaders. It resonates through the team because of them.”

Trailing by up to 14 points with just over five minutes to go, the Wildcats flashed some zone defense and fullcourt press in an attempt to throw off the raging Ducks, who had erased Arizona’s 14-point first half lead less than eight minutes into the second half.

That helped Arizona rattle off nine straight points to cut Oregon’s lead to 61-57 entering a timeout with 2:40 remaining and Jaden Bradley hit a pull-up jumper from eight feet out to cut it to 63-59 with 1:29 left.

Arizona led by up to 14 points in the first half and 33-23 at halftime, but the Ducks went on a 9-3 run to start the second half and creep within four points when Couisnard hit an open 3-pointer from the righn wing to make it 36-32 with 16:33 left.

Couisard later hit a 3-pointer to cap a 7-0 Oregon run and give the Ducks their first lead of the second half, 43-41, with 12:33 to go.

Oregon then pulled off a 10-0 run midway through the second half, with Couisnard again capping it with a 3-pointer that gave the Ducks a 53-44 lead. The Ducks pushed it up to a 61-48 lead with 5:18 to go, with point guard Shelstad chipping in a pair of 3-pointers.

In the first half, Ballo had 11 points and eight rebounds to help Arizona take a 33-23 halftime lead while taking full advantage of Dante’s absence. The Oregon big man left the game after rolling over Ballo’s back and falling hard on the floor just 62 seconds into the game.

Dante landed nearly flat on his back and left without putting weight on his right leg, but Altman said he had immediate X-rays that were all negative, suffering only a tailbone bruise as it turned out.

Dante returned after about 10 minutes, rode a stationary bike on the sidelines and returned to the game at the 7:41 mark. He soon after drew a shooting foul by Ballo, then hit both free throws and, after a turnover by UA’s Kylan Boswell, dunked on an ensuing possession to cut UA’s lead to 27-16 and the Ducks trailed 33-23 at halftime, before they rolled with even more momentum in the second half.

“That kid showed some character and some toughness to come back in, and obviously he was a big difference in the game,” Lloyd said of Dante. “We had opportunities early to extend the lead and we didn’t. Then we had opportunities in the second half to make a run and we didn’t.

“When you don’t, that’s the results.”

Photos: Arizona squanders 10-point halftime lead, falls to Oregon in Pac-12 tourney semis