Arizona Wildcats shake off early struggles to beat Long Beach State 85-65 in first-round NCAA Tournament game

SALT LAKE CITY — Stuck in a mass of Long Beach State defenders near the basket for much of the afternoon, without teammates who could get him the ball, Oumar Ballo could have felt it.

Pelle Larsson and Kylan Boswell, both taking part in Arizona’s first-half parade of missed layups, could have felt it.

And, at least on some level, UA coach Tommy Lloyd did feel it. Before running away with an 85-65 win over 15th-seeded Long Beach State in a first-round NCAA Tournament game at the Delta Center, the Wildcats trailed the Beach for seven first-half minutes and led by just six at halftime.

The name “Princeton” might have come to the Wildcats’ minds. Or to their stomachs.

“The tournament pressure deal is real,” Lloyd said. “Anybody that says it’s not is lying to you.”

But while Arizona lost to the 15th-seeded Tigers in an infamous first-round effort a year ago, after taking a 31-30 lead after a similarly tense first half against Princeton, this time the Wildcats ironed out any first-half troubles in about four minutes after halftime.

Arizona (26-8) went on a defense-fueled 17-2 run to begin the second half to take a 55-37 lead with 16:16 left and stayed ahead by 20 or more the rest of the game. They will now play a second-round game Saturday against seventh-seeded Dayton, which pulled out a comeback 63-60 win over Nevada.

No worries.

“No, not really,” said point guard Kylan Boswell, one of three current Wildcats who were on the floor against Princeton last year, along with Larsson and Ballo. “We know who we are as a team. We know what our culture is built on.”

“Nah,” Ballo added, grinning. “Last year was last year. We had that chip on our shoulder to get past the first game for sure.”

Even after Long Beach State held leads of up to five in the first half, Larsson said pretty much the same thing.

“Nah,” Larsson said. “There was so much time on the clock. But we weren’t relaxed. We were urgent to get that lead back.”

So they did. Long Beach State held a 35-34 lead with 2:14 left in the first half when Arizona scored seven straight points to close out the half, getting two free throws from Jaden Bradley, a 3-pointer from Caleb Love and a layup from Larsson with 16 seconds left.

They continued the rampage after halftime. Keshad Johnson powered in for a layup 24 seconds into the half while later slamming in an alley-oop dunk off a toss from Love just over a minute later.

Arizona turned that into a 14-2 run over the first four minutes of the second half, taking a 55-37 lead when Larsson hit a 3-pointer from the left wing, then made it a 17-2 run when Boswell hit a 3-pointer.

The Wildcats not only cranked up their defense, blocking three shots in the first three minutes after halftime and holding LBSU to just 2-for-18 shooting over the first eight minutes of the second half, but also started finishing better inside.

Arizona made just three of their first 14 layup attempts, failing to be rewarded by either a bucket or a foul on repeated trips to the basket, but made 7 of 15 the rest of the way.

It was a trend Larsson figured would change at some point.

“That’s what we kept saying,” Larsson said. “We were getting great shots, like zero feet, right at the rim. And we shot under 40% in the first half. That’s not normal for us, so we just said `make your layups and we’re gonna be fine.’ “

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The Wildcats found another way to score, too. Poking holes in and shooting over Long Beach State’s zone defenses, they hit 13 of 35 3-pointers (37.1%), setting a new school record for most 3-point made shots in an NCAA Tournament game.

Boswell, who led UA in scoring with a career-high 20 points, made 4 of 9 3-pointers. Larsson hit 3 of 5, while Love was 3 of 12 from long range. Keshad Johnson added two more while Jaden Bradley hit another.

Arizona has averaged 23.8 attempts this season, taking 35 in a home win against Utah on Jan. 6 but in no other game until Thursday.

“I knew we were going to have to take a lot of 3 shots,” Lloyd said. “Thirty-five 3-point attempts for us is a lot, but that’s what the game called for today.”

The flurry of 3s came after the Wildcats’ perimeter trio had struggled with shooting and ballhandling against USC and Oregon in the previous two weeks.

While Love hit only a quarter of his 3s and was 6 for 17 overall, he still managed to put together his second double-double of the season with 18 points and 11 rebounds — while also dishing five assists that included his rally-igniting alley-oop pass to Johnson early in the second half.

The Wildcats weren’t able to get the ball often to Ballo, who took just four shots while collecting 13 rebounds and four blocks. The UA center hasn’t missed a single field goal in the Wildcats’ past two games, but took just five shots against Oregon in the Pac-12 semifinals and just four on Thursday.

“Sometimes I think Oumar is too nice,” Larsson said. “He doesn’t tell us when he wants the ball.”

Ballo smiled when he heard that one. He was in a tough spot to be too demanding, anyway.

“Every time we try to look high-low, they were just packing in the paint,” Ballo said. “We had to get it out a little bit, make them move and try to find some easy looks.”

But as it turned out, the Wildcats’ ability to score in different ways, and better handle a zone defense, may help them put together a much more sustainable NCAA Tournament run than the aborted one they had last season.

That is, Lloyd says, as long as they keep their heads down, as far away from the noise as possible.

“Human emotions are really powerful,” Lloyd said. “As a competitor, you just have to fight those thoughts. You can’t go there.

“Fortunately, I think this is my 25th time in the NCAA tournament, so I’ve been around it a little bit. Some of our guys have been around it a little bit.

“To be quite honest, I think we’re built for it.”

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Photos: (2) Arizona Wildcats dispatch (15) Long Beach State 85-65, NCAA West Region