Down to 7 players, Arizona Wildcats come up just short of upset vs. No. 5 Colorado

Down to only seven players before you are playing a Top 5 team in the nation, most teams would be concerned.

Not Arizona.

The Wildcats just took it in stride and played their best game of the season, coming oh-so-close to claiming the biggest upset of the young Pac-12 campaign.

In the box score it will show that it all came down to a jumper from Breya Cunningham that just missed as time ran out, giving Colorado a 75-74 win at McKale Center Friday night in front of 7,386 in attendance.

Arizona is now 9-5 overall, 1-1 in the Pac-12, while Colorado stays unbeaten in the league at 2-0 and moves to 12-1 overall.

While that shot might have been a miss, the game was really lost earlier in the fourth quarter, with the Wildcats giving up a few too many backdoor cuts to the Buffaloes after taking an eight-point lead. It was back and forth for the last five minutes of the game.

Yes, that’s right, Arizona was up 60-52 after outscoring one of the best teams in the country 22-14 in the third quarter.

The Wildcats did that shooting 69% from the field and with a tight defense that held the Buffaloes to only 30% in that period.

Arizona, which was already without the services of Sali Kourouma as she reinjured her dislocated shoulder before last week’s Seattle matchup, found out before the game that Isis Beh wouldn’t be playing either. After the game, Arizona coach Adia Barnes said Beh is in concussion protocol and will be back on the court next weekend.

“I don’t think is a big thing for us,” senior Helena Pueyo said. “Of course, Isis is a really great player and we need her inside, (but) we were just going to do it with six, seven players. We have been doing it the whole season. I thought we fought a lot during the whole game.”

Pueyo finished with nine points and hit only one 3-pointer, but it couldn’t have come at a better time, giving the Wildcats a 72-71 lead with 2:04 left in the game. She also grabbed six rebounds, dished three assists and had three steals.

Kailyn Gilbert led the Wildcats in scoring with 19 points. Jada Williams finished with 16 points and Cunningham had 11.

The Wildcats were fighting for everything, getting in the passing lanes and not letting the Buffaloes get into any sort of rhythm. Colorado, usually a good 3-point shooting team, made only six of its 19 attempts from long distance. Frida Formann, who hit a dagger 3 last year in Boulder to beat the Wildcats, went 0 for 5 from beyond the arc and scored only six points.

She said it

“They just did some little things a little better than we did and just credit to them because they’re a very good team. They definitely took the game from us because we had an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter (and) they put that zone on. It really had us a little bit stagnant.

“I’m proud of our players for the way they fought. We had seven players. That’s a tall order, not one post-player sub on the bench.

“I thought that people were in different positions but they did everything I asked and they tried their best. Now, I’m just talking to them about just small things like the backdoor cuts in the fourth quarter really hurt us. The lack of boxing out and the offensive rebounds really hurt us. You correct those things ... I told Breya, it does not come down to that shot.” — Barnes

Key moment

It all came down to the final minutes of the game. Colorado’s Netty Vonleh scored on three straight possessions — a putback and two layups — after scoring only five points up to that point. That gave Colorado a 69-67 lead before Gilbert matched it at 69 all with her own layup. Jaylyn Sherrod gave the Buffaloes the win with four points — a layup and a pair of free throws. Esmery Martinez scored on a layup with 1:14 left to close the gap to one, 75-74. Cunningham had the last shot on an inbounds play with two seconds left.

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Stuffing the stat sheet

Martinez: 9 points, 4 steals

Williams: 5 assists

Pueyo: 6 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 assists,

Gilbert: 5 rebounds

Skylar Jones: 6 points, 2 steals

Courtney Blakely: 3 assists, 2 steals

The other side

Sherrod led the Buffaloes with 18 points, four assists and four steals. Vonleh finished with 11 points, and Quay Miller had 14 points. Formann finished with five assists.

By the numbers

23: Arizona forced 19 turnovers and turned them into 23 points. Thirteen of the turnovers were steals.

20: Colorado out-rebounded UA by 20 — 41-21 — and had 17 offensive rebounds.

55: Arizona shot 55% and held Colorado to 46% shooting.

No. 5 Colorado 75, Arizona 74

COLORADO (12-1)

Vonleh 4-10 3-5 11, Miller 6-12 0-0 14, Formann 2-7 2-2 6, Nolan 2-3 0-0 6, Sherrod 5-10 7-9 18, McLeod 0-0 0-0 0, Whittaker 1-1 0-0 2, Sadler 3-8 0-0 7, Smith 3-6 1-1 7, Wetta 2-4 0-0 4, Totals 28-61 13-17 75

ARIZONA (9-5)

Cunningham 5-7 1-2 11, Martinez 4-6 1-1 9, Gilbert 8-21 2-3 19, Pueyo 4-7 0-0 9, Williams 6-9 2-2 16, Blakely 2-5 0-0 4, Jones 3-3 0-0 6, Totals 32-58 6-8 74

Colorado 19 19 14 23 — 75

Arizona 16 20 22 16 — 74

3-Point Goals: Colorado 6-19 (Vonleh 0-1, Miller 2-2, Formann 0-5, Nolan 2-3, Sherrod 1-3, Sadler 1-2, Smith 0-2, Wetta 0-1), Arizona 4-11 (Gilbert 1-4, Pueyo 1-3, Williams 2-3, Blakely 0-1). Assists: Colorado 21 (Wetta 6), Arizona 15 (Williams 5). Fouled Out: None. Rebounds: Colorado 41 (Miller 9, Smith 9), Arizona 21 (Pueyo 6). Total Fouls: Colorado 15, Arizona 15. Technical Fouls: None. A: 7,386.