Bruce Pascoe | Arizona Daily Star
On an atmospheric stage at McKale Center where Arizona could have taken a commanding lead in the Pac-12 race, the Wildcats instead handed first place to the team picked to finish 10th.
Washington State handed Arizona its first McKale loss of the season, 77-74, as Caleb Love scored 27 points but was forced to throw down a missed shot from nearly half the court as time expired.
The loss dropped Arizona to 20-6 and 11-4 overall, leaving the Wildcats a half game behind the Cougars (21-6 and 12-4). While the teams are tied in the loss column, the tiebreaker between them is WSU, as the Cougars also beat Arizona on Jan. 13 in Pullman.
The Cougars, who won the season series against the Wildcats, played with poise throughout the game, which was largely played on two possessions.
As the game entered the final minute tied, the Wildcats' defense forced WSU's Jaylen Wells to make an errant three-pointer. After Oumar Ballo got the rebound, Love drove inside for a layup and drew a foul.
Love hit the ensuing and-one to make it 74-71, but after Myles Rice missed a three-pointer, Wells hit a three-pointer from the left corner when he was fouled by Johnson.
The 3-pointer tied the game at 74 with 24.6 seconds left and prompted UA to call a timeout, after which Wells hit the free throw to give WSU a 75-74 lead.
On UA's ensuing possession, Jones hit a shot inside from Love with 9.3 seconds left, but the ball went out of bounds and Arizona regained possession. Jaden Bradley then hit an inbounds shot to Keshad Johnson, who passed to Love – but Love slipped as he drove to the basket and turned the ball over. WSU then hit an inbounds shot to Wells, who was fouled and made both free throws, giving WSU a 77-74 lead.
As Wells left the line, one of the Glo sticks went onto the field and fans were warned that throwing anything onto the field could result in a technical foul, an announcement that was met with boos.
After Wells' shots, the Wildcats had 2.4 seconds to fire a shot. Kylan Boswell passed to Love on the sideline inside the halfcourt line, but his last second 45-foot throw missed.
Wells finished the game with 27 points, leading the Cougars, who shot just 41.9%, committed just nine turnovers and had just one outrebound. Arizona shot 44.8% but was just 5 of 18 from 3-point range and made just 17 of 27 free throws.
Arizona had a one-point lead with 2:39 left, but Wells hit a 15-footer late in the shot clock to give WSU a 71-69 lead with 1:56 left before Johnson hit a short jump shot The left baseline made it 71-1 with 91 seconds remaining.
Trailing 34-33 at halftime, Arizona used the defense to set up two alley-oop dunks from Johnson to take a 43-39 lead three minutes into the second half.
Ballo initially blocked a shot from Isaac Jones, which led to an alley-oop pass from Love to Johnson for a dunk that tied the score at 38. Later, Johnson set up his own dunk and blocked Jones, which led to another alley-oop pass from Johnson I love that Johnson punched in as he ran to the right of the rim.
But WSU went on a 10-1 run and took a 57-51 lead with nine minutes left. After a 3-pointer from Love later brought the Wildcats within two points, they again showed the poise when UA often melts other opponents: Keshad Johnson ran behind WSU guard Myles Rice for his fast break layup to block – but WSU forward Kymany Houinsou picked it up and fired it in as Johnson's momentum drove it out of bounds.
Houinsou's dunk gave WSU a 60-55 lead, but Cougars forward Isaac Jones committed his third and fourth consecutive possession fouls, the first on offense and the second while defending Johnson, who briefly tied UA at 61 with two free throws :60 took the lead. WSU's Jaylen Wells later hit a 3-pointer to give WSU a 67-63 lead, but another from Love put the Wildcats back ahead 68-67 heading into the final timeout with 2:39 left for the media.
Love scored 17 points in the first half, but Arizona trailed WSU 34-33 at halftime.
Arizona and Washington State entered the game separated by just half a game in the Pac-12 race, and the game quickly reflected the competitiveness of the two teams as the McKale Center lit up with a loud, nearly sellout crowd that received red glow sticks in front the game.
The Cougars immediately set the tone, taking an early 9-8 lead at the first media timeout after UA committed three turnovers in the first four minutes. WSU took a seven-point lead at 31-24 with 3:54 left, but the Wildcats scored six straight points to pull within 31-30 with 2:18 left.
Love then hit a 25-footer to give UA a 33-32 lead with 47 seconds left as the McKale Center crowd stood on its feet, waving red glow sticks that had been placed in every seat before the game. WSU's Andrej Jakimovski picked up a foul from Pelle Larsson with 22 seconds left and hit both free throws to put the Cougars back in the lead at 34-33.
Love had a chance to put Arizona ahead at halftime, but his final 3-point attempt with two seconds left bounced off the rim.
Love shot 5-for-11 from the field in the first half, made 2 of 7 3-pointers and hit all five free throws he made. Arizona shot 44.8% from the field as a team but made just 2 of 10 3-point shots.
The Cougars, who defeated the Wildcats 73-70 in Pullman on Jan. 13, shot just 39.4% but matched the Wildcats' team-high 18 points as their shifting defense made it difficult for Arizona to penetrate.
Arizona rallied to beat WSU 21-17, but committed eight turnovers in the first half and made just five of 10 free throws overall, with center Oumar Ballo and forward Keshad Johnson both missing.