Two and a half months after upsetting then-No. 4 Arizona at the Huntsman Center to send a message to the Pac-12 that they were going to be a force in the conference race, the Runnin’ Utes failed to validate that stunning effort at McKale Center on Thursday night.
And that might be putting it mildly.
The No. 8 Wildcats exacted some revenge, and then some, in front of 14,688 fans in Tucson, walloping the upstart Utes 88-62 with a dominating performance befitting a team that is in line for a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in next month’s NCAA Tournament.
“Their crowd, it is an elite home court, and their fans are into it, and it can be a little bit overwhelming at times, and we are still learning how to deal with that.” — Utah basketball coach Craig Smith
The Utes fell to 17-10 overall and 10-6 in league play in the battle for second place, and showed that without second-leading scorer Gabe Madsen they are probably not quite ready for epic battles such as these.
Utah shot 32% from the field, while allowing Arizona to shoot 57% and that was pretty much the story of the game.
“They were outstanding tonight,” Utah coach Craig Smith told ESPN 700 radio. “They showed why they are the No. 8 team in the country. We knew we were going to get their best shot.”
Arizona (23-4, 12-4) dominated every statistical category except rebounding (37-34 in the Wildcats’ favor) and took a 43-31 lead at halftime, despite getting no points in the first 20 minutes from Pac-12 Player of the Year candidate Azuolas Tubelis.
He picked up his first foul with 14:42 remaining in the first half, and then kicked the basketball into the stands to pick up a technical foul. At that point, two technical free throws by Lazar Stefanovic gave the Utes a 9-8 lead, and it appeared that might need the break the visitors needed to make it a competitive contest.
Guess again.
Arizona went on a 10-0 run, and Utah was barely heard from again — save a brief stretch in the second half when freshman Wil Exacte heated up and pulled the Utes to within 12 — in its quest to get a second Quad 1 victory on its resume.
“The combination of them coming off a loss (to Stanford) and us beating them in December, we knew we were going to take their best shot,” Smith said. “Credit to them. I thought they were outstanding. Their crowd, it is an elite home court, and their fans are into it, and it can be a little bit overwhelming at times, and we are still learning how to deal with that.”
Even with Tubelis finishing with just 11 points and fellow front court star Oumar Ballo getting only eight, Arizona outscored Utah 38-10 in the paint.
Kerr Kriisa led Arizona with 17 points and six assists, and Courtney Rame added 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists as the Wildcats’ guards totally outplayed Utah’s guards. Arizona had 26 assists to Utah’s 12 and had 18 fast-break points to Utah’s five.
“They got going in transition. It always starts with your transition defense and I felt like they got too many run-outs and easy ones, and that is what we really neutralized them in that area at our place,” Smith said, referring to Utah’s 81-66 win on Dec. 1 at the Huntsman Center.
Of course, the Utes had Madsen in that game.
Thursday night, about their only offense was Branden Carlson, who had 19 points on 6 of 13 shooting. Marco Anthony added 12 points, but needed nine shots to get there. Exacte finished with 10, his highest scoring output since the second game of the season.
“We just had too many empty stretches on offense, obviously,” Smith said. “I felt like our turnovers — we only had 12 — in what was a higher-possession game (were costly). It felt like our turnovers were ones that really hurt us.”
Arizona’s bench outscored Utah’s bench 30-15, and Utes backup center Keba Keita — whom Smith believed would play more in an effort to combat Arizona’s size advantage — played just 11 minutes off the bench and did not score.
“It was just kinda one of those nights,” Smith said. “Our guys competed really hard. I am proud of our effort. But obviously we got to execute better to beat a team like this.”
The Utes travel up the highway to Arizona State next for a matchup with the Sun Devils in Tempe. Arizona State was upset by Colorado on Thursday night.