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| Jan. 9 - UCLA Bruins forward/center Tony Parker (23) grabs a rebound in front of Arizona Wildcats forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (23) in the first half of the game at Pauley Pavilion. PHOTO BY: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports |
LOS ANGELES – Throughout the non-conference season, Arizona passed tests against San Diego State, Duke and Michigan. Thursday night, at enthusiastic Pauley Pavilion, the top-ranked Wildcats passed their first Pac-12 road test.
But just barely.
Junior guard Nick Johnson hit a runner in the lane and the Wildcats sank nine free throws in the final two minutes to escape Westwood with a 79-75 win over UCLA. The victory – UA’s 16th in a row -- matches the 1931-32 team as the best start in school history, but it might have served as a learning experience more than anything else.
“We battled through,’’ UA coach Sean Miller said. “We were resilient.”
UA (16-0, 3-0 in the Pac-12) led by 13 with 6:16 to go, but coughed it up. UCLA rallied to take a 70-69 lead on two Bryce Alford free throws with 1:44 left. But the Wildcats held on, never folding, mostly because they had been in this situation before.
“You can’t really prepare for the Pac-12 because there’s so much that the other team knows about you already and there’s so much time to prepare, “ sophomore guard Gabe York said. “But we’re grinding it out defensively. As long as we keep it up, we’re going to keep going.”
That’s the big question for this team. How long can they keep it up? UCLA, with its high-scoring offense, was a game many had circled for UA’s first loss, and yet the Wildcats survived. Up next is USC on Sunday followed by ASU, thorn-in-the-side Colorado and Utah in Tucson before an end-of-the-month road trip to Stanford and California.
All are beatable.
Johnson said the Wildcats feel disrespected in some ways.
“We’re looking at is as a challenge,” Johnson said of staying undefeated. “People are still doubting us. A lot of people said we were going to lose (Thursday.)”
Johnson scored 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting. He also played a key defensive role in limiting the Bruins to 40-percent shooting. Sophomore center Kaleb Tarczewski added 16 points and eight rebounds. And junior point guard T.J. McConnell was his normal pesky self, contributing eight points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
Against UCLA, the Wildcats discovered this: They can count on York. The sophomore guard scored 12 points off the bench, nine coming in the first half, giving the Wildcats a lift when UCLA went to a 2-3 zone. He was the reason UA led 42-38 in the first half.
The rest of the country discovered this: UA’s depth issue is an illusion. Yes, Miller goes only two or three deep, but the Wildcats’ defensive versatility makes up for it. In Aaron Gordon, Johnson and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Miller has at least three players who can defend multiple positions.
This was showcased against the Bruins, who are a tough matchup because of 6-foot-9 sophomore point guard Kyle Anderson. Instead of keeping one player on Anderson, Miller shifted the assignment. At different times in the first half, McConnell, Gordon, Johnson and Hollis-Jefferson all defended Anderson. Such versatility allowed Miller to rest certain players and lose little, if anything, defensively.
Anderson finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds and six assists, but he didn’t have an easy time, missing nine of 15 shots. The Wildcats also handcuffed UCLA leading-scorer Jordan Adams for most of the game, limiting him to 12 points on 4-of-1 shooting. Their biggest issue: UCLA’s 16 offensive rebounds.
With 6:16 to go, UA led 68-55, but UCLA caught fire, igniting the sold-out crowd of 13,283. Anderson hit a jumper. Alford buried a 3. With 1:44 to go, Alford was fouled on the baseline. His two free throws completed a 15-1 burst and gave the Bruins their first lead of the second half, 70-69. But Johnson struck on the next possession and the Wildcats never rattled, closing out the game from the foul line.
“Anytime you go on the road in the Pac-12 it’s difficult,” Miller said.
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