In a battle of top 5 teams, No. 4 Arizona overwhelmed short-handed UConn inside to hand the third-ranked Huskies a 71-67 loss at home in a Wednesday night thriller.
The Wildcats built a 53-40 second-half lead, then fended off a late Huskies comeback.
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UConn rallied to take its first lead of the second half at 62-60 with 3:02 remaining. But Arizona maintained its composure in front of a frenetic UConn home crowd to win the back-and-forth battle down the stretch.
A Jaden Bradley layup in traffic secured a 67-64 Arizona advantage with 16 seconds remaining.
Bradley led the Arizona scoring effort with 21 points. And as has been the case throughout the college basketball season, a freshman took a leading role in victory.
Another big high-stakes effort from Koa Peat
Arizona forward Koa Peat logged another double-double with 16 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks as a UConn team playing without All-Big East center Tarris Reed Jr. struggled to compete in the paint.
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Peat burst on to the scene in his Arizona debut with 30 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and 1 block against one of the nation’s best front lines as the Wildcats handed reigning champion Florida a loss on college basketball’s opening night.
He entered Wednesday’s game averaging 16.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game as one of the stars of what most consider college basketball’s best freshman class in years. And he delivered again against a top-3 team as Arizona improved to 5-0 with three wins over ranked teams.
Koa Peat posted a double-double to help lead Arizona to a 5-0 start and its third win over a ranked team.
(Joe Buglewicz via Getty Images)
Dominant inside effort overcomes tepid shooting
Arizona is flawed from outside and hesitant to shoot from deep. It entered Wednesday averaging just 16.3 3-point attempts per game, ranking 350th out of 365 teams. It almost cost the Wildcats on Wednesday night as they made just two 3s on 10 attempts. The lack of scoring from outside helped spark the UConn comeback.
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But Arizona dominated inside with a 42-24 advantage in points in the paint. And the Wildcats were overwhelming on the glass with a 43-23 rebounding advantage. Peat was one of two Arizona players with double-digit rebounds, joined by center Motiejus Krivas, who tallied a game-high 14.
Huskies were short-handed, not at their best
UConn would have surely fared better inside with Reed, who was a late scratch with an ankle injury. Reed has averaged 20 points and 9.3 rebounds per game in three games this season and would have tilted Arizona’s paint advantage more in UConn’s direction.
But Reed is just one player, and UConn’s lack of competitiveness inside will surely draw the ire of head coach Dan Hurley.
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The Huskies also played again without preseason Big East Freshman of the Year Braylon Mullins, who has yet to make his college debut due to an ankle injury that’s sidelined him through UConn’s first five games.
And the Huskies got a poor showing from senior two-time champion Alex Karaban, who didn’t make his first field goal until five minutes had passed in the second half and finished the game with 8 points and 3 rebounds on a 2-of-5 shooting night from the field.
