Arizona vs No. 15 Utah | Pac-12 | 1.7.24
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- Опубліковано 7 січ 2024
- TUCSON, AZ - Arizona vs Utah
Written by K Doss | ArizonaDesertSwarm.com
Last year, the Arizona Wildcats went to Salt Lake City and lost on a last-second free throw by Utah’s Alissa Pili. This time, the Utes were on the short end of the heartbreaker as Kailyn Gilbert sank two free throws with 1.1 seconds left in overtime to secure the 71-70 victory for Arizona.
“I remember that last year,” Gilbert said with a smile. “That call...I’ll just shut up.”
The momentum was building. Just two days ago, Arizona took the court against No. 5 Colorado and lost by one point despite having just seven available players. Against Utah, they had eight players.
Maybe it wasn’t the difference in the game, but it was definitely encouraging to have at least one player to sub in the post. Utah coach Lynne Roberts had been petitioning the officials publicly since the Utes’ game against Arizona State on Friday. She wanted more fouls called on opponents’ post players when guarding Pili. She got her wish. Breya Cunningham had three fouls before the end of the first quarter. Esmery Martinez eventually fouled out.
Enter Sali Kourouma, who posted on Instagram before the game that this would be her final game of the season. She plans to have surgery soon, but she wanted to return for one more game before she does so. The forward has been sitting out after reinjuring the shoulder she dislocated in Arizona’s second exhibition game. She got to go out on a high note.
“I mean, it was big for us,” Pueyo said. “It really helped us a lot. She’s really physical. She’s really strong, especially with the post players because we’ve got two post players. One of them fouled out-Esmery fouled out.”
It was the Wildcats’ first win over a ranked team this season. They came in with a 9-5 record. All five of the losses were against teams that were ranked either at the time the game was played or shortly after. After getting close against a Top 5 opponent on Friday, the question was whether they would be too tired to go up against another ranked team and pull out a victory-or even make it respectable.
At times, it looked like they wouldn’t. The Wildcats started hot, going up by eight points at 6:17 in the first quarter. In a game of runs by both teams, Utah punched back, building its own seven-point edge with just over 90 seconds to go in the opening frame. Again, the momentum went back in Arizona’s direction. It was a two-point game at the end of 10 minutes.
The biggest lead by either team in the second quarter was Arizona by five, but Utah went into the locker room with a one-point advantage. The Wildcats shot a hot 55.6 percent from the floor in the first half and an even better 66.7 percent from 3-point range. They did it with good decisions, taking well-timed 3-pointers and sharing the ball.
UA fell into its bad habit of having slow third quarters yet again. A one-point Utah lead became a 10-point Utah lead just over two minutes into the second half.
The Utes hit three 3-pointers in the early minutes of the third quarter. On the other end, Arizona tried to match them, launching three inadvisable shots from beyond the arc that didn’t go in. After taking just six outside shots in the first half and going 4 for 6, the Wildcats took six in just the third quarter, going 1 for 6.
“I think we were just settling a lot,” Barnes said. “And at one point we were settling for threes when we were in the bonus even in the second quarter...I think...people are trying to get into the game. And we’re open on the three a lot because of our percentages. So I think that sometimes that’s enticing and you want to just do it. But we have to get better, I think, just managing certain situations. When we’re down, we’re fighting back, so I see that we have that fight and we’re resilient. But I think the awareness of when we haven’t scored in a couple of possessions, we don’t want a quick three-point shot at that point.”
They didn’t give up, but it didn’t look like it was going to be the Wildcats’ day. They whittled the lead down to four in third quarter, but the Utes pushed it back out to eight. The teams headed into the final quarter with the visitors up by seven.
“At one point we were down by nine points, and the game was kind of looking like Utah was gonna run away with it,” Gilbert said. “But we came back and we fought and beat the number 15 team in the country.”
Utah went cold in the final quarter. Just over three minutes in, Arizona had cut the lead to two points. After another three minutes, the Wildcats had the two-point lead. Then, both teams stopped scoring.
The final point in regulation was a free throw by Jada Williams to tie the game with 2:04 to go. It was a series of missed shots and missed free throws after that. The final shot was by Gilbert with two seconds to go. She couldn’t connect.
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After a tough loss to Colorado this was good to see for Arizona! Smart play for Gilbert to draw the foul at the end.
Fr, and i had a feeling this was coming. Colorado is no pushover, it takes a whole lot to pull them over the edge, and Arizona was doing it, barely rimming out a shot at the end. This just displays the utter depth the Pac-12 has this season. Utah who gave South Carolina a run for their money already has 4 loses... thats insane
That was a lot of pressure to make those last FTs.
Refs definitely had a favorite team
As a Utah fan the refs were giving Pili big time respect
Rough officiating throughout, but the last 2 minutes were horrendous.
Great game!
It's the Pac-12.
Watched this whole clip to scout the Liberty draft pick, Martinez
This the most unselfish Arizona has played all season honestly, Gilbert still doing questionable shit that results in turnovers when she can just pass the damn ball 😭
Game had a good chance of being over if Gilbert just kicked out to Williams in the corner like wtf, her teammates have to be tired.
@@90sHillyI hope you don’t mean jada williams. Cause sis been in a slump all season
@@kjones1 she just came from back to back double digit games and had 16 points against the number 5 team in the nation the game before this, what are you talking about.
Agreed. I saw Arizona play CU and Gilbert was all about Gilbert. She doesn't listen and can't take criticism. And, it seemed to create tension on the team - at halftime they were almost hostile to each other. Barnes usually creates a strong team ethic - Gilbert is her special challenge
@@queenB1963 I can absolutely see that because she’s stopping the offense from flowing smoothly by not playing unselfish, her teammates noticed it before us so imagine how fed up they are. Hopefully this is issue is something they can sort out quickly because it’s exhausting to watch at this point.
This was a repeat of the Colorado game for Utah. Significant lead in the 4th quarter followed by a huge scoring drought. Too many missed free throws and layups for Utah. Arizona fought hard.
Utah #34 definitely blew the game on more than one occasion.
Some players had food poisoning, how that happen?
All the calls went Pili’s way until that terrible offensive foul they called on Pili near the end. Lynne Roberts almost blew up. Not enough good players around Pili. Jennings and MaCarther aren’t as good without Kneepkens and Young is horrible under pressure . I am pulling for her but the situation is too big for her right now. Unfortunately I predicted without Kneepkens it would not go well and Utah is in big trouble.
Gilbert tried to blow the game. Wtf
GILBERT IS THE REASON THEY LOSE GAMES CUZ SHE PLAYS HERO BALL & HAS ALOT OF TURNOVERS
AGAIN GILBERT WITH THE SELFISH TERRIBLE PLAY!!!
I’m saying ! Selfish and terrible
Until the coach pulls Gilbert for being selfish her teammates are in for a long season of Gilbert playing for Gilbert and not the team! It’s hard to watch knowing we are all gunna see her be selfish! Her teammates have to be over her by now and doesn’t look like the coach is doing anything about it! How about bench her til she learns she’s on a team and it’s not the Gilbert show! It’s so annoying to watch!
Gilbert is a ball hog