Arizona Basketball Falls Against No. 24 UCLA: 3 Takeaways

Arizona basketball suffers a heartbreaking loss at Footprint Center in Phoenix after a 13-point UCLA comeback.

Arizona basketball is currently on pace for a 14-win season with a plethora of early losses, this is a nearly identical start that the Wildcats had under Sean Miller and is his first season with the team starting 4-5 with two ranked losses.

This is also the worst start in the Tommy Lloyd era. Three of their five losses come against teams they beat the previous season; Duke, Wisconsin, and UCLA. Arizona has some time before the start of the Big 12 season, but is this early struggle a sign of the future?

Takeaway #1: Arizona can’t underestimate any lead they have

Arizona entered the half down 30-28 and would excel greatly at the top of the second half, scoring 19 points in the first five minutes to UCLA’s six. Arizona would hold a strong 13-point lead until they saw an absolute standstill in their offense. 

Arizona basketball would not score a single field goal in the last eight minutes of the game, with their only three points coming from a KJ Lewis visit to the free throw line. Arizona missed all four three-point attempts and all three mid-range/layups. There is certainly something to say here that Arizona continued to rely on an iffy three-point outing in crunch time.

Takeaway #2: Arizona needs to know when to stop shooting threes

This lackluster performance from the three-point line, 2-16 overall and 0-4 in the last nine minutes, has been the average in most of Arizona’s games. This reliance on the three in late-game scenarios has cost the Wildcats several games that could’ve been won with better mid-range looks. 

Despite tying their lowest attempts of 16 on the season, the Wildcats made just two three-pointers. Caleb Love attempted seven three only making one and the second most attempted came from Henri Veesaar with four attempts and no makes. Veesaar missed two attempts and Love missed one attempt in the last nine minutes. The Wildcats cannot continue to put up three when they aren’t seeing the potential, at the end of the first half they shot 1-8 from three and copied that exactly in the second. 

There is something to say when during Arizona’s massive 19-point push at the start of the second, they only made one three. Arizona has talent in the mid-range, layup, and below the rim. Arizona needs to utilize these faucets more, you might say there was some struggle here late as well with Jaden Bradley missing three two-pointers in the last nine minutes. However, the fact they were able to gain such a massive lead off the two-pointer speaks for itself.

Take away #3: UCLA is a legit contender in the Big Ten

UCLA have continued to prove their dominance with grit and grind, here they came back down after a massive 13-point lead by Arizona. They were able to critically score on the points after turnover scoring 27 off Arizona turnovers compared to the Wildcat’s 15. UCLA continues on with an eight-game winning streak, a streak that has some nail-biter, but certainly some class performances from around the roster.

Here Tyler Bilodeau was the encapsulation of the comeback by the team, where he only scored five points in the first half then 12 in the second half. He would have these twelve points within the last ten minutes of the game. 

Another clutch player came in Skyy Clark, who only averaged 4.9 points in the starting lineup, he would score his season-high of 15 points. Kobe Johnson also stood out as the key team facilitator leading both rebounds and assists, with 7 and 4 respectively. 

Next up for Arizona (4-5): vs. Samford (9-2) – Dec. 18 at 7 p.m. MST

Next up for UCLA (9-1, 2-0): vs. Prairie View A&M (1-9) – Dec. 17 at 9:30 p.m. EST