Arizona Loses Heartbreaker To Washington, 69-67

The Arizona Wildcats hosted their Pac-12 rivals the Washington Huskies on Saturday in the weekly College Gameday Saturday night game on ESPN. Both teams were looking to improve upon their winning records in conference play. In the end, the Wildcats put on a terrific show and brought the Tucson crowd to their feet with comeback after comeback, but fell just short due to a costly foul and a last-second blocked shot as they lost by a final score of 69-67.

The Wildcats trailed early, but battled back and actually held a 32-29 lead heading into the second quarter. Following the break, they fell behind again but once more scratched their way to within two points. The Wildcats had fallen behind by ten points midway through the half, however.

In the last few minutes, Arizona would get to within six points a couple of times before once again coming within two points in the last 1:33 of regulation, shaving eight points off the Washington lead and closing to 64-62. The Huskies drained a three-pointer and then got a pair of penalty shots to go up by five once again with less than 40 seconds remaining in the game.

The Wildcats almost impossibly hit a three-pointer to tie the game 67-67 with less than seven seconds remaining. Josiah Turner was charged with a foul as Washington tried to get out of the backcourt on their possession, however, sending the Huskies to the line, where C.J. Wilcox made both free throws. With five seconds left, the Wildcats inbounded and Turner drove for a layup, which was blocked by Tony Wroten. Nick Johnson tried to jam home the offensive rebound but the buzzer had already sounded. It appeared as though there was contact on Turner during the layup attempt but it was not called and Arizona was handed the loss.

With the loss, the Wildcats fall to 5-4 in the Pac-12, with an overall record of 14-8. Arizona will play their next game on Thursday, Feb. 2 as they travel to Northern California to take on the California Golden Bears in Berkeley.

For all news and information regarding the Arizona Wildcats, please visit Arizona Desert Swarm. For updates and perspective on the Washington Huskies, head on over to UW Dawg Pound.

At the end of the first half between Pac-12 rivals Arizona Wildcats and Washington Huskies, the Wildcats lead by a score of 32-29 at home in the McKale Center. The Wildcats came into the game with a 14-7 record and are looking to build off their win over Washington State on Thursday. The Huskies came into the game with a 13-7 record and are looking to win their third straight game.

Through the first half, the Wildcats were led by forward Solomon Hill, who scored nine points. Guard Josiah Turner scored eight, guard Kyle Fogg scored six and forward Jesse Perry rounded out the starting lineup by adding two points. Forward Kevin Parrom also came off the bench to add seven points.

The Huskies were led by center Aziz N'Diaye, who scored eight points in the first half. Desmond Simmons and Tony Wroten both scored five while Terrence Ross added three and Abdul Gaddy added two. C.J. Wilcox came off the bench to score four points along with Darnell Gant, who scored two.

Currently, Washington is tied for first place in the conference with a 6-3 conference record while Arizona's 5-3 conference record has them one game back from the lead.

For updates in the second half on the Wildcats, check out Arizona Desert Swarm, and for updates on the Huskies, go to UW Dawg Pound.

The Arizona Wildcats announced their presence to the nation last season when they knocked off the Washington Huskies in front of a national ESPN audience. The team will look to repeat their performance from 2011 on Saturday evening as they welcome in UW to McKale Center with the College GameDay crew in attendance.

This game is absolutely huge for Sean Miller and Arizona. At this point in the season, it's win or go home when playing at home in conference play.

The Huskies have not lived up to expectations this season, although similar to the Wildcats they have lost a considerable amount from their NCAA Tournament team of 2011. The team is 13-7 on the season with an impressive mark of 6-2 in Pac-12 play.

Freshman point guard Tony Wroten has been a star and leads the team with 17.1 points-per-game. In addition to the points, Wroten does a nice job rebounding the ball, dishing it to his teammates and running the offense. Terrence Ross averages 15 points, although he missed three straight games before returning to play just 10 minutes against ASU on Thursday with a knee injury. C.J Wilcox is an elite soccer and is hitting nearly 44% of his shots from behind the arc.

Abdul Gaddy, who was once committed to Lute Olson and the Wildcats, has yet to live up to his five-star billing out of high school. He averages just eight points a night and a handful of assists. Aziz N'Diaye will likely give Arizona fits with his size and length and averages slightly less than a double-double most nights.

The McKale Center will be rocking for the primetime tipoff and a White Out has been called for by the athletic department. The game can be found live on ESPN.

Shabazz Muhammad is a special basketball player. While not overly gifted in terms of athleticism, the senior out of Bishop Gorman High School in Nevada is arguably the best high school prospect in nearly a decade. Seemingly every program in the country has tried to land a commitment from the 6'6 guard and it appears Arizona, Duke, Kentucky, UCLA and UNLV are the five with the best chance to land him.

Even with his senior season winding down and the spring signing period right around the corner, Muhammad has continually kept things quiet with his recruitment. Jeff Borzello of CBS Sports has the latest update.

Everyone wants to know where Shabazz Muhammad will play his college basketball next season. As the consensus top prospect in the class of 2012, his decision has the attention of fans, casual observers, recruitniks, coaches - everyone.

Muhammad's classmates at Bishop Gorman (Nev.) are no different.

"Probably 10 times a day in school," Muhammad said last week when asked how often he hears the question. "Everyone wants to know. I don't mind it. I just say I don't know yet.

"I'm still looking at all my schools."

And while Shabazz continues to keep an open mind, do not expect a final decision any time soon.

He's taken his time throughout the process, only taking official visits to Kentucky and Texas A&M so far. He won't make a decision until he's taken all five of his officials.

"Probably when I'm done with my visits," Muhammad said. "I have three more officials, and I'm definitely going to take them. I'll have them scheduled in a month or so."

For now, he said he's looking at Duke, Kansas and Arizona for the remaining visits. Because they're so close to home, UCLA and UNLV likely won't receive official visits.

"It's worthwhile to go to a farther school for an official, since they're paying," Muhammad said.

Hey, if you're the No. 1 prospect in the nation, why not take full advantage of the schools begging you to join their program? I don't know about him, but I'd be giving Hawaii and Miami a call to see if they had any interest.

Unofficial Visit Lined Up:

Muhammad will be unofficially visiting the University of Arizona on Saturday, January 28, as they host the Washington Huskies, according to a tweet from PointGuardU. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN, with the College GameDay crew in attendance. A raucous atmosphere is expected at McKale Center and the athletic department has called for a "White Out" of the arena.

For more on the Wildcats, head on over to AZ Desert Swarm.

The Arizona Wildcats needed to pick up a big victory over the Washington St. Cougars and not get caught looking ahead to their showdown with the Washington Huskies over the weekend. The UA dominated most of the contest on Thursday night as they went on to win 85-61 in a blowout fashion. Kyle Fogg led the way with 20 points, including 17 in the first half, while Solomon Hill ended with 17 points, 11 rebounds and three assists.

The Wildcats worked their way to an early double-digit lead and it got to no less than 13 points in the second half. The team shot nearly 51% from the field, hit 15 of their 26 attempts from behind the arc, and dished out 23 assists while turning the ball over just nine times.

"We played the majority of the game with five or six turnovers. A few of them came late once the game was out of control," said head coach Sean Miller, who praised Kevin Parrom for his stellar play off the bench. The junior wing had nine points, four rebounds and four assists in 23 minutes.

Brendon Lavender continued to shoot remarkably well and ended with 13 points. Josiah Turner was on his way to playing the best game of his short career as a Wildcat before being ejected after receiving his second technical. He earned one getting tangled with a WSU player a few minutes before and was called for the second after reportedly yelling, "I'll beat your ---" in the direction of another player.

"I'm confused (about the calls)," Miller said afterwards. Truth be told, those kind of things aren't even called for personal fouls in the Big East or ACC, but Pac-12 referees have their own special approach to handling a game.

Brock Motum led the Cougars with 18 points and nine rebounds. In what was a tough moment to watch, second-leading scorer Faisal Aden appeared to land awkwardly on his knee and had to be helped off the court. He did not return to the game and will likely be out for an extended period of time.

Arizona now shifts their focus to the Washington Huskies. ESPN's College GameDay will be in town for the conference showdown and the game is already sold out. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. from Tucson.

For more on the 'Cats, head on over to AZ Desert Swarm.