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.