Well, that’s that. ASU pulls off the stunner, beating Arizona 87-80 in a game the Cats had to have for their NCAA Tournament at-large hopes. Arizona’s defense left the building at the worst possible time, but credit ASU, which was at its healthiest in weeks and played hard from the tip.
* * *
It might only be the biggest play of the year. Arizona’s Josiah Turner drove to the basket and missed a layup.
ASU’s Trent Lockett rebounds.
* * *
Sean Miller wants traveling on Trent Lockett, but it’s a foul on Nick Johnson. Lockett makes both foul shots with 30.9 seconds left.
Arizona calls timeout with 28.9 seconds left.
* * *
Jonathan Gilling makes a huge 3 over Kyle Fogg, and then Fogg comes down with a bullish drive to the hoop for the basket and the foul with 50.5 seconds left. He makes it. ASU up 81-80.
* * *
Kyle Fogg shooting three free throws with 1:44 to go. He makes them all. ASU leads 78-77.
* * *
Since the game was tied at 70, ASU has scored on all four of its possessions.
* * *
Jesse Perry makes two free throws with 2:29 left to cut the lead to 76-74.
* * *
Quite a spot Arizona finds itself in: Down 74-70 with 3:27 to go. At least the Cats have the ball after the final media timeout. ASU’s Carrick Felix, who had been suffering from illness, is playing his first game since Feb. 18. He has 17 points.
* * *
ASU’s season high in points is 76. The Devils have 72 as they lead by two with 4:37 to go.
Something to worry about: Brendon Lavender has four fouls.
* * *
Arizona regains the lead on a drive by Josiah Turner, who gets the roll and the foul. He makes the free throw for a 70-68 edge.
* * *
Brendon Lavender hits a 3-pointer coming out of a timeout to cut the lead to 63-62. I wonder if we’ll look back on that as a key moment. Lavender is 5 of 7 from 3-point range.
Lavender hits another will 7:11 to go to tie the game at 65. ASU coach Herb Sendek can’t understand how his guys left Lavender open in the corner. B-Lav is now, of course, 6 of 8 from behind the arc.
* * *
Here’s another Arizona game ready to go down to the wire. Nervous times for Arizona, for sure. The Cats are trying to avoid the knockout punch to their NCAA Tournament at-large chances, but ASU leads 63-59 with 7:58 to play in a game that would make its season.
Arizona’s defense has been non-existent, and ASU center Jordan Bachynski has asserted himself in the second half, too.
* * *
Remember, Arizona State is ranked 250th in the NCAA RPI. A loss to the Devils would be a killer for the Cats.
* * *
The Wildcats held Arizona State to 51 points when the teams met on Dec. 31. The Sun Devils surpassed that point total with 14:56 to play and they lead 57-56 with 11:07 left.
* * *
Arizona has no defensive answer for Jonathan Gilling, who has 18 points and had made 4 of 4 3-pointers. Arizona’s offensive answer is Brendon Lavender, who is 4 of 6 from beyond the arc.
* * *
ASU has made 17 of 30 shots. Hard to find a good reason for that.
* * *
ASU opens the second half on a 7-0 run. Remember, it opened the first half with a 5-0 lead.
* * *
Each team shot better than 50 percent in the first half. ASU’s guards, and 6-7 forward Jonathan Gilling, were able to shake free of UA’s defense time and again. Gilling, a freshman, had 13 points and is a nice find for the Devils from Denmark.
* * *
Arizona ends the first half with a flourish, including two 3-pointers from Brendon Lavender in the final 75 seconds and a dunk from Jesse Perry with 8.1 seconds to go. ASU gets the final shot of the half, but Trent Lockett fires up an air-ball.
The Cats lead 44-38 in an entertaining half that is much more high-scoring than expected.
* * *
Solomon Hill continues his fine first half with a coast-to-coast drive for a layup. He has 12 points as UA leads 34-33 with 3:08 to go before halftime.
* * *
Hard to believe this is the same Arizona State team that scored EIGHT points in the first half against Washington State this season.
The score is 32-31 Arizona with 5:55 to play in the half … and that’s probably about half the final total you might have predicted for the game.
* * *
Coach Sean Miller can’t be pleased with Arizona’s defense because the Sun Devils are looking more like Duke Blue Devils right now. ASU has been very efficient with its offense, hitting 10 of 15 shots to start the game.
* * *
Solomon Hill fires up the Wildcats crowd with a steal and a driving, reverse layup to tie the game at 25. Tweets local sports radio host Jody Oehler: “That was the most athletic play Ive ever seen from Solomon Hill.” hard to argue.
Earlier, Hill hit a 3-pointer from the corner, extending his hot shooting from the outside (which we wrote about last week). Hill has made 18 of his past 36 3-point shots.
* * *
Jordin Mayes checked in with 13:52 to in the half. It’s his first meaningful playing time since suffering a stress reaction in his left foot on Feb. 2.
* * *
One of the key defensive matchups for Arizona is 6-7 Jesse Perry guarding a pair of 7-footers — Jordan Bachynski and Ruslan Pateev. That ASU duo was held scoreless until Pateev took a lob and bounced in a layup with 14:29 to go in the half. Perry has often being trying to front those post players.
* * *
Kyle Fogg’s 3-pointer from the corner gives UA an 8-0 run and an 8-5 lead with 15:55 to go in the half. Every time I hear a cheer and look up from the laptop, I expect that Arizona State has just done something good. But it’s the opposite. The crowd here has more Arizona fans in the lower bowl than in recent memory.
* * *
Arizona State doesn’t fast break all that much, but it had a great opportunity off a steal, with Carrick Felix gliding down the right side of the court. He went in for a one-handed dunk … and missed.
* * *
Will it be one of those days? ASU opens with a 5-0 on the strength of a banked 3-pointer by Jonathan Gilling as the shot clock winds down.
* * *
Big fan support for Arizona as it left the court after warm-ups and as the Cats re-entered before the game. Chants of “U of A … U of A” broke out each time before being somewhat countered by the home crowd. Plenty of good seats available.
* * *
In Tempe for Arizona’s game this afternoon against Arizona State — a game that means nothing in terms of the Wildcats’ seeding in the Pac-12 tournament but means everything in terms of an at-large bid to the NCAAs.
Well, everything in the sense that a loss would basically eliminate Arizona. The Cats would have no excuses. Nobody to blame.
A win on the other hand just continues to “bubble” discussion until next week, when the Pac-12 tourney starts.
Arizona is guaranteed of a first-round bye and won’t play until Thursday. The Cats, win or lose today, will be the fourth seed in the league, looking at a potential quarterfinal matchup vs. UCLA, assuming the Bruins beat 12th-seed USC in the opening round.
Check back during the game for more from Tempe …