Jesse Perry and Arizona had a tough time getting good looks at the basket, especially in the second half. Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE
There was no miracle comeback for Arizona.
Colorado missed two free throws with 14.4 seconds left to give the Cats a chance to tie — or win — but UA had no timeouts and wasn’t organized on the final possession.
The Buffs fiercely guarded the ball and the 3-point line, and Kyle Fogg eventually had to turn and put up an off-balance 3-pointer near the buzzer.
It was well short.
Colorado won 53-51 to win the Pac-12 Tournament and advance to the NCAA Tournament.
“Give them credit, they played hard, they deserved to win,” coach Sean Miller said in his postgame press conference. “We knew they would give us a good game and respected them coming in. Unfortunately, we came up short.”
Arizona, at 23-11, likely is headed to the NIT. I wouldn’t expect an NCAA at-large bid.
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Solomon Hill drives the lane and gets the roll on a one-hander to make it 53-51.
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Kyle Fogg makes two free throws with 34.5 seconds left to make it 53-49. Colorado comes down and throws the ball out of bounds on a bad pass. Door open.
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There is your poster. Carlon Brown drives and throws down a soaring one-handed dunk for a 53-47 lead with 52.6 seconds left. Was that the hammer that drove the final nail into UA’s NCAA Tournament hopes?
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Arizona is able to feed the ball into Jesse Perry in the post and he gets fouled making a move to the hoop. He makes both with 1:01 to go.
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Colorado hasn’t scored since the 9:09 mark, but Andre Roberson goes to the line with 1:23 left. He makes the first free throw, misses the second. CU up 51-45.
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The Wildcats haven’t made a 3-pointer all half. Now would be a good time to start.
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Colorado has drawn nothing but air on three 3-point attempts in the past four minutes or so. The Buffs are desperately trying to run out the clock, but there is still too much time left.
Arizona could have cut the lead to two points but Solomon Hill missed a wide-open 3-pointers with two minutes left. CU leads 50-45 with 1:45 to go with the ball.
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Why is Colorado shooting 3s? The Buffs have missed three in a row, and are haven’t made any shot in their past seven attempts.
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Arizona making a move. Colorado was up 10 with 7:15 to go, but hasn’t scored since and has fired up two air-ball 3-pointers. The Wildcats have made it 50-45 with 3:51 to play. Is this finally the fatigue factor for Colorado?
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Andre Roberson takes a charge from Solomon Hill, who was driving the lane, trying to cut the lead to six.
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Arizona not getting anything in transition and going to much one-on-one in the half-court, which isn’t its strength. Colorado’s pressure man-to-man is shutting down the good outside looks the Cats always look to get.
Colorado leads 50-40 with 7:15 to go. Nothing that a couple of 3-pointers couldn’t cure for the Cats.
* * *
Arizona getting lazy/tired. Reaching on defense. Not rotating to open shooter. Sloppy passes on offense. Plenty of time left, but the Buffs are up 47-36 with 11:45 to go … so the Cats can’t afford to dig much of a deeper hole.
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Can’t find fault with Arizona’s free throw shooting in the first two games of the tourney? Today’s a different story. The Cats are 5 of 12 from the line. Colorado up 44-36.
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Interesting “big” lineup for Arizona, with Angelo Chol at center, joining Jesse Perry and Solomon Hill. Arizona has been out-rebounded by 11 with 13:12 to play. (And now Hill is out, so that didn’t last long.)
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Arizona has came up way short on its last two 3-point attempts. Is Colorado ever going to get tired?
Buffs with way more energy to open the second half, leading 44-35 with 14:04 to go, but Kyle Fogg is going to the line to try to finish a three-point play. He misses the free throw.
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Andre Roberson on his way to Pac-12 MVP honors. He’s 4 of 4 from the field for nine points. He also has seven rebounds and a bunch of all stats I don’t have time to type.
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Colorado’s legs still look fresh. The Buffs are working hard on defense and getting out in transition, establishing a bit of momentum early in the second half. The Buffs take their biggest lead at 38-32 by the first media timeout.
For Arizona, Solomon Hill looks like he wants to take over the game, aggressively taking the ball to the basket.
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Solomon Hill starts the second half with a spin move in the lane for a basket and a tie game. These are critical minutes.
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A halfcourt short at the buzzer by Jordin Mayes doesn’t fall, and the Buffaloes lead 30-28 at halftime.
The Cats have been kept alive by 3-point shooting (five makes), but Colorado has a plus-six edge on the boards.
Arizona was down by seven at halftime last night, but erased that with a 20-3 spurt to start the second half against Oregon State. That could very well be the time of the game that fatigue shows up, if at all, for Colorado.
With only two points from Solomon Hill, UA doesn’t seem to be in that bad of a position at the break. My pregame prediction on Facebook was 68-61, Arizona.
* * *
Brendon Lavender with the block from behind on a driving layup. Let’s see … the last time we saw that was … never?
* * *
Andre Roberson heads to the Colorado bench after picking up his second foul. He’s been wearing out Arizona with six points, five rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks.
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Kyle Fogg gives Arizona a 22-19 lead with a 3-pointer with just under six minutes to play before halftime. Arizona has four 3-pointers so far. The Cats managed just six in the previous two games against the Buffs.
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Brendon Lavender lives for transition 3-pointers. Opponents can usually guard him man-to-man in the halfcourt, but he gets good looks when Arizona is pushing the ball, and he now has two 3-pointers in the first half. He had none in the two regular-season meetings vs. Colorado.
The Buffs lead 19-17 with 7:23 left in the half.
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Christopher Wuensch is in the TucsonCitizen.com social media center and is monitoring tweets about the game right here at this link.
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Colorado freshman Spencer Dinwiddie nails a long 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock, but Kyle Fogg answers right back with a three of his own. After a steal and layup by Colorado, Sean Miller wants a timeout, his team down 19-14.
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Jesse Perry picks up his second foul with 10:16 to go in the half. Paging Angelo Chol back to the court.
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Brendon Lavender has plenty of time to set his feet, check the ball and launch a 3-pointer. He makes it to bring Arizona within 10-9 with 11:46 to go in the half.
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Kyryl Natyazhko has played brief minutes in each of the past two games against teams with big front lines, but he isn’t likely to be needed today against Colorado. Angelo Chol is the first big man off the bench after playing 17 solid minutes last night.
* * *
I don’t feel good whenever Jordin Mayes shoots these days, but he drives and dishes to Jesse Perry for an easy two points. There’s been a good pace to the game so far — how will that impact fatigue in the second half.
Colorado leads 10-5 with 14:42 to play in the half.
* * *
Jesse Perry was 17 of 20 from the free throw line in the past two games, but he starts 1 of 2 today.
* * *
Colorado starts the scoring with an inside basket. Just like Oregon State did last night. Must be a good sign for Arizona.
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CBS analyst Reggie Miller called Nick Johnson the X-factor. I’ll buy that. Even if Johnson is not scoring, the coaches love everything else he has been doing — not letting his offense affect the other parts of the game. Johnson can impact the game as a defender and distributor, even if his point total is modest.
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PREGAME
Welcome to the Pac-12 championship game, otherwise known as an NCAA Tournament play-in game.
Arizona takes on Colorado, with each team needing to win and grab the league’s automatic berth that will allow them to be playing on the biggest stage next week. If not … hello, NIT.
ESPN.com’s Joe Lunardi, as of Saturday morning, picked the Wildcats as the winner of today’s game (4 p.m. Tucson time, CBS) and to be a 13th seed in the NCAA Tournament. From the Pac-12, Cal and Washington are sitting on the at-large bubble.
Coach Sean Miller likes his team’s experience right now.
The Wildcats played in last season’s conference tournament title game and advanced to the Elite Eight. Holdovers from that team — Kyle Fogg, Jesse Perry and Solomon Hill — are carrying the team right now.
“When you’re playing these elimination games, it certainly helps to have a team or individual players that have done that and been there before,” Miller said.
Here are some pregame notes:
–These are the two best teams in the Pac-12 in terms of field goal percentage defense. Arizona allows teams to hit 40.6 percent from the field; Colorado is at 40.7 percent.
–Arizona takes more 3-pointers (19.5 per game) and makes a better percentage (38.4 percent) than anyone in the league. But the Buffs’ tough man-to-man defense bothered the Wildcats in two meetings this season, as Arizona hit on only 6 of 36 from behind the arc.
–Colorado’s athletic forward Andre Roberson, who averages a double-double, has 49 points and 30 rebounds in three tournament games. He also leads the Pac-12 with 1.9 blocks per game.
“Andre’s really emerged as a big-time shot blocker,” coach Tad Boyle said after the Buffs beat Cal on Friday night. “He’s such a quick jumper and he’s got great anticipation. That’s what makes him a great rebounder, and obviously, a great shot blocker as well.”
–Solomon Hill has been hot, hot, hot from 3-point range after not being a threat at all in the first half of the season. He made both of 3-point attempts against Oregon State to boost his numbers to 24 of 45 (53.3 percent) in the past 16 games.
Early in the season, opponents would just let him to take open 3-pointers because they didn’t have to pay the price for guarding against his drives. Now, Hill is either draining those shots or pulling a bigger defender away from the basket, giving him more room to operate.
–Fogg will be making his 118th career start, moving into sole possession of sixth place on the UA list. The top five: Jason Gardner (135), Sean Elliott (133), Mustafa Shakur (129), Anthony Cook (123) and Channing Frye (119).