It’s good! The officials go to the replay, again and again, to check the replay of Nic Wise’s 3-pointer with 0.1 second left (or less). Wise’s shot beats Lipscomb 83-82 in overtime as the Cats escape. A game of inches and milliseconds.
The officials looked at the play for about four minutes, as the Wildcats watched, their hands in the air to signal a 3-pointer. Eventually, official Chris Rastatter stepped away from the monitor and gestured with his hand that the basket was good. Arizona wins.
Whew. All this to beat Lipscomb?
(I was watching on the small monitor here from Fox Sports Net Arizona. I thought it was late. But announcer Dave Sitton swears the ball was out by less than the width of a phone book … sounds OK to me.)
For Wise, SportsCenter here he comes.
POSTGAME REACTION: Miller: Horne talking about being out until February
* * *
4.7 seconds left: Adnan Hodzic boosts the Lipscomb lead to 82-80 with two free throws.
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10.4 seconds left: More late-game misery by Arizona. Solomon Hill turns the ball over on a spin move in the lane, and Lipscomb converts two free throws on the other end for an 81-78 lead.
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28.3 seconds left: Lipscomb takes a 79-78 lead on a 3-pointer by Johnny Lee. The Bisons have scored six consecutive points.
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MoMo Jones: Four 3-pointers entering the game. Jones in the first half of overtime: three 3-pointers. Go figure.
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3:35 left in overtime: Arizona’s Derrick Williams (13 points, nine rebounds) fouls out. Adnan Hodzic makes one free throw to bring Lipscomb to within 75-73. Hodzic has 33 points.
* * *
Overtime! Hard to believe. Arizona and Lipscomb going to overtime. 69-69. The Bisons tied the game on a Brian Wright 3-pointer with 1.5 seconds left. Smart play by Adnan Hodzic (whose name I have typed so much that I don’t have to look up it for the correct spelling anymore) who grabbed a miss underneath the basket and didn’t panic and kicked it back out. Nic Wise nearly pulled off a Miles Simon shot by heaving a 65-footer at the buzzer that went off the backboard and the rim.
* * *
With about a six-second differential between the game clock and the shot clock, Lipscomb lets Nic Wise dribble time off the clock — hey, that’s one guy you don’t want to foul — but the Bisons foul him with 12.2 seconds left. Wise makes both — he’s 10 of 10 tonight — for a 69-66 lead.
Wise at the line for the season: 46 of 48.
* * *
29.5 seconds left: Arizona has the ball and in clinging to a 67-66 lead. The Cats have been brutal in late-game situations in recent seasons. Nic Wise had a key play with a steal and a layup with a minute left.
* * *
3:47 timeout, Arizona 60, Lipscomb 59: Arizona’s guards have been much more aggressive in attacking the basket in the past few minutes, and it has paid off in trips to the line … or dishes to an open 3-pointer shooter. MoMo Jones gave UA the lead by making 1 of 2 foul shots with 4:03 left. Nic Wise is headed to the line after the timeout.
* * *
5:08 timeout, Arizona 57, Lipscomb 57: When did this turn into a vintage UA-UCLA game? The teams have been trading baskets, with a big 3-pointer by UA’s Kyle Fogg negated by a trey from Brian Wright.
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6:44 left: Cats lead 54-52 on two free throws by Nic Wise, who is 40 of 42 from the line this season.
* * *
7:27 timeout, Lipscomb 52, Arizona 50: I didn’t take Alex Jacobson completely seriously when he told me in the preseason that he had been working really hard on his 15- to 17-foot jumper in the offseason. I asked him if he was comfortable shooting from that range in a game, and he said, “We’ll, I haven’t really been in a game.”
Well, the little-used junior center is in a game now, hitting two jumpers from about 15 feet and tipping in a rebound to make the score 52-50 with 7:55 left.
There is a lot of nervous energy in McKale Center right now.
* * *
11:17 timeout, Lipscomb 45, Arizona 42: Typical of how the game has gone for Arizona, Lipscomb has had two buzzer-beating attempts this half as the shot clock was winding down. On the first one, Josh Slater drained a 3-pointer. On the other possession, the Bisons missed the shot but got the rebound.
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13:30 timeout, Lipscomb 43, Arizona 38: The crowd is (almost) getting into it now, standing as UA had a recent possession with a chance to tie with a 3-pointer. Alas, Solomon Hill traveled. The Bisons responded with a basket.
* * *
17:02 timeout, Lipscomb 38, Arizona 30: UA calls timeout after another basket by Adnan Hodzic (who now has 22 points). The Wildcats have opened the half by missing their first four shots (have they never seen a zone before this game?). Any chance of a hot start to fire up the crowd is gone.
* * *
Just a thought: Arizona was up 5-0, so the Cats were outscored 34-25 the rest of the half. Ah … there used to be days when UA’s bench players could beat a team like Lipscomb by 30 wearing blindfolds with one hand tied behind their backs. Now, I know Lipscomb is not a bad team at all; the Bisons are tested and were chosen preseason co-favorite of the Atlantic Sun Conference. But still …
* * *
Halftime: Lipscomb leads 34-30: The star of the show has been Bisons 6-9 center Adnan Hodzic, who has 18 points and has scored a variety of ways around the basket. Where can Arizona get one of these guys? Most UA fans hadn’t heard of him until about 45 minutes ago. Now, they know. This guy would be first-team All-Pac-10 (and not just because the league has a dearth of big men this season.)
OK, there’s a long way to go, but there is no energy in McKale Center (students are on break), the Cats are without injured Jamelle Horne … and imagine the fallout if, gulp, the Cats lost.
UA shot 9 of 25 from the field in the first half, and was 2 of 11 from behind the arc. Just as bad, Arizona was 10 of 18 from the free throw line.
* * *
2:26 timeout, Lipscomb 33, Arizona 29: Does this team miss Jamelle Horne that much? Well, at one point late in the first half, senior Nic Wise was on the floor with four freshmen. That’s not a good way to be. It shows in the score.
After the lackadaisical loss at San Diego State on Dec. 12, coach Sean Miller wanted to see better effort. Can’t say that he’s seen that when his team is trailing Lipscomb — Lipscomb! — late in the first half.
With 5:15 to go in the half, UA freshman Derrick Williams stepped up to the line for two free throws. He was 3 of 7 at that point, and the McKale Center crowd gave mock applause when he made both.
* * *
7:23 timeout, Lipscomb leads 24-21: The Bisons –they are from Nashville, Tenn. — won’t be awed by anything tonight. They have played better competition than Arizona this season, although they haven’t beaten any of those good team. They are 4-6 this season.
Stat to note: Adnan Hodzic has eight field goals. Arizona has seven.
* * *
8:33 timeout, Lipscomb leads 22-19: Arizona’s Sean Miller calls a timeout after Adnan Hodzic takes a lob and throws down a one-handed dunk for a three-point lead. He has 15 points. Getting nervous yet?
* * *
11:58 timeout, Arizona leads 16-14: The Cats don’t have an answer for Lipscomb 6-9 post Adnan Hodzic. (Don’t worry, most teams don’t — not even the good teams on the Bisons’ schedule, such as Vanderbilt, Ohio State and Cincinnati. Hodzic scored 18 points against each of those opponents.)
Hodzic is skilled around the basket, making 4 of 8 shots so far, including a pretty jump hook. He has nine points. Hodzic, from Sarajevo, Bosnia, is averaging 21.4 points.
* * *
15:17 timeout, Arizona leads 11-10: UA Kyle Fogg hit his first 3-pointer of the game, making him 13 of 21 for the season from behind the arc. That’s 61.9 percent.
* * *
Freshman big man Kyryl Natyakhko is in the starting lineup tonight for Jamelle Horne.
* * *
Arizona Wildcats junior forward Jamelle Horne, the team’s leading rebounder at 8.1 per game, is out for tonight’s game against Lipscomb because of a foot sprain suffered against San Diego State on Dec. 12. Horne was wearing a boot on his right foot during warmups.
Horne is averaging 11.1 points per game, third-best on the team.
There’s no immediate word on how much longer Horne will be out, although coach Sean Miller is sure to address the injury after the game.
Sophomore guard Brendon Lavender, who has missed the past two games because of a thigh injury, went through warmups and entered the game before the first media timeout.
