No. 4 Arizona dominates paint battle in win at No. 3 UConn

STORRS, Conn. — With about 90 minutes to go till tipoff, Wednesday’s top-five matchup between No. 3 UConn and No. 4 Arizona fully modified.

That’s when UConn introduced that beginning senior middle Tarris Reed Jr. was out with a sprained ankle. Reed, one of many nation’s greatest huge males who’s averaging 20.0 factors and 9.3 rebounds, is taken into account to be game-to-game, in accordance with the workforce.

Without Reed, UConn struggled mightily to decelerate Arizona, with the Wildcats placing forth one of the vital dominant paint shows in opposition to the Huskies beneath Dan Hurley en path to a 71-67 street win.

“With Reed out of the game, we’re not going to say it doesn’t change things. We know it changes things,” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd stated. “But if you get a good hop, field it and turn two. And our guys found a way to do that.”

It was clear what Arizona supposed to do in opposition to a Reed-less UConn frontcourt. Koa Peat had an early layup. Motiejus Krivas was getting constant paint touches and set a profession excessive with 10 rebounds earlier than the primary half even ended. Jaden Bradley was consistently attacking the rim and drawing fouls.

Arizona is without doubt one of the least prolific 3-point capturing groups within the nation, coming into the day making 6.3 3s per recreation and ending it ranked No. 360 in share of factors coming from 3-point vary. The Wildcats’ identification is obvious, and UConn was nonetheless incapable of slowing them down on the rim.

“That’s how we’re built,” Lloyd stated. “If you’re not up for the physical fight, it’s going to be tough. It’s going to be tough to be a team that wins consistently at a high level. It’s going to be tough to win on the road. It’s going to be tough to win in the NCAA tournament. It’s going to be tough to make a deep run. We want to build our team with guys that are capable of playing physical basketball.”

The Huskies gained back-to-back nationwide championships partially on the power of their frontcourt dominance, overwhelming groups within the paint at each ends of the ground. Rarely has a workforce flipped the script on UConn like Arizona did Wednesday.

The Wildcats outrebounded UConn 43-23. They had the sting on the offensive glass, grabbing 13 offensive rebounds and turning that into 16 second-chance factors.

“We got punked,” Hurley stated. “It’s going to be a bad film session coming out of here. There’s a street fight going on in the paint and, you know, men can’t watch fights. You can’t stand on the outside when your buddies are in a fight. You get in the fight. You don’t stand on the periphery of the fight. We’ll see a lot of clips where guys were not in the fight with their teammates.”

Eric Reibe did an admirable job filling in for Reed, significantly on the offensive finish with 15 factors, together with a pair of 3-pointers within the second half. But Arizona has one of many elite frontcourts in school basketball and was undeterred. Freshman star Peat went for 16 factors, 12 rebounds (5 on the offensive finish), 3 assists and a couple of blocks for the Wildcats, whereas Krivas completed with 9 factors and 14 rebounds and Tobe Awaka got here off the bench to put up 7 factors and seven boards.

Peat has staked his declare as one of many premier freshmen within the nation, averaging 16.2 factors, 6.6 rebounds and a couple of.8 assists via 5 video games. Hurley — whose brother, Bobby, recruited Peat at Arizona State — spoke to Peat briefly afterward to specific his respect for his recreation.

“We got punked. It’s going to be a bad film session coming out of here. There’s a street fight going on in the paint and, you know, men can’t watch fights. You can’t stand on the outside when your buddies are in a fight. You get in the fight. You don’t stand on the periphery of the fight. We’ll see a lot of clips where guys were not in the fight with their teammates.”

UConn coach Dan Hurley

“The way he carries himself on the court, he plays like a 10-year NBA vet,” Hurley stated of Peat. “He knows his identity. He’s all over the glass. He’s just a classy, classy player. And he’s going to be a great NBA player.”

While the paint battle garnered many of the consideration, it was as soon as once more Bradley who got here up huge when Arizona wanted him. Late within the season opener in opposition to Florida, Bradley scored 10 straight factors and 14 whole after the Gators tied the sport within the second half. Against UCLA final week, Bradley took over late. He scored 13 factors within the remaining seven minutes, together with seven straight factors within the remaining 2:12.

And on Wednesday, he completed with 21 factors — together with a layup with 16 seconds left to place Arizona up three.

“When you have a point guard who is selfless and also a baller and has big enough cojones to take and make those shots at the end of a game, it’s pretty special,” Lloyd stated. “And we have that in him.”

There’s now a powerful case for Arizona to be the brand new No. 1 within the subsequent AP ballot. The Wildcats have notched wins over Florida, UCLA and UConn, with all three coming away from residence. According to ESPN Research, Arizona is simply the third workforce in AP ballot historical past to have a number of wins over top-three opponents inside its first 5 video games, and the primary since Kansas in 1989-90.

“Krivas is an NBA player. Koa Peat’s an NBA player. Jaden Bradley’s an NBA player. [Brayden] Burries is an NBA player. I actually think [Anthony] Dell’Orso is going to make an NBA team … that guy is maybe the best bench player in the country,” Hurley stated. “I think these guys are legit contenders, like we are.”