SALT LAKE CITY – The Arizona Wildcats handed Utah their first loss in the Huntsman Center this season in a back-and-forth battle on Saturday.
Brandon Taylor hit a 3-point to give the 13th ranked Utes a 57-55 lead with 1:57 to play against 7th ranked Arizona, but the Wildcats ended the game on an 8-0 run to beat Utah 63-57 at the Huntsman Center.
Arizona’s Gabe York scored five of his 12 points in the final two minutes, including the bucket that gave the Wildcats the lead for good when he rebounded his own miss from the free throw line and scored.
Utah has now lost 12 straight games against Arizona.
“It was a great college game,” said Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak. “I felt like we could win this ball game, we just didn’t make enough great plays.”
The Utes won the rebounding battle in the first half, but the Wildcats dominated the boards in the final 20 minutes, out-rebounding the Utes by 11 in the second half for a 44-35 advantage.
“Getting out-rebounded in the second half when we got in foul trouble was a problem for us,” said Krystkowiak. “We ended up having to play small and then were out rebounded by 10 in our home court.”
Delon Wright led the Utes with 17 points, and Jordan Loveridge added 10 in the loss.
With the win, Arizona is guaranteed at least partial possession of the Pac-12 regular season title.
Utah still sits in second place in the Pac-12 standings as regular season play comes to a close, and they now look ahead to their final two games and the conference tournament to convince the selection committee to grab a good seed in the NCAA tourney.
Students had been lining up for days to get the best seats in one of the biggest Pac-12 games of the season. FOX 13’s Jeff Rhineer was up at the Huntsman Center before the game on Saturday to talk to some of the fans waiting for the big matchup.
