Wildcats make history, but fall to USC in four OTs

Maybe the Wildcats don’t allow USC to shoot a blistering 64.3 percent in the first half Saturday, and don’t need to desperately try to make up for it by going into overtime, a second overtime, a third overtime, or a fourth overtime.

Maybe they don’t wind up losing the longest game in school history, 103-101 in four overtimes, to the Trojans at Galen Center on Saturday.

But they did.

Never before had Arizona needed more than three overtimes to settle the score in its 112-year history of basketball. Never before had UA coach Sean Miller been a part of a quadruple-overtime game, either.

He took in the history with a weak smile crossing a still-perspiring face a half-hour later.

“That’s a lot,” he said. “And it could have kept going as well.”

It almost did. The Wildcats trailed USC by eight points, 45-37, after their dreadful first-half defensive effort but pulled close in the final few minutes of regulation, and the teams pretty much just traded baskets and stops throughout the first three overtimes.

The same thing was happening in the fourth overtime period. Until this: With 22 seconds left, UA freshman Justin Simon fouled USC’s Elijah Stewart as he attempted an 18-footer with the score tied at 101.

Stewart hit both free throws and a final UA possession failed to score when Jordan McLaughlin knocked the ball momentarily out of Gabe York’s hands, forcing him to seek a final shot with 4 seconds left, and ultimately Kadeem Allen who fired up a rushed three-point attempt at the buzzer.

It didn’t go in, much to the excitement — and relief — of the 5,000 or so fans who were rooting for USC (6,854 attended, but many were rooting for UA).

Before his second wave of interviews, Miller popped another look at that final foul by Simon on a Pac-12 Networks monitor, then indicated he was at peace with it.

“He tried to challenge the shot and maybe he hit his arm,” Miller said.

Maybe it had something to do with eagerness or excitement or inexperience. Simon has been lightly used all season, but played more in UA’s two losses at Los Angeles this weekend while Miller tried to find an answer defensively.

Maybe it was also the fact that Stewart had hurt the Wildcats the entire game with his perimeter shooting, making 5 of 8 three-pointers, often when UA wasn’t able to close out well on him.

Somebody had to get in his face, right?

Whatever. Miller also knew this:

“That was one of hundreds of plays that made that game a great game,” he said.

Another play: the one right afterward, when York stumbled and the play fell apart.

“They did a good job on the ball screen,” Miller said. “They were very active and we’ve all seen that last shot whether it was a good one or not, go in, and we made quite a few.”

York didn’t take it as calmly as Miller did, however. No philosophy helped the feeling in his gut.

“I lost the ball,” York said. “He got a hand on it. It is what it is. We lost on a last-second shot that I couldn’t get up.”

The loss dropped Arizona to 13-3 overall and 1-2 in Pac-12 play. While the Wildcats will finally get to return home for the first time in Pac-12 play Thursday, they will have to face the conference’s lone unbeaten team, Washington.

It was the first time UA has lost two straight games since the Wildcats were swept in Los Angeles toward the end of the 2012-13 season, though they managed to reach the Sweet 16 after winning four of their next five during the end of that season and into the postseason.

Miller said after Saturday’s game that, even though the Wildcats are off to a 1-2 start in conference play, that the lessons learned might actually propel them to dig in defensively and make a run for the conference title they are favored to win.

He doesn’t know that for sure, of course. But he talked about how, for the second straight game after an 87-84 loss at UCLA, the Wildcats came back from early defensive struggles when they could have just shrugged their shoulders.

Instead, York’s head was down after playing 55 minutes. Many other Wildcats were still in the locker room well after the game ended. And Miller tried to look at a silver lining that might, or might not, surface until sometime in February or March.

“Gabe York played 55 minutes. That’s a heck of a thing,” Miller said. “You learn a lot about your players and kids. I thought we had some guys give their heart and soul. How can you say anything other than you’re proud of your guys?”