Hostile environment in Provo doesn't faze Arizona in 85-74 win over BYU

PROVO, Utah – Some waved Styrofoam laser lights, others may have been pumped up on free soda refills and/or BYU’s famous 15-inch donuts, but all of them stood, roaring, when the Cougars trailed 20th-ranked Arizona by just a point with eight minutes left Tuesday at the Marriott Center.

Arguably the West’s most intimidating homecourt environment was coming to life once again, nearly 18,000 people locked into what became the Wildcats' 85-74 win, and UA coach Tommy Lloyd had seen it before.

He was an assistant coach at Gonzaga, having accompanied the Zags on some rough WCC matchups in the building. He knew what could happen.

So before his Arizona Wildcats coolly pulled off their 12th win in their past 13 games, staying in a first-place tie with Houston atop the Big 12 at 10-1, Lloyd gave the Wildcats a test.

“When I’ve come here, the game's meant something, and the fans have always been amazing,” Lloyd said. “Our theme for the week was habits and what an opportunity to test your habits in a hostile environment: Are you going to get rattled? Are you going to lose focus on the game plan or who you are?

“When the crowd gets going or they make a shot, or ref makes a call, what an opportunity to practice your habits. We were able to do that today in an amazing atmosphere.”

With that, Lloyd turned to the two players accompanying him to the Marriott Center interview table, Caleb Love and Henri Veesaar.

“These guys,” Lloyd said, “they crushed it.”

Love led the Wildcats with 18 points while making 4 of 9 3-pointers, and point guard Jaden Bradley had all of his 17 points in a determined second-half effort, both of them ideally complementing Arizona’s effective inside attack: Veesaar had 17 points on 8-for-10 shooting and six rebounds while Tobe Awaka had 14 points and nine rebounds.

They were playing the villains, as Veesaar and Bradley both said afterward, and they thrived in the role.

“It was a great crowd,” Veesaar said. “The fans were going crazy before the game even started, so it definitely gave us a lot of energy to play, kind of like going on the road and being the villain.”

What’s more, the Wildcats carried their swagger in a more subtle fashion than they did Saturday at ASU, when Love was ejected for a Flagrant 2 foul after responding to a head-butt from ASU’s BJ Freeman.

On Tuesday, after BYU’s Kanon Catchings hit a 3-pointer to put the Cougars up 61-60 with 10:51, Love responded with a 3-pointer of his own just 18 seconds later.

The crowd barely had time to heat up after Catchings’ 3, and Love quieted. But he let the shot do the talking this time.

“I wasn't really going to the crowd,” Love said. “I was really telling my teammates, like, 'we good.' In the chaos of the game, you want to stay poised in all situations. And my energy was going to the team.”

No doubt that was the sort of thing Lloyd liked to hear and see, especially after the turbulent ending to UA’s 81-72 win at ASU on Saturday. In that game, Sun Devils coach Bobby Hurley complained of chatter from UA players, then pulled his team off the floor before the postgame handshake and hinted afterward he would not give a vote to Love for Big 12 postseason honors.

“One of the things we've really been working on, because our guys are susceptible like anybody, is that celebrations to your team and to your fans are way more powerful than to the other bench or to your opponent, or talking trash,” Lloyd said. “It’s a fine line, because the game's an emotional game.

“So I give Caleb a million percent credit, because I knew exactly what he was doing. He looked right at our bench to tell everybody, 'Calm down, we're fine.' When you have a player like that sending that message, rather than celebrating for his own gratitude or his own feelings to the fans, that's when you know you’ve got something.”

Alongside Love, especially in the second half, Bradley proved to be OK, too. Bradley was scoreless in the first half while picking up a Flagrant 1 foul for what appeared to be an extended elbow, then returned in the second half to score 17 points while making all eight free throws he took.

Bradley directed the Wildcats through what were two 9-0 runs in the second half, the second one that put them in the lead for good, but downplayed it all afterward in typical soft-spoken style.

“It was nothing crazy,” Bradley said. “It’s just in the second half we had more opportunities to attack more. In first half, it was kind of mix and match (against) their defense, against the zone, and we weren’t playing as aggressive. But second half, we definitely got it going.”

The way Lloyd described it, Bradley’s acceleration was smooth, a natural byproduct of a veteran point guard, not the result of some sort of heated motivational chat when UA and BYU were tied at 41 during halftime.

“I said, 'Guys, it's 41-41, we played a hell of a half, in a hell of an environment,” Lloyd said. “There was no switch to flip. (It was) 'let’s just go out possession by possession and win the game.'

“And, no, I didn't have to talk to JB and pull him aside and say 'be more aggressive,' not like that, because he knows what to do to win. And when you have that as a coach, what a luxury.”

Early in the second half, BYU broke out to early second-half leads of up to four points but, after Demin drove inside for a layup to give the Cougars a 50-47 lead with 16:29 left, the Wildcats went on a 9-0 run to go ahead by six. Veesaar started the run with a 3-pointer while Love, Veesaar and KJ Lewis all drove inside for layups.

While BYU fans stood up during the middle of the second half, the Wildcats sat them down and sent some of them home early with another 9-0 run that gave them a 76-66 lead with 4:42 left. At that point, the Wildcats had made 12 of 12 free throws, including 8 of 8 by Bradley.

In the first half, Awaka kept UA in a tight game with 12 points and six rebounds while Love hit 3 of 5 3s. The Wildcats led for exactly 10 minutes in the first half, building leads of up to eight points, but BYU went on an 8-0 run midway through the half to take a 23-22 lead and the game remained within a possession the rest of the half.

But while BYU hit 7 of 18 3-pointers in the first half, the Cougars made just 3 of 16 after halftime while their offense melted down to the point where they missed 10 of their final 12 field goals.

After Carter Bryant dunked to give UA an 84-69 lead with 1:04 left, Lloyd began putting in substitutions and fans streamed quietly out of the Marriott Center.

The win moved the Wildcats to 16-6 overall and 10-1 in the Big 12, where they remain tied for first place with Houston, which beat Oklahoma State earlier Tuesday. BYU dropped to 15-7 and 6-5.

Arizona still has potentially tough road games left to come, including ones at Baylor, Iowa State and Kansas, but the Wildcats, now, might be looking forward to them more than ever.

"It was a great environment," Love said of the Marriott Center. "It was fun to play in. We just had to come in and embrace it."