BYU pulls out 96-95 win over Arizona Wildcats in controversial ending at McKale Center

The Wildcats had been 58-5 at McKale Center under Tommy Lloyd, among other things.

“That didn’t give me a lot of good feelings,” said Young, the former Phoenix Suns assistant coach who took over the Cougars this season.

But, fifteen years ago, there was that one time when BYU came into McKale, plastered the Wildcats by 30 while guard Jimmer Fredette set a still-standing McKale Center scoring record with 49 points in part by sinking nine 3-pointers.

The Cougars returned to McKale Center on Saturday for the first time since that 2009-10 game, and their current roster ripped up the Wildcats collectively this time.

BYU shot 55.4% from the field and hit 14 of 31 3-pointers (45.2%), with guard Richie Saunders leading the way with 23 points that included two late free throws a lot of folks felt he should not have been able to take.

UA guard Caleb Love hit a game-high 27 points when he hit a pair of free throws with 12.5 seconds left to give UA a 95-94 lead. But on BYU’s next possession, Arizona forward Trey Townsend was called for a defensive foul while guarding Saunders along the free throw lane, about eight feet from the basket.

“Basketball is game of reads and they initially cut off what I was hoping for, a 3 at the top,” Saunders said. “But there's only so much time on the clock, and I was just trying to figure out how in the world to make something happen. Luckily, he bit a little bit on the shot fake, and I was fortunate enough to get to the line when the foul was called.”

UA coach Tommy Lloyd disagreed with the call, and it wasn’t difficult to imagine what McKale Center fans thought: They roundly booed before Saunders shot his free throws, after he shot the free throws and after Saunders caught the Wildcats’ final inbounds attempt as the seconds ticked off the clock.

Some fans kept booing as they walked out of the building even.

But during his postgame news conference, Lloyd indicated it was only one possession out of a lot of ones that didn’t go too well for the Wildcats.

“It's a bad call. I mean, whatever. What am I going to say? “ Lloyd said. “I mean, you hate for a game to be decided by that. Trey, I feel horrible for him. The guy didn't play in the second half. I tightened the rotation. (Then he came in and) he played good defense. Guy's pivoting, pivoting, throws his shoulder at him, throws up a shot and falls down.

“It's a foul with two seconds to go. It’s the Big 12, that's what I'm told. And the guy who called it's one of the best refs, so we’ve got to live with it.”

“But step back. They scored 93 points up to that point on our home court. That's the problem. That's the problem for me, my staff and our players. That's the problem, not the officials. It would have been great to steal a victory, if they don't call that but still, don't put yourself in that position. That's the problem.”

The Wildcats put themselves in a tight position pretty much the whole game. BYU actually led for over 24 minutes, taking leads of up to eight in the first half and six early in the second half, with UA leading by a point only twice in the final nine minutes.

Maybe part of it, Lloyd said, was that the Wildcats may have been “too casual” after winning at Baylor on Monday and knowing that they took care of BYU pretty well on Feb. 4 with an 85-74 win before a sellout crowd of over 17,000 fans in Provo, Utah.

But Lloyd said he warned the Wildcats that the veteran Cougars would respond, and it was also probably worth noting that BYU smacked Kansas by 34 points just four days earlier.

“We learn. We learn,” Saunders said. “Every game you get an opportunity to learn. We took a lot out of the (Feb. 4) game into the games after, including this one. You learn, especially just by losing. As hard as it is, it’s all just learning.”

The change was most notable beyond the arc. While the Cougars hit just 10 of 34 3-pointers on Feb. 4, they hit 14 of 31 on Saturday. Seven players made at least one, Saunders going 3 for 4 and 6-9 freshman Kanon Catchings hitting 4 of 6.

Catchings had played only two minutes against Kansas because of defensive mistakes but his offense was a difference-maker for the Cougars this time. He hit two 3s on consecutive possessions midway through the second half to help BYU take a 78-73 lead.

“With his size and his high release, I tell him all the time `You’re either going to make it or miss it. The defense has nothing to do with it,’ “ Young said. “So when he's aggressive, looking for a shot, he really changes the game for us.”

Still, even after Catchings’ two 3s, the Wildcats kept within one possession of the Cougars the rest of the game, while Love appeared pretty much set to become the hero if they pulled it out at the end.

Picking up fouls three times in the final 2:15, Love hit 7 of 7 from the line over that span while his stepback 3 cut BYU’s lead to 94-93 with 33 seconds left.

The Wildcats put on full-court pressure during BYU’s next possession, and the Cougars called a timeout after eight seconds ticked off the clock, leaving 25.2 left. Arizona then fouled Dallin Hall at midcourt but he missed the front end of a one-and-one.

Love picked up the rebound and drove all the way downcourt for what initially looked like a layup with a foul drawn from BYU’s Fousseyni Traore. But officials ruled Love was fouled before he was in shooting motion, giving Love a chance to hit two free throws but not the layup and an and-one attempt.

Asked when he felt contact, Love said “as I was going up for my layup. I thought it was an and-one.”

With so much focus on his team’s defense and the foul on Townsend, Lloyd said he hadn’t even thought about the call on Love when asked about it.

“Thanks for bringing it up,” Lloyd said. “You'd like the and-one there, but it didn't happen. But you know what? You’ve got to move on. The ref made a call, and we put ourselves in a position to win the game.”

Love did so by hitting both free throws to give UA a 95-94 lead with 12.5 seconds left before Saunders drew the fateful foul from Townsend.

After the final buzzer, tension was visible in the teams' handshake line while UA students were heard chanting "(expletive) the Mormons," according to the Deseret News. Arizona AD Desiree Reed-Francois issued a statement apologizing to BYU players, coaches and fans for an "unacceptable chant." (UA walk-on Addison Arnold is also of the LDS faith).

The game wound up being the third in the Wildcats’ past four that they have lost. UA dropped to 18-9 overall and 12-4 in the Big 12.

BYU improved to 19-8 and 10-6, winning its fourth straight game to move more firmly into NCAA Tournament consideration.

The Cougars left McKale Center this time not with a blowout but with a flurry of 3s and an opportunistic defense that allowed the Wildcats to shoot 54.2%  but also scored 22 points off the Wildcats’ 14 turnovers. BYU also survived despite scoring 11 fewer points from the line, with BYU making 10 of 14 free throws and UA making 21 of 25.

“In a game like that, it just felt like whoever was going to get the last stop was going to win,” Young said. “As physical as they are, for us (outscore UA in) second chance points when we're undersized against their size, I thought that really spoke to our toughness in that game. That's ultimately what won it, just sheer toughness.”