After reaching the Final Four, Arizona finally found a problem it couldn't solve

Five months before their season ended in a 91-73 loss to Michigan in the NCAA Tournament semifinals Saturday, Arizona wound up beating then-No. 3 Florida 93-87 on an early November night in Las Vegas.

Including that game, the Wildcats trailed seven teams at halftime before Saturday, and won every time. The Gators led UA by four, Alabama by two, ASU by one (in Tempe), Colorado by two and three teams by seven — Baylor, Iowa State (in the Big 12 Tournament) and Purdue.

On three occasions, the UA halftime deficits turned into double-digit wins, even the Elite Eight game against Purdue, when UA coach Tommy Lloyd said he just hoped to pull into a game that would be decided in the last four minutes. 

Others were tighter: Florida and Baylor, and especially Arizona's Big 12 Tournament semifinal game against Iowa State, which produced the Wildcats’ most memorable finish of the season: a buzzer-beating 17-footer from point guard Jaden Bradley.

Arizona wins, all.

But Saturday was different. It felt different. No. 1 seed Arizona trailed top-seeded Michigan 48-32 at halftime of the Final Four semifinals, even while star Wolverines forward Yaxel Lendeborg was fighting off foul trouble and a knee injury before halftime.

“We were gonna come out of the gate (after halftime) and try to get it to single digits,” UA guard Brayden Burries said. “Didn’t happen.”

Burries said it didn’t because, even though the Wildcats were trying to be aggressive, “everything was going in and out” while Michigan put shots through the nets.

The Wolverines did with lobs, put-backs, backdoor cuts, you name it. And with 7-3 center Aday Mara defending the rim at the other end.

“Michigan is a great, great ball club,” Bradley said. “They shot it well. They play great defense. We've come back from many, many deficits this year. We thought we could do the same, but we just weren't able to get over the hump.”

The Wolverines were firing so well that they barely needed Lendeborg, who wound up with 11 points while playing just 14 minutes. But Lendeborg hit all three 3-pointers he took in a trend that bothered the Wildcats all night: Michigan hit 12 of 27 3s, only the fourth time this season an Arizona opponent hit as many long-range shots.

Then there was Mara, the 7-3 Spaniard last seen by the Wildcats as a seldom-used big man at UCLA two seasons ago, controlling both ends of the floor. Mara had 26 points, eight rebounds and two blocks, though Lloyd said there was “no way” he had only that many.

“I could think of three that he tipped, just right off the top of my head,” Lloyd said.

Leading by 16 at halftime, Michigan began the second half on an 8-2 run thanks to a dunk from Mara and two 3-pointers from Lendeborg — while Bradley picked up his fourth foul just 90 seconds into the second half.

Michigan later hit four 3-pointers in just over three minutes, two each from Trey McKenney and Elliot Cadeau, to take a 72-45 lead with 12:20 to go. The Wolverines went on to take a 30-point lead, 77-47, when McKenney hit his fourth 3-pointer on six tries with 10:31 left.

"Usually we always have chances to come back,” UA forward Ivan Kharchenkov said. “They just broke our neck, making three, four tough shots in a row, and we didn't have the best day. Especially, we got in a little bit foul trouble there. It was just a tough second half."

Lloyd credited Michigan coach Dusty May for keeping control of the game once the Wolverines were up comfortably, putting Arizona in a position it had not been in all season.

The Wildcats' two previous losses were by four points at Kansas and in overtime to Texas Tech at McKale Center five days later.

The way May expressed it, he didn’t have a choice but to keep accelerating. He even played Lendeborg in the second half despite his knee flare-up, potentially risking him for the national championship game.

“Apparently you guys missed the UConn-Duke game” in the Elite Eight, when Duke blew a huge lead, May said. “It was already decided that we were playing Duke (in the championship game). They were up 19, correct, in the second half? And who won?”

UConn won, then the Huskies beat Illinois on Saturday to reach a title game against Michigan on Monday.

“So you’re playing Arizona, statistically the No. 1 or 2 team all year in the country and you're up with 20, with 10 minutes left, with 8½ minutes left? We didn't feel quite as confident as you guys did that we could just put the kids to bed.”

He had reason to worry. Arizona hadn’t lost a game by more than two possessions all season, and put up all those comeback second halves.

But this time, the Wildcats trailed by at least 16 for the entire second half.

They never could figure out Michigan.

“They were outstanding,” Lloyd said. “Really had us on our heels. We never could get in a rhythm. No one's been able to do that to us all year.”