It may not seem like much, and in a game that Arizona eventually won by 32, statistically, eight points really isn’t all that much.
But it’s not the what, it’s the when, and more importantly, the how.
Trailing by three with 2 minutes, 17 seconds left in the first half of their 99-67 win over the visiting Washington Huskies, the Wildcats went on an 8-0 run in less than two minutes to completely alter the momentum.
Instead of the hot-scoring Huskies — who entered the game with the best offense in the Pac-12 before being stymied by Arizona’s suddenly stout defense — entering the locker rooms with a swell of confidence, the Wildcats flipped the script. Washington, which started the game shooting 17 of 31 from the field, immediately went cold.
What followed was a 3-for-18 stretch for the Huskies, and a massive win for a surprisingly challenged Arizona team.
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OK, so that’s the what, but the when matters, too.
Before the Wildcats buckled down on defense, Washington was getting just about all it wanted. Easy shots, all over the court, particularly in the post. After shooting just 3 of 10 out of the gate, the Huskies hit 14 of their next 21 attempts. This, remember, is a Washington team that entered the game averaging 85.3 points per game, tops in the conference, with 118 3-pointers, third in the Pac-12.
Before the crucial spurt, Arizona was lagging.
The Wildcats started the game shooting well, hitting 10 for 18 to start the game while Ryan Anderson monopolized early opportunities. Then, a funk set in. Miss, miss, make. Miss, miss, make. Miss, miss, miss. A 2-for-9 stretch that seemed to point to a tough night.
But then make, make, make, make, a hot streak, and improbably, a halftime lead.
“Confidence is a big thing, when you’re going through what were going through,” Arizona coach Sean Miller said. “I thought it gave us a jolt of energy going into the halftime locker room.”
It did, and how.
According to Arizona guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright, it was all a matter of defense.
“Our defense revved up to another level,” Jackson-Cartwright said. “When we go defense to offense, it’s really tough to beat us, and it shows.”
With 4:34 left in the half, Arizona went up by four on a Kadeem Allen 3-pointer, before Washington shut down the Wildcats for two minutes. A jumper by Dejounte Murray cut Arizona’s lead to two, a David Crisp 3-pointer put the Huskies up one, and a Matisse Thybulle layup added to the lead with 2:17 left.
Thirty seconds later, Gabe York found Kaleb Tarczewski for a dunk to get Arizona’s offense going, a Murray turnover led to a Mark Tollefsen jumper on the other end, and a Murray missed 3-pointer led to a York jumper for Arizona. Another 3-point miss by Crisp again set the Arizona offense up, and Allen capitalized with a layup with 26 seconds left.
In total, an 8-0 run that put the Wildcats back in the game.
It was enough.
“Coach Miller always talks to us about the 10 wars in a game,” Ryan Anderson said. “We always pride ourselves in trying to end the practice well. It shows in the wars at the end of the half. All the hard stuff we do at practice at the end is helping us finish games well. It definitely helped us going into the half.”
