BOULDER, Colo. – Bennedict Mathurin came out of Sean Miller’s niche, but could not pass the Arizona Wildcats to begin with a 17-point deficit in Saturday’s 82-79 loss to Colorado.
The AU maintained a slight advantage for much of the moment thanks to Mathurin’s 22 problems and some competitive shots from guard James Akinjo, Evan Battey of Colorado despite everything won by hitting the 4 loose shots he won in the last 15 moments despite an obvious injury after a foul passed through TERREll Brown of the AU.
The defeat sent Arizona to 13-6 overall and 7-6 in the Pac-12, proceeding to the Wildcats’ complicated history in Boulder. They have now lost 4 in a row at CU Events Center and are 2-6 in Colorado since the Buffs joined the convention in 2011-12.
Arizona has now lost 3 of its last 4 games. Three of the next 4 Wildcat games will be opposed to the groups at the conference: Oregon, UCLA and USC.
Colorado stepped forward at 14-5 and 8-4 on the Pac-12.
The game tied at 76 at the last minute when Akinjo drove internally and tried to throw a foul. The Wildcats lost ownership when they ruled an intermediate-owned arrow heading to Colorado.
McKinley Wright then drove around the area and hit a 12-foot shot. The Wildcats withdrew even with 23 seconds to play in a kill through Christian Koloko.
Battey then fell for a foul on Mathurin and hit both, making loose shots to put the 80-78 with 15 seconds to play, which gave AU the final property to win or send the game in overtime. Kerr Kriisa attacked Brown and then ran for the left wing, while Brown drove and picked up a foul with 5. 6 seconds to play.
Brown missed the first shot loose, forcing the Wildcats to commit a foul at the Buffs’ entrance. After Battey made the first pass, Brown darted towards Battey and knocked him down. Point margin.
Arizona fired 50% of the area despite missing its first 10 shots in the direction of a 19-2 deficit, while Colorado pitched 55. 8%.
Mathurin hit seven of nine shots and four 5-3 problems, while Akinjo had 16 problems and four of 11 field shots, but made all eight shots loose.
For Mathurin, it was a step back in Miller’s intelligent graces. The coach did not start with Mathurin at the time he part of the Wildcats’ 73-58 loss to Utah on Thursday and said he was disappointed with Mathurin’s attitude.
Miller also did not start with Mathurin on Saturday, but placed him after only 47 seconds of what turned out to be the Buffs’ 19-2 streak. Mathurin played 16 minutes in the middle.
Arizona took Colorado’s double-digit lead in the back in the first half and early in the second, then took its first lead at 10:48 to pass after Mathurin put in a triple and Azuolas Tubelis made a short jump.
Mathurin later returned to put AU 55-54, while Kriisa scored her first problems as Wildcat when she got tired of a 3 on the next with 9:01 by the end, which gave AU a 60-59 lead. behind a Wright pass and scored in the other final to take the 62-59 at the start of the eight-minute mark.
Arizona held a one-time lead for the most of the rest of the field, while Eli Parquet of Colorado tied him at 76 with a triple with 1:11 for playing.
After trimming their initial deficit from 17 numbers to just nine in halftime, the Wildcats continued to squeeze it for the first few minutes of the moment thanks to a competitive play of their bases.
Akinjo made fouls that resulted in four shots loose in the first six minutes, shooting AU at 45-41 and, among one’s possessions, Kriisa threw herself to the floor on a legal guard position when Colorado Wright approached the Buffs’ basket in the break. . Kriisa fell to the ground and pulled out the load.
Akinjo continued to push trays that reduced Colorado’s lead to 48-46 and 60-48 before the Wildcats took their first lead over tubelis.
Arizona missed its first 10 box shots to lead 19-2 early, then entered a 7-0 run to make its task a little more manageable. The Wildcats went 9-0 in the part to cut Colorado’s lead to 38 -32 before Parquet connected on a 3-stroke run to give Colorado a 41-32 part-time lead.
The Wildcats did not score a basket in the first 8:27 of the game until Jordan Brown turned down a failed shot through Mathurin.