That’s something we tried to do.
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On Friday, a day after Arizona’s perimeter defense allowed Santa Clara’s Jared Brownridge 44 points, the Wildcats struggled both inside and out defensively on Friday while losing 69-65 to Providence in the semifinals of the Wooden Legacy at Titan Gym.
After Providence’s Rodney Bullock picked up his fourth foul during Arizona’s 22-9 run, Cooley bellowed, “We’re going to win this game”. “Ben really stepped up for us”.
“It’s definitely different out there without him, ” said 6-9 teammate Ryan Anderson, who had 27 points and 12 rebounds Friday.
Bentil was the leading scorer for the Friars, as he finished the night with 21 points.
Kris Dunn and Ben Bentil have great nights as Friars eek out win over Arizona by a score of 69 to 65.
Providence foiled Arizona’s attempt to tie or take the lead, stealing a pass from point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright and feeding it ahead for a dunk by Dunn for the final points.
“Kris had a very hard-fought night”. “His physicality, his presence, his ability to be in the right place at the right time constantly at the end of games…. He was tremendous down stretch”.
But Dunn scored 11 of his team’s final 13 points, including a spinning, step-back jumper from just outside the lane for a 67-65 lead with 32 seconds left. The team is in the event for the first time since 2008, when the Friars went 1-2.
Sophomore Dusan Ristic started in place of Kaleb Tarczewski, who suffered an ankle injury in Thursday’s victory over Santa Clara.
At the same time, Miller said he felt good about the Wildcats’ chances to improve.
The Wildcats need to play much cleaner to get past the Friars, who got rolling after a slow first 10 minutes against Evansville and eventually won their first-round game 74-64. The Wildcats beat Kentucky to win the national title that year…. The referees ruled no basket.
Minus its big man, Arizona’s first defeat came in upset fashion.
Arizona finds itself in some new territory after winning an early season tournament each of the past three years.
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“We missed him and we’ll continue to miss him until he gets back”, UA coach Sean Miller said of Tarczewski, adding he wasn’t sure how long Tarczewski would be out except that it probably wouldn’t be long-term.
