Arizona takes Pac-12 as UCLA misses out on 3 at buzzer
LAS VEGAS– Courtney Ramey had actually missed all 4 of his previous 3-point attempts Saturday night when the ball ended up back in his hands at the most important moment.Ramey shook a protector then calmly drilled one from the top of the key with 16.7 seconds left to put Arizona in front. The eighth-ranked Wildcats held on from there, beating No. 2 UCLA 61-59 in the Pac-12 championship game.
“I kept telling myself, the next shot is going in,” Ramey said. “My task was to make a play.”
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The Wildcats (28-6) increased their case for a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament. UCLA (29-5) still hopes to land the No. 1 seed in the West and return to Las Vegas in two weeks for the regional.It was the 2nd year in a row Arizona beat UCLA in the Pac-12 title game.Arizona second-year coach Tommy Lloyd can’t lose in
Las Vegas. He is 9-0 in this city, 8-0 at T-Mobile Arena and 6-0 in the Pac-12 tournament.” It was a knockdown, drag out, and I sensed it was going to be that method, “Lloyd said.”A lot respect for the UCLA program. Clearly, they’re going through a great deal of injury things today, but they’re resilient, and I knew it was going to be like that.”Ramey’s 3-pointer put the Wildcats ahead 60-58. The clutch shot followed colleague Azuolas Tubelis missed out on a 3 that was rebounded by Pelle Larsson, who got the ball to Ramey.UCLA guard Tyger Campbell was fouled with 6.8 seconds left, and he made the first free toss however missed the 2nd.
Tubelis hit one of two totally free tosses with 5.8 seconds to go, and UCLA’s Dylan Andrews missed a 3 at the buzzer to make sure Arizona’s victory.” Wide-open shot to win the game,”UCLA coach Mick Cronin said.” Tyger’s beating himself up over a missed out on complimentary throw
, but that had absolutely nothing to do with a few of our bad fouls and defensive breakdowns. Those are controllables. I’ll take Tyger at the line and put my career on the line with Tyger at the line.”Tubelis, the competition’s Many Exceptional Player, had 19 points and 14 rebounds for second-seeded Arizona. Oumar Ballo scored 13 points, and Larsson had 11
. Amari Bailey led top-seeded UCLA with 19 points. Campbell scored 16, and Jaime Jaquez Jr. had 13 points and 10 rebounds.The Bruins understood can be found in they wouldn’t have guard Jaylen
Clark (lower leg )or Adem Bona (shoulder ), and their issues just mounted when two of Bona’s replacements in the post entered nasty trouble.Mac Etienne and Kenneth Nwuba each had four fouls in the 2nd half, requiring Cronin to play at least among them. Etienne fouled out with 9:35 left and Nwuba with 4:27 staying, implying the Bruins had to play with a smaller sized lineup the remainder of the game.Arizona was
n’t entirely healthy, either. Point player Kerr Kriisa had been having fun with a balky shoulder during the tournament.