Washington Huskies lose 75-74 nail bitter to Arizona Wildcats

Washington Husky Forward Hameir Wright scored a career 18^th points and made five of seven three-pointers only to see the  Arizona Wildcats pull out a close 75-74 win over the Huskies in Tempe. Husky guard Quade Green had a chance to snatch the win for the Huskies but his shot at the buzzer was short. The Wildcats James Akinjo scored a career-high 26 points and dished out seven assists.  His kick-out assist to Azuolas Tubelis who drained a bucket with 5.2 seconds gave the Wildcats the lead for good.

Akinjo, who scored 21, 20, and 19 points in his previous three games, was 5 of 8 from the arc. Tubelis added 16 points and 15 rebounds, Bennedict Mathurin had 10 points and 13 rebounds, and Christian Koloko 11 points for the Wildcats (17-8, 11-8 Pac-12), who won their third straight game and swept the season series from Washington (5-20, 4-16), which dropped its third straight in its regular-season finale.

MULTIPLE DEFENSIVE LOOKS

The  Huskies gave the Wildcats multiple defensive looks in the first half and the strategy worked as drawn up. The Wildcats made just 11-38 shots from the floor in the first half.

While the Huskies were able to fluster the Wildcats when shooting they forgot to box out.  The Huskies were soundly beaten on the glass in the first half. The Wildcats held a 27-16 overall advantage and pulled down 10 offensive rebounds. The Huskies were shut out on the offensive board category and second-half chances.  The Dawgs 10-24 field goal shooting( 42%) kept them in the first half despite going scoreless the last four minutes the first half. Arizona led 33-29 at the break. 

STRONG START TO SECOND HALF

The Huskies came out of the break focused, determined, and claimed after scoring the first six points of the second half. The Huskies 35-33 lead was short-lived. The Wildcats reeled off a 12-2 run to take a 37-44 lead with 15:26 left in the second half. The Huskies stayed with the Wildcats the rest of the way but were unable to get over the finish line.