SAN DIEGO — Jaden Bradley scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half as the catalyst for West Region No. 1 seed Arizona holding off a wild comeback from No. 9 seed Utah State for a 78-66 win Sunday in NCAA Tournament second-round play.
With its win, Arizona advances to its third consecutive Sweet 16 and fourth in five years. The Wildcats meet No. 4 seed Arkansas on Thursday in San Jose, Calif., looking for their first Elite Eight berth since 2015.
Arizona (34-2) looked poised to run away from the Aggies early in the second half, going on a 9-0 run that opened up a 51-33 lead.
But Utah State (29-7) held the Wildcats without a field goal for almost eight minutes to fuel a 21-7 stretch. The Aggies deployed an aggressive, full-court trap defense that forced Arizona into eight second-half turnovers.
“It got us back on our heels,” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said of Utah State’s pressure. “It’s a team that had no quit. They kept coming.”
Coupled with the Wildcats’ shooting struggles — 39.3% from the floor for the game — Utah State pulled to within four points multiple times down the stretch but could not fully close the gap.
Motiejus Krivas proved vital to Arizona stopping the bleeding. The 7-foot-2 center set up each of the Wildcats’ first three field goals after the drought with a pair of offensive boards — the first leading to a Bradley layup, the second coming on a tip-in — and then sealing off a defender to free Bradley for another basket.
Krivas finished with 11 points and 14 rebounds, nine of which came on the offensive glass. Koa Peat added another 10 rebounds to go with 14 points, helping Arizona to a pivotal 54-26 rebounding advantage.
Bradley’s successfully converted and-one sparked a stretch in which the Big 12 Conference Player of the Year scored six straight Arizona points. The Wildcats fans packing San Diego State’s Viejas Arena serenaded Bradley with chants of “M-V-P” in response.
Drake Allen connected on a pair of big 3-pointers for Utah State, part of his 11 points, to pull the Aggies to within six points before Brayden Burries answered with a fadeaway 3-pointer of his own as the shot clock expired on the other end.
The sequence was the backbreaker for Utah State.
“He’s very mature for his age, for a freshman,” Bradley said of Burries. “Offensively, he’s (an opposing) team’s worst nightmare.”
Burries finished with 16 points and shot 3-of-3 from 3-point range. While Arizona struggled to score on the interior, the Wildcats connected at a higher clip — 7 of 17 for 41.2% — than Utah State’s 8 of 32 (25%) from outside the arc.
Allen, MJ Collins Jr. and Mason Falslev each made two 3-pointers for the Aggies. Collins finished with 12 points, Falslev had eight points and Garry Clark’s 13 points led Utah State.
“We wanted that game … and we know we could have beat those guys if we played a little bit better,” Allen said. “But (the teammates) next to me, we’ve accomplished so much … winning a (Mountain West) Conference championship, a conference tournament at Utah State is something that’s going to be remembered a long time.”
Aggies players and coaches were vocal about not agreeing with their seeding coming into the Tournament, and Arizona’s coach Lloyd agreed in his postgame press conference the Aggies were better than a No. 9.
Utah State changes conferences in the offseason, joining the rebuilt Pac-12 alongside recent national runners-up Gonzaga and San Diego State.
–Kyle Kensing, Field Level Media
