After surviving one rowdy environment on Saturday, Arizona’s basketball team is about to enter another one.
Fresh off an emotional 81-72 win on Arizona State’s home court, the No. 20 Wildcats (15-6, 9-1 Big 12) visit Provo, Utah, for a late Tuesday night showdown with surging BYU (15-6, 6-4).
“It was great. It was fun. It’s a fun environment,” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said of winning at Arizona State on Saturday. “You wish everyone could experience it when you’re sitting in that frying pan.”
They’ll go from one frying pan to another Tuesday night.
Though the Cougars aren’t Arizona’s rival, they do have one of the better home-court advantages — what with the combination of the 19,000-seat Marriott Center, Provo’s 4,550-foot elevation and a raucous, engaged student section.
BYU enters on a four-game winning streak and has climbed to fifth place in the Big 12, adding intrigue of this matchup.
Arizona also owns a four-game winning streak, including an impressive 86-75 overtime win against then-No. 3 Iowa State on Jan. 27.
Arizona’s Jaden Bradley said the Wildcats continue to perceive themselves as underdogs despite sitting atop the conference standings tied with Houston. The Wildcats vaulted into the 20th spot in the rankings this week after not being ranked since Thanksgiving.
“Nobody thought we’d be here in this position but us,” Bradley said. “We’ll keep believing in each other, take one game at a time and give everything we’ve got for that game. We feel like we belong here. We’re competitors, so we want to compete and we want to win everything we do.”
Caleb Love leads Arizona in scoring with 16.2 points per game. He scored 27 against Arizona State before being ejected late after an altercation with the Sun Devils’ BJ Freeman. Love netted 22 points, including a trey from beyond half-court to force overtime, in the Iowa State win.
Richie Saunders continues to have a big season for BYU. He drained six 3-pointers and scored 22 points in the Cougars’ 81-75 win at UCF on Saturday.
BYU has been on a roll since losing a one-point heartbreaker Jan. 18 at rival Utah. The streak includes an overtime win over Baylor last week.
“We knew it was going to be a challenge,” BYU coach Kevin Young said of the win against UCF in an interview with BYU Sports Radio Network. “Just proud of the way our guys came out of the locker room at halftime. I thought our response was really good.”
Mawot Mag had his best game with BYU since transferring from Rutgers through the portal window. He scored 19 points with three 3-pointers, five assists, three rebounds and a steal.
Keba Keita, an offseason transfer from Utah, had two huge blocks in the waning seconds against UCF to go with 10 points and seven rebounds. Trevin Knell added 15 points, helping to pick up the slack for a low-production game from freshman standout Egor Demin (three points, six assists).
“To be able to close one out on the road is something we can build on, for sure,” Young said.
“We knew it was going to be a dogfight,” Mag added. “Every game in the Big 12 is going to be a dogfight. I am just glad we came out with a W.”
This is the first meeting between these teams since BYU defeated Arizona 87-65 in Salt Lake City on Dec. 11, 2010. The Wildcats lead the all-time series between the old WAC foes 20-19.
–Field Level Media
