With a 16-team conference there aren’t many chances to make a second impression. But Arizona sure did in its rematch with Texas Tech.
The Wildcats dominated inside on both ends of the court to key an 82-73 win over No. 13 Texas Tech on Saturday night at McKale Center, avenging their only Big 12 loss. The UA is now 11-1 in revenge games under Tommy Lloyd.
No. 20 Arizona (17-6, 11-1 Big 12) outrebounded the Red Raiders by 13, after being minus-16 in its 70-54 loss in Lubbock last month, and had a 48-28 edge in points in the paint. The Wildcats had 18 layups and dunks in shooting 51.7 percent, far better than the 31 percent they shot at Texas Tech.
Tobe Awaka had 11 of Arizona’s 42 rebounds to go with 14 points, one of five Wildcats in double figures. Jaden Bradley and Caleb Love had 16 apiece, combining for 11 assists, while KJ Lewis and Henri Veesaar each had 15 off a shorter than normal bench. Trey Townsend was unavailable after hitting his head on the court early in the second half at BYU, moving Carter Bryant into the starting lineup.
Texas Tech (18-5, 9-3) shot 37.1 percent, its second-lowest efficiency of the season. The lowest was 36.4 percent against Arizona last month.
Arizona, which led 39-37 at halftime, scored on its first four possessions after the break to force an early Texas Tech timeout. The Red Raiders used another timeout with 14:16 left after back-to-back turnovers led to easy UA baskets and a 52-43 lead.
A 6-0 run put the Wildcats up 62-52 with nine minutes to go and forced Grant McCasland to use his final timeout. Tech responded by hitting some outside shots to cut it to 66-63 with 5:16 to go.
Then came a game-sealing 8-0 run for the Wildcats, which was bolstered by McCasland getting hit with a technical with 4:20 left after arguing a no-call. Love made both technical free throws, then Lewis hit a fallaway jumper on the ensuing possession, then Bradley hit a pair of foul shots to make it 74-63 with 3:15 remaining.
A Darrion Williams 3 cut it to 74-68 with 1:35 left, and Williams hit another triple to make it 78-73 with 17 seconds to go, but Arizona went 8 of 10 from the line in the final minute to ice it.
The Wildcats started 6 of 9 from the field and led 15-8 less than six minutes in, and a 3 by Bradley made it 20-12 with 11:44 left in the first half. But Arizona missed its next six shots and started turning it over, with Lewis giving it away three times in less than two minutes.
Still, Arizona was up nine after a Veesaar dunk when Texas Tech hit back-to-back 3s in just 31 seconds to get within 27-24, forcing a UA timeout. The Red Raiders cut it to 30-29 on a dunk by JT Toppin but the Wildcats maintained the lead the rest of the first half.
The teams traded scores over the last three minutes of the half, with Veesaar scoring on a putback with 19 seconds to go before Toppin had a layup right before the buzzer.
Arizona returns to the road Tuesday to visit Kansas State, which upset No. 16 Kansas at home on Saturday. The Wildcats (12-11, 6-6) have won five in a row, marking the third straight UA opponent riding a win streak of four or more.