Through the first three weeks of Big 12 play, only 12 of 36 road teams have been able to come out with a victory. And three of those wins belong to Arizona.
The top-ranked Wildcats built an early lead and
never gave it up, outlasting a scrappy UCF team 84-77 on Saturday afternoon. And they did so with Koa Peat going nearly 32 minutes without getting on the scoreboard and Jaden Bradley having another slow start.
Brayden Burries and Motiejus Krivas bounced back after consecutive poor outings, going for 18 and 17 points, respectively, while Bradley had 21 of his 23 points in the second half. Krivas added 12 rebounds for Arizona (18-0, 5-0 Big 12) as it extended the second-best start to a season in school history.
Bradley, who has made a habit of erupting in the second half, was 5 of 6 from the field and 11 of 13 from the line after halftime. He added six rebounds, five assists and two steals.
UCF (14-3, 3-2) got a career-high 30 points from Themus Fulks, who was 11 of 18 from the field but only 4 of 10 in the second half. Knights leading scorer Riley Kugel was 5 of 18 from the field.
The UA led for nearly 36 minutes, using a 19-2 run to go up 15 midway through the first half, but turnovers and defensive rebounding kept it from pulling away. The Wildcats turned it over 12 times, leading to 16 points for UCF, which had a 14-9 edge in offensive boards and 19-5 in second chance points.
The UA led 41-38 at halftime after being up as much as 15. Two early scores byBradley, who had two points on 1-of-5 shooting in the first half, forced a UCF timeout with the Wildcats up seven.
Back-to-back possessions with second (or third) chances got the Knights within 47-43, and Fulks’ 3-point play made is a 2-point game with 13:56 to go.
That’s when Arizona flipped a switch and started to pull away, mostly with Bradley at the wheel. He had six points during a 10-0 run to give the Wildcats a 61-49 lead with 10:13 left.
Peat had his first points with 8:26 remaining on a pair of free throws, and his first field goal came on a lob dunk from Bradley with 6:41 left. That helped get the lead up to 13.
A 3-point play by Jordan Burks cut it to 74-66 with 2:35 left, and UCF was within seven with the ball but threw it away with 1:23 remaining. But Bradley made two free throws, got a steal and made two more foul shots to ice it.
The Knights made one last push, scoring five in a row with a Chris Johnson 3 getting them to within 79-73, and then a UA turnover with 34.1 seconds left gave them a shot to get closer. But Johnson missed a jumper and Bradley five free throws in the final 30 seconds.
Neither team led by more than one score until Tobe Awaka had four straight points as part of an 8-0 run to put Arizona up 15-9 with 13:50 left in the first half. A 3-pointer byKrivas, just his second of the season, and one byBurries extended the lead to nine, but thenPeat picked up his second foul with 11:33 to go before halftime and sat until after the break.
Peat’s absence didn’t matter, as Arizona continued an 11-0 run to lead 26-11.
UCF made seven straight shots to get within 33-27 on a 3-point play by Fulks, and Arizona’s sixth turnover of the first half led to the Knights getting within four.
Another giveaway cut the margin to 37-35 before Awaka streaked to the basket off a feed from Krivas for a 3-point play.
Arizona is back home for its next two games, hosting Cincinnati on Wednesday. The Bearcats (10-8, 2-3) have won two in a row including a home upset of No. 2 Iowa State on Saturday.
