SAN DIEGO—It’s only fitting that Arizona will need to beat a Mountain West Conference team in a Mountain West arena to get back to another Sweet 16.
Ninth-seeded Utah State outscored No. 8 Villanova 15-3 over the final six minutes to win 86-76 on Friday afternoon at Viejas Arena, setting up a second round matchup with No. 1 Arizona. The Aggies (29-6) advanced past the first round for the second time in three seasons.
MJ Collins Jr. scored 20 points, 16 in the second half including seven during a game-changing
9-0 run late in the second half, while Mason Falslev had 22 for Utah State.
Villanova (24-9) got 25 points from Bryce Lindsay and 15 apiece from Tyler Perkins and Duke Brennan, the nephew of UA coach Brent Brennan, but the Wildcats missed nine of their last 10 shots after taking a 73-71 lead with 6:04 to go on a Lindsay 3.
Utah State shot 54.9 percent for the game, including 26 of 35 (74.3 percent) on 2-pointers, and made 28 of 37 free throws compared to 6 of 13 for Villanova. The Wildcats made 14 of 30 3s and held the Aggies to 2-of-16 shooting from outside but missed nine layups and shot 42.4 percent from inside the arc.
Villanova led 39-37 at the break, extending to a 10-point lead just over two minutes into the second half. Utah State would counter with a 14-4 run, tying it at 54 with 14:14 to go.
The lead changes eight times over the next eight minutes, the last coming Lindsay’s 3 to give Villanova its final lead, then the Wildcats went cold and didn’t score for more than four minutes. Utah State took advantage with a 9-0 run—including a 3-point play by Collins that featured a behind-the-back dribble in transition—for an 80-73 lead with 2:12 remaining.
Utah State led for the first 13-plus minutes of the game before Villanova used a 9-0 run to go ahead 33-31. The Aggies’ biggest lead was 26-17 midway through the first half.
Arizona and Utah State have met four times previously, most recently in the first round of the 2005 NCAA Tournament when the Wildcats beat the Aggies 66-53 in Boise.
