TUCSON, Ariz. — Arizona’s offense, after flowing so well in the first half, hit a Bruins wall in the second. Good looks were hard to come by, every pass contested, the stretch without a field exceeding five minutes.
In stepped Kerr Kriisa. The Estonian guard who missed all 12 of his shots the first go-round against UCLA, calmly sank a 3-pointer with two minutes left, allowing the Wildcats space enough to pull out a hard-fought win.
Kriisa scored 16 points and hit that big 3-pointer, Dalen Terry flirted with a triple-double and No. 7 Arizona grinded out a 76-66 win over No. 3 UCLA on Thursday night.
“Playing at UCLA was good, gave him some battle scars, so to speak,” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said of Kriisa. “Now he’s a little more grizzled, a little tougher, and that’s super important.”
Shut down by UCLA nine days earlier, the Wildcats (18-2, 8-1 Pac-12) had a good offensive flow in the first half, building a 12-point lead that stretched to 17 in the second.
The Bruins (16-3, 8-2) turned up the defensive pressure and slowed the game in the second half to chip the lead down to three. Kriisa soon answered with a 3 — Arizona’s only field goal in the final 7:04 — to make it 70-61 and the Wildcats made six straight free throws in the final 1:25 to win the rematch.
Kriisa threw the ball into the student section to celebrate the home win after being blown out in Southern California.
“Obviously, we were thinking about it,” said Terry, who finished with 10 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. “I’m glad we came out on top and we were able to do it at home.”
UCLA gave Arizona nearly everything it wanted offensively in the first half, then took most of it away in the second. The Bruins cut a 17-point deficit to three with just under four minutes left, but missed some key shots down the stretch.
Jules Barnard scored 15 points for UCLA and Johnny Juzang had 12 after missing two games in COVID-19 protocols.
“They had better energy, especially to start the game,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said. “Defensively, we didn’t get the job done and they got comfortable. You can’t let them get comfortable offensively.”
UCLA won the first meeting 75-59 at Pauley Pavilion on Jan. 23 by slowing the pace and shutting down one of the nation’s top offenses.
