SAN DIEGO — Jaden Bradley scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half as the catalyst for West Region No. 1 seed Arizona holding off a wild comeback from No. 9 seed Utah State for a 78-66 win Sunday in NCAA Tournament second-round play.
With its win, Arizona advances to its third consecutive Sweet 16 and fourth in five years. The Wildcats meet No. 4 seed Arkansas Thursday in San Jose, Calif., looking for their first Elite Eight berth since 2015.
Arizona (34-2) looked poised to run away from the Aggies early in the second half, going on a 9-0 run that opened up a 51-33 lead.
But Utah State (29-7) held the Wildcats without a field goal for almost eight minutes to fuel a 21-7 stretch. The Aggies deployed an aggressive, full-court trap defense that forced Arizona into eight second-half turnovers.
Coupled with the Wildcats’ shooting struggles — 39.3% from the floor for the game — Utah State pulled to within four points multiple times down the stretch but could not fully close the gap.
Motiejus Krivas proved vital to Arizona stopping the bleeding. The 7-foot-2 center set up each of the Wildcats’ first three field goals after the drought with a pair of offensive boards – the first leading to a Jaden Bradley layup, the second coming on a tip-in – and then sealing off a defender to free Bradley for another basket.
Krivas finished with 11 points and 14 rebounds, nine of which came on the offensive glass.
Bradley’s three-point play sparked a stretch in which the Big 12 Player of the Year scored six straight Arizona points. The Wildcats fans packing San Diego State’s Viejas Arena serenaded Bradley with chants of “M-V-P” in response.
Drake Allen connected on a pair of big 3-pointers for Utah State, part of his 11 points, before MJ Collins Jr. pulled the Aggies to within six points with another 3 before Brayden Burries answered with a fadeaway 3-pointer of his own as the shot clock expired on the other end.
The sequence was the backbreaker for Utah State.
Burries finished with 16 points and shot 3-of-3 from 3-point range. While Arizona struggled to score on the interior, the Wildcats connected at a higher clip – 7-of-17 shooting for 41.2% – than Utah State’s 8-of-32 (25%) from outside the arc.
Allen, Collins and Mason Falslev each made two 3-pointers for the Aggies. Collins finished with 12 points, Falslev had eight points and Garry Clark’s 13 points led Utah State.
–Kyle Kensing, Field Level Media
