Pac-12 in NCAA Tournament: UCLA Wins Big; No. 15 Seed Princeton Stuns Arizona

UCLA avoided the embarrassment that Arizona experienced earlier in the day in Sacramento.

The second-seeded Bruins took control from the outset in a 86-53 victory over 15th-seeded UNC Asheville in a first-round NCAA tournament game Thursday night, but second-seeded Arizona blew a 12-point, second-half lead and failed to score a single point in the final 4:45 of their stunning 59-55 loss to 15th-seeded Princeton.

Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd came up with the quote of the day afterward:

"If you want to do great things in life, you got to be willing to step in dog shit once in a while. That's just how it is, and we did today."

UCLA 86, UNC Asheville 53

The Bruins will face seventh-seeded Northwestern on Saturday after UCLA blew by the Big South champions despite being without two starters. Jaylen Clark, the Pac-12’s defensive player of the year and the Bruins’ second-leading scorer, is out for the season with a lower leg injury, and center Adem Bona (left shoulder injury) was available but never got in the game.

They were not missed.

UCLA (30-5) made its first seven shots, two of which were three-pointers, as it bolted to a 14-0 lead that the Bruins expanded to a 34-11 advantage with seven minutes left in the first half.

UNC Asheville (27-8) came into the game having won nine straight games and 18 of their last 19, but the Bulldogs missed their first four shots and found themselves behind by 14 points 3:05 into the game. Asheville committed 12 first-half turnovers and trailed by 21 points at halftime.

The Bruins led by as many as 33 points midway through the second half.

Pac-12 player of the year Jaime Jaquez scored 17 points and added nine rebounds and five steals, and he sat out the final seven minutes. Freshman Amari Bailey also contributed 17 points for the Bruins who shot 54% from the field for the game.

Kenneth Nwuba, a 6-foot-10 senior who started in place of Bona, set a career high in scoring with his sixth point six minutes into the game. He finished with 10 points and two blocks, after scoring one point in his past six games combined.

DENIED ❌ @UCLAMBB pic.twitter.com/HTWKgb6cHS
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) March 17, 2023

Princeton 59, Arizona 55

Arizona choked. That's the only way to explain it.

The second-seeded Wildcats blew a 12-point lead with 11:50 remaining and failed to score a single point in the final 4:45 of a loss to the 15th-seeded Tigers

This will go down as one of the most disappointing losses in Arizona history, matching Arizona's loss as a No. 2 seed to 15th-seeded Santa Clara in the first round of the 1993 NCAA tournament.

Meanwhile, it is also a reminder of the 1996 NCAA tournament when 13th-seeded Princeton upset No. 4-seeded UCLA oin the first round.

The Wildcats were thinking a Final Four or even a national champoionship was possible, but they failed to get out of the opening round. They became the 11th No. 2 seed to lose to a 15th seed in the NCAA tournament.

And they lost to a Princeton team that went a mediocer 10-4 in the Ivy League, tying for first place with Yale and winning the conference tournament on the Tigers home court. Princeton (22-8) had losses to Delaware, Navy, Brown and Dartmouth this season, and the Tigers seemed to be out of Thursday's game as well.

But after building the 12-point lead with less than 12 minutes left, Arizona (28-7) was unable to bury the Tigers, who rallied to get back in the game, putting the pressure on the favorites.

"Sometimes when you get in those moments, the pressure flips at little bit," Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said. "They're playing a little bit with house money; maybe our guys get a little bit tight. I just didn't think we weren't great down the stretch, which is something we're going to have to live with."

Arizona's postgame press conference:

Princeton got within one point on a Ryan Langborg jumper with 3:35 to go. Princeton then had two possessions to take the lead but missed open shots both times. But on their third possession, still trailing by a point, Langborg scored on a driving layup to give the Tigers a 56-55 led with 2:01 remaining.

Azuolas Tubelis finished with 22 points, but he missed a 10-footer with 48 seconds left that would have given the Wildcats the lead back.

Princeton's Caden Pierce made two free throws with 21.7 seconds remaining to give Princeton a three-point lead, and Arizona failed to execute effectively on its ensuing possession. Courtney Ramey shot an airball on a long three-point attempt under pressure with 13 seconds left, and, after an offensive rebound, Kerr Kriisa missed a hurried three-point shot with four seconds to go.

One free thrown by Tusan Evbuomwan gave Princeton a four-point advantage with three seconds left. Evbuomwan led the Tigers with 15 points.

"We've been talking about it all year," Lloyd said. "We've had a little bit of an issue: We get up 10, 12, take a bad shot or two or an untimely turnover or defensive breakdown and let teams back in the game. We weren't great at that concept, and today it finally caught up with us."

Arizona's guards played poorly. Backcourt members Kriisa, Ramey, Cedric Henderson Jr. and Pelle Larsson scored a combined 15 points and were 7-for-24 from the floor, including 1-for-12 on three-point shots.

Princeton, a much smaller team than Arizona, made the defensive gamble of not guarding Tubelis on the perimeter and taking away Arizona's three-point shooters. It led to indecision from the Wildcats about how to combat it. But it still seemed like Arizona would survive when it expanded a one-point halftime lead to 12.

Cover photo of Tyger Campbell by Kelley L Cox, USA TODAY Sports

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