TUCSON, Arizona — The controversial ending that went in BYU's favor, some not-so-good-natured jawing that halted the postgame handshake line and boorish behavior from Arizona's student section garnered most of the headlines late Saturday night and well into Sunday after the Cougars stunned the Wildcats 96-95 at howling McKale Memorial Center.
Lost in the madness was that before the ugliness, the rematch of a game won 85-74 by Arizona in Provo on Feb. 4 was beautifully entertaining, with both squads executing brilliantly on offense and leaving something to be desired on defense.
It was must-see TV, as BYU improved to 19-8 overall (10-6 in the Big 12) and probably punched its ticket to March Madness. Former Pac-12 kingpin Arizona's losses at McKale are few and far between.
"Hats off to Arizona. It was a heckuva basketball game. They are really good. Tommy (Lloyd) is a really good coach, as I've learned in this landscape. He knows what he is doing. He's very sharp, and they are a good team, and Caleb (Love), he is a gamer. He made plays when they needed him to," said BYU coach Kevin Young.
"Luckily we were able to make enough (plays) of our own. Richie (Saunders) was incredible. Made those two huge free throws (at the end of the game). In a game like that, it just felt like whoever was going to kinda get the last stop was going to win."
The Cougars moved to No. 29 in the NET rankings, No. 26 in KenPom.com, and were given "lock" status (at least a 95% chance) to make the NCAA Tournament by ESPN's "Bubble Watch 2025" feature.
Per ESPN BPI, BYU now has a 96% chance to make the tournament for the second-straight year. The Cougars, who have won eight of their last 10 games and four of their last five away games, might just climb into the latest Associated Press Top 25 rankings scheduled to be released Monday.
They are suddenly one of the hottest teams in the country, having posted their second four-game winning streak of their second season in the Big 12.
"It didn't give me a lot of good feelings when I saw what (Arizona's) record was (at McKale)," Young said, "so to be able to win in this environment was huge."
Coupled with the 91-57 victory over No. 23 Kansas on Tuesday, it was one of the best weeks by a BYU basketball team in recent memory , overshadowed only by that Jimmer Fredette-led run to the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 in 2011 and the Danny Ainge-led run to the Elite Eight in 1981.
Ainge, by the way, was at the arena Saturday night, along with two presumed candidates for BYU's athletic director position, Chad Lewis and Brian Santiago.
Before Saturday, about the only element missing from BYU's resume was a Quad 1A win — defined as a win over a top 15 NET team on its home floor.
Mission accomplished, as Arizona (18-9) remained at No. 9 despite the home loss.
It was extra special for BYU because the Wildcats dominated them, physically and on the scoreboard, in the final eight minutes in Provo on Feb. 4, when Arizona rolled to an 11-point win.
"Yeah, I mean, we learn and we learn, right? Every game, you get an opportunity to learn. We took a lot out of the last game, moving forward into the big games after, and including this one," said Saunders, who is making a case for all-Big 12 honors.
"You hope you learn, especially, just by losing, as hard as it is. It is just all learning."
There's obviously work to do on defense, but offensively the Cougars have hit their stride. They put 96 points on the 17th best defensive team (Arizona) in the nation, per Kenpom.com. They put 91 on the stats guru's fifth-ranked defense, Kansas.
In the space of five days, BYU's rating in the predictive KPI metric went from 59 to 36.
"My message to our group is whatever the next challenge in front of us, we are trying to attack it, whether that is practice, whether that is a shootaround, whether that is a game," Young said.
"I know that sounds cliché, but that's really been the recipe for us, is to not look any further than what we have to do at that moment, and today, these (Arizona) guys were the challenge at hand, and we came in and took care of business."
The Cougars traveled to Phoenix immediately after the game and will stay in the Valley of the Sun until Wednesday's game (7:30 p.m. MST, ESPN+) against Arizona State in Tempe.
The Sun Devils announced before their matchup with Kansas State on Sunday afternoon that their leading scorer, B.J. Freeman, is no longer with the team.
Freeman, a 6-foot-6 senior who was averaging 13.7 points per game, had a team-high 11 points in ASU's 76-56 loss to BYU at the Marriott Center on Dec. 31.
BYU (19-8, 10-6) at Arizona State (13-14, 4-12)
Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. MST
At Desert Financial Arena
Tempe, Arizona
TV: ESPN+
Radio: BYU Radio 107.9 FM/BYURadio.org/BYU Radio app
