Arizona falls!

Arizona Wildcats Basketball


What happened in Las Vegas tonight?

An upset!

The Arizona Wildcats fall from the ranks of the unbeaten -- their non conference winning streak is gone as UNLV pulls off the upset, 71-67.

On paper, the Wildcats had five players score in double figures with T.J. McConnell leading the way with 14 points, seven assists and four rebounds, while freshman Stanley Johnson posted a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds.

That was the good news.

As for the bad news, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson fouled out midway through the second half and Kaleb Tarczewski, despite his 10 points and three rebounds, saw limited action -- forced to play the final minutes of the game with four fouls. The Wildcats were out rebounded 46-33 and maybe gave the game away at the free throw line, hitting just 16 of 27 from the charity stripe -- every miss proved costly tonight.

As for Johnson, just too many mistakes from the freshman phenom -- including getting the ball stolen  in the final seconds of the game.

There's never a good loss, but maybe tonight's loss in Las Vegas will help the Wildcats in the long run. Coach Sean Miller said at the half, "We stink."

Maybe it was one too many tough, non-conference road games in a row. Things were hard enough in El Paso and the trip to Las Vegas was an accident ready to happen.

The third-ranked Arizona Wildcats will have some time off to think about tonight's loss. Unfortunately, what happens in Las Vegas, usually leaks out eventually and the Wildcats will surely  take a dip in the rankings.

When the Wildcats return to action on Jan. 4, they'll be hungry for a WIN! They'll be ready for their next opponent: the Arizona State Sun Devils.