The unfriendly rim

Arizona Wildcats Basketball

Bookemdanosports:

A summary of today's Colorado-Arizona game from a diehard Wildcat fan

Somehow the 14th-ranked Arizona Wildcats kept from being swept on their first Pac-12 Conference road trip of the year.

Arizona withstood a 50-point second-half shooting performance from Utah and picked up a 94-82 win on Thursday night in Salt Lake, but today in Boulder a 45-point first-half shooting effort from Colorado was just too much to overcome as the Wildcats fall to the Buffs, 80-77.

Still, the Wildcats, after shooting  a miserable 30 percent from the field in the first half, battled back and outscored the Buffs 48-35 in the final grueling 20 minutes.

The unfriendly rims for visitors at the Coors Events Center seems to be the norm -- especially during the last forty-eight hours as the 4th-ranked Arizona State Sun Devils lose to the Buffs in overtime on Thursday and the Wildcats suffer a three-point loss today.

It's amazing how the ball bounces on the road in Pac-12 play and it's a sure bet the home team will usually get the shots to go and the visitors will go through the pain of missed shots.

Today's game was a perfect example of such a phenomenon. Arizona shot 38 percent from the field (28 of 73) and made only 7 of 25 3-pointers. As for the home team, they shoot 54.7 percent from the field (29 of 53), while canning seven 3-pointers in just 16 attempts -- a 43.9 percentage.

In the end, Deandre Ayton did his best to bring the Wildcats back from a disastrous first half and the 7-1 freshman center ended up with 26 points. Rawle Alkins contributed 16 points and Dusan Ristic ended up with a double-double with a quiet 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Arizona coach Sean Miller said the Wildcats "lacked the effort" in the first half. As a diehard Wildcat fan who sits on the edge of my seat during every Arizona basketball game, I disagree. The "unfriendly rims" were a big part of it. Maybe you can put some of the blame on Ristic, who shot 16 times and made just six shots. Maybe the ball should have been in the hands of Ayton down the stretch. It's also asking too much for Allonzo Trier (only nine shot attempts today and no free throws) to consistently drop in 3-pointers down the stretch, or get to the line 13 or 14 times every game.

As far as I'm concerned, the effort was there and my Wildcats have plenty of fight in them.

Arizona falls to 12-4 and 2-1 in the Pac-12 Conference. It's not the end of the world and come March the Arizona Wildcats will be on the court in search of the Final Four. Colorado will not.

As an Arizona fan, I can't wait for Colorado to come to McKale Center in just a few weeks. They can't bring their own rims.