STORRS, Conn. — In the past 30 years, only three teams have opened a season with at least three of their first five wins against top-15-ranked opponents, with all of those victories coming away from home.
• 2001-02 Arizona
• 2020-21 Gonzaga
And?
These Arizona Wildcats.
Tommy Lloyd’s fourth-ranked team joined the rarified list Wednesday night after maneuvering past third-ranked UConn 71-67. The Wildcats won the first game between two top-five teams at Gampel Pavilion since No. 3 Connecticut beat No. 2 Villanova 89-75 on Feb. 26, 2006. The win was also Arizona’s first vs. in a top-five matchup since the 2001 Final Four against Michigan State.
No coach ever has to apologize for any kind of road conquest against a power-conference program, but it’s worth immediately noting that the Wildcats did get the benefit of catching the Huskies shorthanded. In addition to waiting just a bit longer for the collegiate debut of former five-star prospect Braylon Mullins, Dan Hurley’s team had to go without one of the better big men in the country, senior Tarris Reed Jr., who sat due to an ankle injury he suffered in the Huskies’ win vs. BYU on Saturday in Boston.
Reed, whose 20.0 points per game leads the team, is the only player through the first two and a half weeks of the season averaging at least 20.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks. His scratch took Arizona by surprise. Wildcats senior guard Jaden Bradley told me he didn’t realize they weren’t going to have to face Reed until he saw the big man wasn’t going through pre-game warmups.
“Don’t take them lightly,” Bradley said to his teammates. “They’re still a really good team.”
What ensued was an Arizona rebounding ruckus, the likes of which is almost never possible against UConn.
“We know that changes the game,” Lloyd said of Reed’s sit-out. “But if you get a good hop, field it, turn two.”
The Wildcats overpowered the Huskies,…
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