No. 11 Arizona only had one opportunity to play No. 9 UCLA once this season with the second matchup being postponed because of COVID-19 issues. The Wildcats were able to win that matchup and pick up an impressive early-season victory. The two teams met again Friday night in Las Vegas in the semifinal round of the Pac-12 Tournament at Michelob ULTRA Arena.
UA entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed while the Bruins arrived in Las Vegas as the No. 3 seed overall. The game played out like a contest between two evenly-matched opponents with the teams battling early in the game.
Eventually, UCLA gained control and led for the entire second half while holding off several comeback attempts from the Wildcats to earn a 58-49 victory.
The game certainly featured plenty of impressive defensive plays on both sides with neither team breaking into double digits until the second quarter. Arizona took the lead in the second quarter on a 3-pointer from standout guard Aari McDonald, but the Bruins reeled off a 13-1 run to open up a lead.
UA made several attempts to close the gap on UCLA, including cutting the lead to just one possession with 1:16 to play in the fourth quarter, but the Bruins simply had all the answers Friday night.
"I felt we had opportunities," UA head coach Adia Barnes said after the loss. "Going through the droughts in the first half, I thought we started off strong. I thought both teams defensively were solid. I thought we were super aggressive, but just not being able to convert.
"I think the challenge for us sometimes is just being able to have the confidence to take the shots and we have different personnel. So we have more shooting lineups, more of a defensive lineup and driving lineup. I think the paint was really congested today. So at times we struggled, but I think both teams struggled offensively because we both played solid defense. It's unfortunate."
The Wildcats are at their best when they don't have to lean on McDonald as much as they did Friday night. The Pac-12 Player of the Year and Co-Defensive Player of the Year led the team with 24 points and was the only UA player to score in double figures in the loss.
The Bruins only had one player score in double figures, Michaela Onyenwere, but received contributions from enough of the other players to stay out in front. Not having enough scoring has been an issue in UA losses this season, and it was again the case Friday night as McDonald had to carry the scoring load.
"It was a tough game," McDonald said. "It was a physical game. We were getting stops. Going in scoring droughts didn't help. Crucial rebounds, not stopping the ball. Gotta go back to the drawing board. We have three weeks until the postseason, so we've gotta get better."
The Wildcats have now lost three of their last four games and head into the NCAA Tournament not playing as well as they have at different points earlier in the season. It is not how Barnes wants to head into the rest of the postseason, but having some extra time to get her group on the same page could prove to be important before the start of the tournament on March 21.
"I mean, we have to get better," Barnes said. "The good thing is we're healthy, but there's some things we have to fix and we have the time to fix. Just some offensive tweaks. Getting in, getting shots up. I think just finding that continuity. I think the defense isn't the issue. I think just fixing a couple things on offense, which it's all fixable things. It's things that we can do. And we're capable of doing it.
"... We'll use the time to get better, get back to basic things. And I'm glad we have the time actually before the tournament because we could use it right now."
The Wildcats will learn which bracket they are in and which opponent will be first on the schedule for the NCAA Tournament when the 64-team field is revealed March 15.
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