SAN DIEGO — No. 16 seed Wright State fell into the trap so many teams have fallen into this season when playing Arizona. Partway through the second half the Raiders thought they had the Wildcats right where they wanted them.
Instead, it was the other way around.
With Wright State down just seven points with all the momentum at the 16:38 mark, top-seeded Arizona (32-3) decided to flip the switch. The Wildcats proceeded to go on a 15-2 run over the next five minutes to put the game completely out of reach in what ended up being an 87-70 victory for UA.
The back-breaking run was sparked by Arizona's best player on the floor Friday. Center Christian Koloko turned in one of his best all-around performances of the season in the win as he finished the day with 17 points, 13 rebounds, six assists and five blocks.
He contributed seven of the 15 points for Arizona during its big second-half run.
UA went up by 20 points at the end of the run and Wright State (22-14) was only ever to get to within 13 points the rest of the game.
"I thought we came out well," UA head coach Tommy Lloyd said after securing his first NCAA Tournament win as a head coach. "I was on them all week to come out aggressive, let it rip. Have some fun. First open three, shoot it to make it. Those were the conversations I was having with them. If there's a chance to go for a steal, go for a steal, get us in transition.
"But then after that initial wave maybe that first emotional hit you kind of hit a little bit of a lull and they wake up a little bit, and you end up in a ball game. At the end of the first half I probably didn't do a great job managing it. With us being a little thin right now, I think we were up 16 with five minutes to go. And I didn't want Christian to pick up a second foul. I kind of maybe subbed and played lineups I normally wouldn't the last four or five minutes because I was trying to focus on it being a 40-minute game and I didn't want to get into weird foul situations at the end of the first half."
Arizona had the size advantage in Friday's game against the Raiders, and Koloko took full advantage of that in his NCAA Tournament debut. He was especially key in the second half when the Wildcats began to pull away.
In the end, 13 of his 17 points came in the final 17 minutes of the game.
"It feels good," he said. "I don't know what to say. I was playing basketball and it just happened, and so I'm just happy."
Koloko's passing stood out Friday, and that element of his game had not been in a good place in recent weeks. He had six assists, combined, over the seven games prior to the win over Wright State. In UA's first-round victory he led the team with six assists.
Lloyd credits his starting center with understanding how the defense was playing him as the reason Koloko was able to be an effective facilitator in the win.
"They were really collapsing on the paint, in all our penetration, and even in our post feeds," Lloyd said. "He had maybe two, three, or four post entries where he kicked it out to the perimeter for a three, and they were digging off the ball side. That's something we work on in our offense. It's a great shot for us. And he made some really good decisions."
Friday's matchup at Viejas Arena in San Diego played out like so many other Arizona games this season.
The Wildcats jumped out to an early double-digit lead in under five minutes before hitting a rough patch once both teams settled into the game. The Raiders took away some of UA's momentum heading into the locker room before trimming the lead to single digits in the opening minutes of the second half.
When that happened the mostly pro-Arizona crowd suddenly began to turn as Seton Hall and TCU fans joined in with Wright State fans to cheer on the No. 16 seed.
Most of Arizona's players were experiencing their first taste of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, and Lloyd was pleased that his team was able to regroup and finish out the game on top.
"The 1-16 game is never easy," he said. 'There's a lot of pressure. You could feel the start of the second half when they made a run and cut it to eight or six or whatever. I think more fans got behind it than just Wright State fans.
"That's what makes these atmospheres interesting because you have, I don't know if Seton Hall or TCU's fans are rooting for us. So it makes it an interesting environment. And you've got to get used to that a little bit."
One reason Arizona found itself uncomfortable during stretches in the game was largely because of the mistakes it was making on the offensive end when it came to taking care of the ball. The Wildcats finished the game with 19 turnovers.
UA played the game without starting point guard Kerr Kriisa, who continues to nurse an ankle injury, but Lloyd didn't want to lean on that alone as the reason his group struggled to take care of the ball during Friday's win.
"We had a lot of turnovers and it was from everybody, all these guys playing minutes," he said. "We've got to tighten it up. I don't want these guys to play conservative. Obviously we're playing without Kerr right now.
"We have to tighten it up a little bit and hopefully we'll be able to rein it in for the next game because we're shooting a great percentage, but the turnovers on offense kill your efficiency."
Five different UA players finished in double figures Friday led by Benn Mathurin, who had a team-high 18 points in his NCAA Tournament debut. The sophomore guard scored 10 of his points in the second half including five during his team's big second-half run to put the game out of reach.
Dalen Terry finished the day with 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists while Azoulas Tubelis had 13 points and five rebounds. Pelle Larsson had 11 points, five rebounds and three assists off the bench.
Point guard Justin Kier tied Koloko for the team lead with six assists to go with eight points and four rebounds as the starter in place of Kriisa. Lloyd says Kriisa is "closer to playing than not playing" at this point but the UA head coach didn't feel the UA point guard was quite ready to take the floor Friday.
Arizona will play TCU in a second-round matchup Sunday at Viejas Arena with the winner advancing to the Sweet 16 in the South Region.
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