The opening of Arizona's matchup with Colorado on Saturday looked very much like the second half of the team's loss to Utah just a couple nights earlier. The Wildcats struggled on both ends of the floor in the opening minutes allowing the Buffaloes to go on a 19-0 run.
UA finally settled down and put together a couple runs of its own to eventually take a lead midway through the second half at CU Events Center. A back-and-forth battle ensued but Arizona simply was not able get enough stops to complete a comeback and fell, 82-79.
The Wildcats (13-6, 7-6 Pac-12) were able to erase what was a 17-point deficit by chipping away with some solid offense play, but it was again the team's defense that head coach Sean Miller pointed to as being the reason his group wasn't able to secure a split on its road trip to play the Mountain schools.
"We have some holes, we're not a perfect team," Miller said. "Our defense, again, a couple times in the last four minutes, last six minutes if we were able to get a stop defensive stop, create a turnover, play the possession without fouling we leave here with a great victory. But, we weren't really able to do that, and then we had a couple things on offense.
"Coulda been a foul, coulda been an and-one. The referees did a good job from start to finish. It was a physical game. They recognized it and they reffed a fine game, but at the end you always think about that one play. Was that a foul, was that not a foul? We were right there. Coulda won the game, but didn't."
Despite the close loss, Miller's feeling about his team after Saturday's game was much different than after Thursday's matchup against Utah. After the loss to the Utes the UA head coach was disappointed in his team's play on both ends, but he came away with a more positive perspective on Saturday.
"I thought in some segments maybe the best overall basketball we've played this year, and unfortunately when you dig yourself a 19-2 hole you do have something to overcome," Miller said. "I'm proud of our guys. ... There's no denying our effort level, there's no denying our togetherness. There was no denying our offensive play or our defensive play. I thought we executed.
"We played with tremendous effort."
One of the more intriguing story lines of Saturday's game was how freshman Bennedict Mathurin would respond after being moved to the bench in the second half of Thursday's loss to Utah. Miller was critical of the UA wing after the game as well calling into question Mathurin's attitude.
The freshman contributed just four points in that game and was again brought off the bench against Colorado (14-5, 8-4), but rather than fold he bounced back with one of his best all-around performances of the season Saturday night.
Mathurin led the the Wildcats with 22 points to go along with three rebounds and an assist. Four of his seven baskets in the loss came from behind the 3-point line as he played with plenty of confidence in 31 minutes of action.
"He's a really tough kid," point guard and team leader James Akinjo said about Mathurin's performance against the Buffaloes. "I think he's got a really bright future."
Outside of the slow start the Wildcats finished the game with three players in double figures led by Mathurin. Akinjo contributed 16 points and seven assists while freshman big man Azuolas Tubelis scored 18 points for Arizona.
The end result wasn't what the team hoped for, but there is certainly confidence that the fight UA showed in the second half Saturday can remain in place moving ahead.
"We wanted to come out here and play tough," Akinjo said. "That's something that our coaches really preach, and it's something that we really take pride in. We know that the way we played against Utah is not Arizona. It's not the way that we want to play in the future. It's not how we're gonna play moving forward.
"So tonight we wanted to really come out here and not bounce back with making shots or any of that but with our effort."
UA will be back in action Thursday at home in Tucson when it hosts Oregon State at McKale Center.
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