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Recap: Arizona pulls away in the last thirty seconds, edges Huskies 77-72

The Huskies were unable to keep the Wildcats off the glass and that was ultimately their undoing Saturday.

Jennifer Buchanan-USA TODAY Sports

The Huskies struggled to keep Arizona forward Ryan Anderson off the offensive glass throughout the game. And with the game on the line and his team in desperate need of a victory, Anderson proved why he is one of the best front court players in all the land.

With 30 seconds left and Arizona up three with the ball, the Wildcats were looking to knock down a shot and ice the game. Sean Miller called a timeout and drew up a play for senior guard Gabe York. York caught the ball off a curl screen and shot a baseline jumper that missed long off the back of the rim, and it look as though the numerous Huskies below the hoop would come away with the rebound and have a chance to tie the game. However, it was Anderson--who finished the game with fifteen rebounds, eight of which came on the offensive end--who came out of the scrum with the rebound. And as he had done the entire night, he knocked down both his free throw attempts.

He finished the game with a game-high 22 points and his team came away with the 77-72 victory. The Huskies did not go down easily, however; they opened the second half with an 11-2 run that spanned nearly six minutes.  The Wildcats countered the run with a quick 8-0 run of their own and it was tightly contested game from there on out, as neither team held more than a five-point lead for the remainder of the day.

The Huskies were led in scoring by Andrews, who scored 20 points. He struggled from the field, knocking down only 5-14 field attempts. However, he did knock down three of his seven three-point attempts and 7-10 of his free-throw attempts. Still, he simply seemed unable to knock down multiple shots throughout all night, and never seemed able to quite find a rhythm.

Marquese Chriss scored 18 points, and probably put together the best game for the Huskies. He made 7-14 field goal attempts and showed off all of his offensive abilities. He had a few incredibly emphatic put back dunks, showed off his ability to quickly spring off the ground for offensive rebounds, and also hit a few pull-up jump shots. He also knocked down his only three-point attempts. He eventually fouled out in the last half minute of the game, but he had his fouls under control for the majority of the game. He has so much potential, it is scary.

Dejounte Murray (11), Matisse Thybulle (11) and Malik Dime (10) also finished the day with double-digit scoring performances.

The Huskies simply had no answer for the Wildcats on the glass, as they were out-rebounded 46 to 30 as a team.

The Huskies fall to 7-4 on the season with the loss and it's hard to feel that they didn't squander a great chance to build their NCAA tournament résumé. They will now have the tough task of getting back on track on the road against Utah and Colorado. A split of the road trip will be absolutely critical if they want to stay among the top four teams in the Pac-12.