PROVO, Utah — Arizona tied the hottest start in school history Monday, Jan. 26, but only after surviving its biggest scare of the season.
Behind 29 points from Brayden Burries and another 26 from Jaden Bradley, the Wildcats beat BYU 86-83 before a rowdy sold-out crowd of about 18,000 at the Marriott Center to move to 21-0, matching the school-record start UA had in 2013-14. Arizona will get a chance to break the record Saturday at ASU.
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But while UA led by 13 at halftime and up to 19 in the second half, the Wildcats had to hold off the Cougars in the final minute.
BYU cut it to 83-77 with 40 seconds left, and Ivan Kharchenkov lost the ball in a crowd under the BYU basket when Burries was called for a flagrant foul. That gave BYU two free throws and the ball with 35.4 seconds left. BYU’s AJ Dybantsa hit both ensuing free throws to cut UA’s lead to 83-79.
While Burries hit 1 of 2 free throws to put UA ahead 84-79, BYU’s Kennard Davis threw in an alley-oop dunk with 21 seconds left. After Bradley turned the ball over, BYU center Keba Keita made a rebound basket with 16 seconds left before UA called a timeout.
After the timeout, BYU guard Robert Wright drove in for a layup, but UA center Motiejus Krivas blocked him, forcing the Cougars to foul Burries, who then hit two free throws with three seconds left to give UA the winning margin. The Cougars threw up a desperation buzzer bomb that widely missed.
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While the game was played within a single possession for much of the first 14 minutes, UA went on a 16-3 run toward the end of the first half to take a 44-31 halftime lead and wasn’t seriously challenged until late in the second half.
Up by 13 at halftime, Arizona kept rolling through the second half despite having to face the BYU student section behind their basket. They went ahead by 19 points, 64-45, when Motiejus Krivas dunked with 10:53 left.
Burries had 19 points on 6-for-10 shooting and made all six free throws he took, while Bradley had 17 points on 8-for-12 shooting.
The showdown between the top-ranked Wildcats and 13th-ranked Cougars was played mostly within one possession until Arizona went on a 10-1 run toward the end of the first half. Burries finished the run by stealing the ball from BYU’s Keba Keita and driving in for a layup and picking up a goaltending call after he released it.
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The Wildcats extended the run to 16-3 when Bradley hit a pull-up jumper with 1:33 left, making seven straight field goals. They wound up shooting an even 50% from the field, though just 2 of 8 from 3-point range while holding BYU to 33.3%.
While the Cougars outrebounded the Wildcats 21-20, Arizona scored 13 points off nine BYU turnovers — and UA only turned the ball over twice in the half, leading to no Cougar points.
The Wildcats also made BYU freshman star AJ Dybantsa work hard for his 15 first-half points. Dybantsa, who scored 43 points in BYU’s 91-78 win over Utah on Saturday, shot 4 of 11 from the field and 6 of 7 from the line.
BYU took a brief 20-18 lead when Mihai Boskovic hit a 3-pointer with 12:58 left in the half, but the game was tied at 24 entering the eight-minute media timeout. At that point, the Cougars were shooting 53.8% while holding UA to 38.5%, but the Wildcats scored seven points off four BYU turnovers. The Cougars did not score off UA’s first two turnovers.
While the Wildcats moved to 21-0 overall and 8-0 in the Big 12, BYU dropped to 17-3 and 5-2.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona survives scare at BYU
