Arizona Wildcats men’s basketball drops Battle4Atlantis in 3rd place game to West Virginia in OT, under .500 for first time since 2010

It’s only November, but it’s certainly not a November to remember for Arizona.

Arizona’s 83-76 overtime loss to West Virginia on Friday afternoon in the #Battle4Atlantis third-place game means it will have a losing record heading into December. At 3-4, the Wildcats are under .500 for the first time since February 2010 Sean Miller’s first season.

The UA forced OT by rallying from a deficit of 10 midway through the second half, but were unable to get any more stops in the overtime session. West Virginia (5-2) made all four shots and was 7 of 8 from the foul line in OT and led for all but the first 23 seconds.

Caleb Love had a season-high 24 points, 18 after halftime, including the game-winning 3 with 14.1 seconds Trey Townsend had 19. The Wildcats shot 45.3 percent and held West Virginia to 39.7 percent, but they again fell victim to an opposing player who had a great game.

That would be senior Tucker DeVriesSon of the head coach Darren DeVrieswho had 26 points and was 8 of 12 from 3-point range. Toby Okani had 20, including a 3 midway through OT to put West Virginia within six, and Amani Hansberry had 13 points and 10 rebounds as the Mountaineers outscored Arizona 40-39 with 15 offensive boards.

Arizona’s turnovers weren’t many (14), but they were costly as West Virginia scored 24 points off those mistakes. The Wildcats got just six points from 10 giveaways from the Mountaineers.

Carter Bryant started from the beginning KJ Lewisthe first newcomer to start under it Tommy Lloyd. The move was likely disciplinary after Lewis suffered another delicate technical error in the loss to Oklahoma.

Bryant was scoreless in 11 minutes, missing all three shots but collecting six rebounds, while Lewis had 10 points, six rebounds and three assists but was fouled for the second straight time.

Arizona trailed 39-37 at halftime, the main reason being West Virginia’s 15 points off UA turnovers. The Wildcats caught a break when DeVries sat out with three fouls at 17:05, but they scored just one goal during his more than three minutes on the bench.

The UA tied the game at 46 on a Lewis basket, but then went scoreless for more than three minutes as the Mountaineers ran eight straight plays to take a 54-46 lead with 11:43 left. The run included Arizona seemingly forcing a shot clock violation, but after the shot was fired a foul was called under the basket and West Virginia took advantage by hitting a 3.

DeVries’ seventh three-pointer made it 57-47, and West Virginia’s lead was still 10 with 9:47 left as Arizona tried to force overtime. A Love 3 brought the UA within 61-56, and Lewis’ 3-point play cut the score to 63-59 with 4:11 left.

West Virginia led 66-61 with 2:06 left on an Okani 3, after which the Mountaineers missed their last four shots in regulation while Townsend scored on a drive and Love hit a transition 3 with 14.1 seconds left Lewis’ goal to equalize. Block started the run.

The OT saw Arizona playing from the back from the start, with its final turnover leading to DeVries’ eighth 3 and a 71-66 lead. The Wildcats came closest to tying the game at 73-70 on a love drive with 2:49 remaining, followed by West Virginia Javon Small would make seven of eight free throws to put it on ice.

Arizona had its best start to a game in the Bahamas, leading 8-3 at the U16 breakout after scoring just eight points combined in the first two Battle4Atlantis contests. The Wildcats led 18-10 with 12:39 left in the first half on a Love 3, but some lazy passes led West Virginia to go on an 11-2 run to take a one-point lead.

A 3 from Anthony Dell’Orso It was 32-26 with 4:37 left in the half, but more turnovers led to a 9-0 run by the Mountaineers with all threes DeVries for a lead of 37:34. DeVries was 5 of 7 from beyond the arc in the first half.

The UA returns to action on Dec. 7 at home against Southern Utah.