LAS VEGAS — Courtney Ramey missed all four of his previous 3-point attempts on Saturday night when the ball was back in his hands at the most crucial moment.
Remy shook off a defender and then calmly missed one from the top of the key with 16.7 seconds left to put Arizona in front. The eighth-ranked Wildcats defeated No. 2 UCLA 61–59 in the Pac-12 championship game.
“I kept telling myself, next shot,” Rami said. “My job was to make a play.”
The Wildcats (28-6) bolstered their case for the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. UCLA (29-5) still hopes to land the No. 1 seed in the West and return to Las Vegas in two weeks for a regional.
It was the second year in a row that Arizona defeated UCLA in the Pac-12 title game.
Arizona’s second-year coach Tommy Lloyd can’t afford to lose in Las Vegas. He is 9-0 in this city, 8-0 at T-Mobile Arena and 6-0 in Pac-12 tournaments.
Lloyd said, “It was a knockdown, a drag out, and I had a feeling this was going to be it.” “So much respect for the UCLA program. Obviously, they’re going through a lot of injuries right now, but they’re resilient, and I knew this was going to be the case.”
Ramey’s 3-pointer put the Wildcats ahead 60–58. The clutch shot came when teammate Azuolas Tubelis missed a 3, which was rebounded by Pelle Larsson, who passed the ball to Remy.
UCLA guard Tiger Campbell was fouled with 6.8 seconds left, and made the first free throw but missed the second. Tubelis hit one of two free throws with 5.8 seconds to go, and UCLA’s Dylan Andrews missed a 3 at the buzzer to ensure Arizona’s victory.
“Wide-open shot to win the game,” said UCLA coach Mick Cronin. “Tiger beat himself up when he missed the free throw, but it had nothing to do with some of our bad fouls and defensive breakdowns. They are controllable. I’ll take Tiger on the line and my career on the line with Tiger.” Will keep.” Line.”
Tubliss, the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, had 19 points and 14 rebounds for second-seeded Arizona. Omar Ballo scored 13 points and Larsen had 11.
Amari Bailey led top-seeded UCLA in scoring with 19 points. Campbell scored 16, and Jaime Jacquez Jr. had 13 points and 10 rebounds.
The Bruins knew they would not have the safety of Jaylen Clark (lower leg) or Adem Bona (shoulder) for the foreseeable future, and their problems only increased when two of Bona’s replacements in the post got into foul trouble.
Mc Etienne and Kenneth Nuba each committed four fouls in the second half, forcing Cronin to play at least one of them. Etienne fouled out with 9:35 left and Navuba fouled out with 4:27 remaining, meaning the Bruins had to play the rest of the game with a smaller lineup.
Arizona was not completely healthy either. Point guard Kerr Krissa was playing with a shoulder injury during the tournament.
