In boxing, it's said that styles make fights, and for BYU and Arizona, the anticipation for this game was high because both teams play an exciting brand of basketball.
And this game lived up to the hype; the first half was a track meet with both the Cougars and Wildcats playing a fast-paced, back-and-forth game. Arizona big man Tobe Awaka was an unstoppable force early, scoring the Wildcat's first five points. He scored 12 of his 14 points in the first half and made the Cougars pay for leaving him open from 10 feet.
For the Cougars, Mawot Mag (eight first-half points) and Egor Demin (seven first-half points) led the way for BYU as each player connected on a 3 to give BYU an early 10-8 lead. The Wildcats imposed their will on the game and attacked the basket, opening up a 20-12 lead and a 12 to 4 advantage in points in the paint. As was the case all game, neither team could sustain a lead for long as Dawson Baker came in off the bench to hit two 3-point shots to put BYU ahead 22-21 with 11:17 left in the first half.
From there, it was a one-possession game for the rest of the half. Arizona star and Pac-12 player of the year Caleb Love was dialed in from long range, scoring 11 first-half points on 3 of 5 shooting from 3. Every time BYU made a big shot, Love was the answer for the Wildcats. The game was all knotted up at 41 for what promised to be an exciting second half.
The second half started promising for BYU as Demin found his way to the basket to put BYU ahead 50-47. But the Wildcat's firepower was too much for the Cougars. Arizona backup center Henri Veesaar engineered an 11-2 run to lead 58-52 with 13:12 left in the game. BYU had no answer for Veesaar all night, he finished with 17 points on 8 of 10 from the field.
The Cougars fought to stay in the game and even took a 61-60 lead after a Kanon Catchings step-back 3 sent the Marriott Center in pandemonium, but Love answered with a backbreaking 3 of his own to quiet the crowd. He finished the game with 18 points on 6 of 16 from the field and 4 of 9 from 3.
"That's what that kid does," coach Kevin Young said. "You know, he's been doing it for years."
Dallin Hall did his best to keep BYU in the game, beating his man off the dribble and finishing at the basket multiple times to get BYU within one point. He finished the game with 11 points and six assists.
"That's the Dallin we want. He's been, he's been a little reserved for lack of a better term," Young said. "I loved seeing that out of him. If we can bottle that up and continue to pull that out of him, that'll pay huge dividends for us."
Leading 67-66 with 7:47 left, the Wildcats showed why they are tied for first in the Big 12 and a top 20 team in the country. After a quiet first half, Arizona point guard Jaden Bradley scored nine of his team's next 11 points as the Wildcats closed the game on an 18-5 run before a meaningless Demin 3 to end the game. Bradley finished the game with 17 points, all coming in the second.
The Cougars could not get anything to fall. Demin ended the game with 16 points on 7 of 20 shooting and Saunders had his first quiet night in a month. He finished the game with 11 points on 3 of 8 from the field and six rebounds.
The Wildcats stars were just plain better than the Cougars. Love finished the game with 18 points, and Bradley and Veesaar added 17 points each and made it look easy at times, attacking the paint against BYU's lack of size.
"We made plays down the stretch on both ends of the floor," Love said. "They was throwing punches, but we were throwing ours too."
The Wildcats took advantage of the Cougars' lack of size on defense all night and cruised to a well-earned 85-74 road victory.
Next up for BYU are two quad-one road games at Cincinnati and West Virginia.