Arizona vs. USC final score: Wildcats fall short in a 4OT thriller

The Wildcats made a comeback but ended up falling two points short, 103-101 in another thriller in southern California

Coming into this game, the Arizona Wildcats had not lost back-to-back games in two years. With the USC Trojans having five guys averaging double-figures in points plus the fact that, Arizona's defense has been struggling, the Wildcats knew they were going to be in for a high-scoring battle.

That is exactly what they got, as USC took home the victory with a 103-101 victory in quadruple overtime.

This game felt like Thursday night from the start. Arizona fell behind early and then tried to play catch-up the entire second half. The difference this time was that USC didn't make the game-winner in regulation, or in the first overtime, or in the second overtime, or in the third overtime. This game didn't even have a winning shot, it had a pair of game-winning free throws, which as a viewer, I felt cheated considering how great this game was.

Saturday, USC had multiple players in double-digits. Leading the Trojans in scoring was Elijah Stewart, who finished with 27 after making the two game-winning free throws in the fourth overtime.

Although Arizona lost, there were some positives. The most important one was that Kaleb Tarczewski seemed to be 100% as he had two key rebounds and put-backs that sent this game into the first overtime.

The second positive was that although Arizona got behind early, they once again showed fight to make this a game that they had a chance to win. With a little over six minutes left, Arizona was down 12 and only had one timeout left and still took this game into overtime.

But the overall takeaway is something that Sean Miller said on Thursday night after the game against UCLA which is, Arizona needs to get better defensively.

Despite losing back-to-back games for the first time in two years, Arizona will be okay but, we are in for a crazy season in the Pac-12.

Average Anderson: Ryan Anderson struggled mightily in this one, eventually being taken out in crucial spots in favor of Mark Tollefsen. Anderson finished the game with a -36 +/-, while Tollefsen was +35.

Allonz-O: The reason Arizona had any chance in this one was the offensive prowess displayed by Allonzo Trier throughout. The freshman finished the night with a team-high 25 points thanks to 10-of-19 shooting from the field. This was his fifth 20+ point performance of the year. Stanley Johnson only had three last year.

Longest. Game. Ever.: No really, it was. This was the first time in school history that Arizona played in a four overtime game. The most recent three overtime contest was against Cal a few years back:

This reminds me of the Cal game from my soph yr...3OT, battled to stay in it, broke through & won. The NY fam was killin @KevinParrom3 #MoMo

— Max Wiepking (@maxwiepking52) January 10, 2016

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