Dusan Ristic leads Arizona to 74-73 win vs. Utah

The big man made three 3s in a clutch 23-point effort

Dusan Ristic had not made a 3-pointer all season heading into Saturday’s game against the Utah Utes.

Now he’s made three.

The big man went 3-3 from behind the arc in a 23-point effort as the Arizona Wildcats staved off the visiting Utes 74-73 for their sixth straight win.

Playing the best basketball of his career, Ristic has been asked several times after games this season if he thought a particular outing was his best.

Normally, he is unsure. After Saturday’s game he was not.

“I think this was my best game at Arizona so far,” said Ristic, who was 9-11 from the field with seven rebounds and two blocks. “I want to answer that question for you guys.”

After the Wildcats squandered a double-digit second-half lead, Ristic scored on the low block to put Arizona ahead 69-68 with 2:31 left, then sank his third 3 of the night to extend UA’s lead to four with 1:40 left.

The big man hollered “let’s go!” as Utah called timeout, and later made two free throws to put Arizona 74-70 with a minute left.

“I was so surprised that he took the 3,” said head coach Sean Miller who mentioned Ristic hardly takes them in practice.

“I couldn’t believe it.”

The Wildcats got a stop following Ristic’s clutch shot, but Justin Bibbins drained a 3 after a UA turnover to make it a one-point game with nine seconds left.

As Allonzo Trier tried to free himself on the ensuing inbounds play, he was called for his fifth foul, giving the Utes a chance to pull off a stunning victory.

But a poorly-drawn up play by Utah resulted in Donnie Tillman catching the inbounds pass directly underneath the basket and all he could do is force up an errant shot which was corralled by Arizona with less than a second left to play.

Keanu Pinder missed the front end of a one-and-one (it should have been a two-shot foul), but the Utes’ subsequent full-court heave was well off the mark.

The McKale Center crowd could finally breathe, though maybe this was the result it should have expected.

After all, Arizona has been blowing double-digit leads only to win by a narrow margin seemingly every game this month and this one was no different.

“I give our guys credit for finding our way,” Miller said.

Arizona shot 64 percent and 10-18 from 3, and looked well on its way to a convincing victory, leading by 13 early in the second half and 43-33 at halftime.

But foul trouble, turnovers, and hot shooting by Utah propelled the Utes to a 15-2 run which gave them a 66-65 lead with 5:38 left, their first lead all game.

Utah held a 15-8 advantage in turnovers and made 18 free throws to UA’s six.

Trier, who had four fouls, hit a fallaway jumper to give Arizona a 67-66 lead with 5:12 left, before David Collette tipped in a miss to put the Utes on top.

That’s when Ristic scored Arizona’s final seven points to lead the Wildcats to victory — and cross the 1,000-point mark in his career.

“Today was his day,” Miller said.

Deandre Ayton (15), Trier (16), and PJC (12) also scored in double figures. Ayton made a 3, too, though Miller isn’t about to let that become a regular occurrence.

“Let’s see what they do next game,” Miller joked about his jump-shooting big men. “I hope they’re 0-0.”

Sedrick Barefield had a game-high 26 points for Utah and was responsible for drawing Trier’s third foul with 11:45 left with a bad (but effective) flop.

Then Trier notched his fourth foul a few minutes later — a turning point in the game, especially because Jackson-Cartwright had picked up his fourth foul with 8:38 left.

Four straight free throws by Justin Bibbins cut Arizona’s lead to 65-58 then a 3 by Tyler Rawson made it a four-point game.

After Emmanuel Akot missed two free throws, Parker Van Dyke drained a 3 from the wing to make it 65-64, and soon after Utah would take its first lead with Collette’s putback.

But Arizona did just enough yet again down the stretch to improve to 18-4 overall and 8-1 in the Pac-12.

The Wildcats return to the hardwood Thursday when they face the Washington State Cougars in Pullman.

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Follow Ryan Kelapire on Twitter at @RKelapire

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