3 up, 3 down in Arizona’s buzzer-beating win at Oregon State

The Arizona Wildcats won a thriller in Corvallis on Thursday, using a Devonaire Doutrive buzzer beater to capture a 74-72 road victory.

Our full recap can be found here, and here are some positive and negative takeaways.

3 Up

Devonaire Doutrive

The freshman from Dallas had his most impactful game of his UA career, and boy did it come at the perfect time for the Wildcats.

Doutrive hit the game-winner after following up on Justin Coleman’s jumper that hit the front rim, and flipped it in right before the buzzer to secure the win.

That might have been his second-best finish of the night, as his putback dunk earlier in the second half was as vicious as they come. Doutrive finished with nine points on a perfect 4-for-4 from the field.

Devonaire Doutrive comes up clutch as Arizona beats Oregon State at the buzzer in Corvallis. Heck of a finish. pic.twitter.com/gIwMSmzmlk

— Ryan Kelapire (@RKelapire) March 1, 2019

Brandon Williams’ confidence

It was great to see the freshman guard get off to a good start after seeing some time on the sideline earlier this month. Hitting back-to-back 3s early in the first half was a welcome sight.

Even though Williams fouled out, his aggressiveness on defense with a tender knee is a welcome sign, as Arizona is going to need all the help they can get down this home stretch of the season. Williams finished with 10 points on 3 for 8 shooting.

Brandon Randolph’s almost dunk

In what was an overall tough game to watch on both sides, seeing Brandon Randolph chase down a rebound and soar through the air only to see the referee call it dead just a half second before the sophomore guard could throw it down.

Randolph finished with 15 points on an incredibly efficient 7 of 8 shooting, with most of those being tough or contested shots and looked like the player he showed during the first half of the season.

3 Down

Injuries

Chase Jeter and Oregon State don’t have the best relationship. The Duke transfer came up limping after an awkward collision with Tres Tinkle midway through the second half, leaving Arizona limited with options in the frontcourt, a position they are already thin at.

Brandon Randolph also took a nasty head-to-head bump and came up with a bloody lip. Still, Arizona battled and came out of Corvallis with a win.

Chase Jeter hurt his back last time Arizona played Oregon State. Now his left knee is injured. He got tangled up with Tres Tinkle both times. pic.twitter.com/LjY9sPAGqh

— Ryan Kelapire (@RKelapire) March 1, 2019

The referees

I’m not one to hate on referees. Actually, who am I kidding, I can’t stand them. The performance that the zebras tried to get in the way of tonight was reprehensible, and slowed down the game and prevented the game from getting into any kind of flow.

Both teams were almost in the bonus five minutes into the second half, and the excessive whistles prevented both teams from fielding its best lineups down the stretch. A shame.

Arizona’s defense

I feel like I’m nitpicking tonight’s performance a little by mentioning the defense, but Oregon State did shoot almost 50 percent from the field. And if I saw another Arizona player go under a screen, I was going to pull my hair out. Arizona outrebounded the Beavers by 16, and was all around decent defensively, but I’m being picky.

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