Clemson senior guard Chase Hunter drives through defenders for a contested layup, contributing to his team-high 18 points in the Tigers’ victory over Arizona in the men’s NCAA Tournament in Los Angeles. (Photo by Bennett Silvyn/Cronkite News)
Chase Hunter celebrates after witnessing his younger brother, sophomore Dillon Hunter, seal the game with an and-1 play Thursday in a Sweet 16 game. (Photo by Bennett Silvyn/Cronkite News)
LOS ANGELES – Although much talk before Thursday’s Sweet 16 meeting between Arizona and Clemson centered on the Wildcats’ electric offense, Tigers guard Chase Hunter thought many were overlooking a simple fact.
“They have to guard us, too,” the senior said.
They did, and not always successfully. Hunter exploded for 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists and limited Pac-12 Player of the Year Caleb Love to 13 points and 0-for-9 shooting from 3-point range as Clemson beat Arizona 77-72 in the men’s NCAA Tournament at Cyrpto.com Arena.
For the Wildcats, this feeling is all too familiar.
Under coach Tommy Lloyd, Arizona has struggled to get past the Sweet 16. In each his three seasons, the Wildcats have been upset by No. 5 seeds or higher: No. 5 seed Houston, No. 15 seed Princeton and now No. 6 seed Clemson.
In fact, in the school’s last six NCAA Tournament appearances, the Wildcats have lost to a team that has been seeded at least four seeds lower than them and are the only program since 1979, when the seeding began, to have that happen.
Hunter was a big reason Arizona failed to advance Thursday. Before the tournament, Hunter only had one 20-point game all season and has since exploded for 21, 20 and 18, respectively.
Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd shows frustration with his players’ performance Thursday night. The Wildcats struggled early against Clemson. (Photo by Bennett Silvyn/Cronkite News)
Clemson coach Brad Brownell was ecstatic with the effort and resilience displayed by his team and, for the first time since 1980, advancing to the Elite Eight.
“Today was our day. We made enough plays to win, and I’m just super happy that these guys are going to get a chance to continue to play and we get to spend more time together,” Brownell said.
Arizona’s gameplan going into this game was simple: make Clemson play Arizona basketball and look to get up and down the court by scoring quick baskets.
But that is far from what happened.
Both teams came out a little sloppy and only scored a combined 20 points within the first eight minutes of the game. Credit Clemson controlling the tempo from tipoff, causing Arizona to have to play mostly in the halfcourt.
“I thought Clemson did a good job and kind of got us on our heels offensively early in the game and we settled for a lot of tough shots,” Lloyd said. “That’s what kind of allowed them to get out. Because I think our defense was actually OK early – low-scoring early and we were right there. And then they got it going offensively a little bit, and we just never quite did until later in the first half.”
Despite trailing by only eight at halftime, Lloyd and Co. knew that they just needed to regroup going into the second half.
The Wildcats came out with more intensity, and in just two-and-a-half minutes, tied the game at 43.
“I thought we were well-positioned for how we started the game,” Lloyd said. “We made that first run in the second half, which was great. And from there, they’re going to probably make a little. But then hopefully, it’s a little one and we make the next run and we can kind of eventually build a four-, six-, eight-point lead. And we were never able to do that.”
Following the second-half run sparked by attacking the basketball and efforts by players including center PJ Hall and guard Joe Girard, the Wildcats led for just a few seconds before Clemson came down and took the lead right back.
Arizona never really got it going after its short run. Despite dominating the rebounding battle 44-36, including 17 on the offensive end, the lack of offensive production is what killed any momentum. At one point, the Wildcats did not hit a field goal in over 14 minutes.
Clemson shows appreciation for their supporters from South Carolina by celebrating the win and thanking the traveling fans after their victory over Arizona in Crypto.com Arena. (Photo by Bennett Silvyn/Cronkite News)
“Rebounding wins games,” senior center Oumar Ballo said. “I wish we did a little bit better job boxing them out.”
The 3-point shooting struggles eventually made Arizona lose this game. Shooting just 18% would ultimately come back to haunt them, especially in the last two minutes.
“I think our starting guys that shoot 3s were 2-for-23, which is a lot to overcome, and I feel like some of them were good looks and shots we’ve made all season, and today they just didn’t go in,” Lloyd said. “I think our guys deserve a ton of credit. To have that sort of shooting night and get yourself in the game where you have a position to win, and I think it’s incredible.”
Clemson deserves a lot of credit for that. So far in the tournament, the Tigers have held every opponent to under 40% from the field and today was no exception by holding Arizona to just 32%.
The Wildcats have a lot to look forward to next season despite potentially losing key players like Caleb Love, Keshad Johnson, Oumar Ballo and Pelle Larsson. With the fifth-ranked recruiting class coming in, Tucson is in good hands with Lloyd at the helm.
Even following another heartbreaking loss in March, Lloyd still had very high praise for his players and is optimistic about Arizona basketball moving forward.
“I love these guys,” he said. “I love the culture we’re starting to really build at Arizona. I feel like I’m really big on eventually getting some compound return on our investment. I think we’re going to do that. I think we’re doing all the right things.”
