University of Washington
Arizona
Cold-blooded, Part II: Wilcox, Wroten Lead UW Win
January 28, 2012 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 28, 2012
By Gregg Bell
UW Director of Writing
TUCSON, Ariz. - "Cold blooded" now has a sequel.
Cool Terrence Ross swished a long 2-pointer with 52 seconds left. Chilled-out C.J. Wilcox hit two pressurized free throws amid ear-splitting noise with 5 seconds remaining to restore the Huskies' lead.
Then freshman sensation Tony Wroten capped his 17-point day with a stone-cold block of his buddy Josiah Turner at the rim just before the buzzer sounded, sending Washington to a wild, 69-67 victory over Arizona and stunning a rocking, whiteout crowd of 14,604 at the beyond-capacity McKale Center.
"Man, just breathtaking," Wroten said, shaking his head in wonder after using his unheralded defense to pull off his latest national-highlight play. "That was the loudest crowd I've ever heard.
"I've never won a game with a game-winning block. Most of my winning plays are on offense. This is definitely a classic. I will remember this forever.
"I will tell my kids about this one."
Washington (14-7, 7-2 Pac-12), the team that supposedly can't win away from home, won its third consecutive road game. With Colorado losing earlier in the day at UCLA, the surging Huskies took sole possession of first place in the conference -- pending California and Oregon (both 6-2 in the league) playing separate games Sunday.
The Huskies also took the heart out of Arizona (14-8, 5-4) for the second time in two meetings.
The Dawgs beat the `Cats in a similar thriller last March to win the Pac-10 tournament in Los Angeles, on UW's original "cold-blooded" shot by Isaiah Thomas at the overtime buzzer.
After this one, "Cold Blooded II," they were dancing, singing and roaring inside a visiting locker room that has rarely seen a Husky even smile. Washington won for just the seventh time in 34 tries in Tucson.
"We've taken a big step in growing up," Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar said of his previous scuffling team, that last month was 6-5 overall and 0-5 away from Seattle.
Last February here, Arizona beat Washington when Derrick Williams blocked a shot at the rim by UW's Darnell Gant just before the buzzer.
"As soon as Tony got the block and I saw the red light (around the backboard signaling time expired), I thought, `Same exact thing,'" said Ross, who scored 16 points and like Wroten, Abdul Gaddy and Gant played through having four fouls.
"It's karma - in our favor this time."
Wroten entered the day second in the conference and third among all Division-I freshmen averaging 17.1 points per game. He was the talk of the nation for a vicious slam over a Sun Devil Thursday in UW's win at Arizona State. And Friday Wroten talked of how excited he was for the crazy atmosphere awaiting him inside McKale, saying "I live for this."
Saturday, he made the play of his life.
Wilcox, who scored 15 points in 26 minutes while playing his second game after missing three with a stress fracture in his upper leg, had uncharacteristically missed the front end of a 1 and 1 with 22 seconds left and UW leading 67-64. Romar said he thought there was too much time remaining for his team to foul the Wildcats. Then Solomon Hill hit a step-back 3 with 8 seconds remaining to tie the game.
Wilcox caught the ensuing inbounds pass and Arizona's Turner then tried to draw a charging foul deep in the backcourt. For seemingly the first time in a game that at one point had 19 fouls called on UW and eight on Arizona, the Huskies got a call in their favor: A blocking foul on Turner.
The Wildcats' bench howled with the frenzied crowd. The fans stayed riotous as Wilcox stepped to the line for another 1 and 1.
Players often say they can't hear the crowd while being so focused in situations like that.
Wilcox, who had made 40 of 44 free throws entering Saturday, laughed at that thought.
"No, I heard them. I couldn't help but hear them. They were so loud," he said, smiling.
Whatever. Wilcox calmly made both free throws, and Romar called a timeout to ensure his defense was set. Turner was originally guarded by Wroten, but then Wroten got picked by a Wildcat near the foul line. Wilcox switched onto Turner, who got free on the right side of the lane and a clear path to the rim for the tying score with seconds left.
Then, like Superman without a cape, Wroten came across the lane, soared to the front of the rim and swatted away the layup by Turner, whom Wroten knows from high-school summer ball and camps. Arizona's Nick Johnson put in a follow shot, but it didn't count because it came well after the clock expired.
Whew! That is how Washington got back atop the Pac-12.
"Earlier in the year, he wouldn't have been in the position to make that play," Romar said of Wroten, who like most Huskies freshmen has struggled with UW's defensive system and help rotations. "But he's learned."
Wroten yelled and looked to the ceiling of the suddenly hushed arena. As the Huskies ran off the floor, T-shirts and cups came flying at them from out of the Wildcats' student section.
The debris, like Arizona, came up short.
Washington's ongoing maturation came up huge.
"This would have been a 15 or 20 point loss earlier in the year," Romar said. "But this team has grown up.
"To come down to Arizona and win 2 on the road? I mean, how much more hostile can it get than this?"
QUICK SHOTS: Aziz N'Diaye had 12 points and eight rebounds in yet another productive day inside. The 7-footer had eight points early, before the smaller Wildcats began double teaming him. ... Though Gaddy had just two points, he took just three shots while limited to 29 minutes by the four fouls. Amid all the noise and Wildcats' pressure, the junior point guard had five assists and just one turnover. ... The Huskies now come home to play UCLA (12-9, 5-4) Thursday at 6 p.m. on ESPN. After that it's USC (5-16, 0-8 entering Saturday night's game against Utah) at home next Saturday at 8 p.m. on ROOT Sports and Fox Sports Net.
