Experienced, resilient Arizona shows it's tournament tough

SALT LAKE CITY — Gabe York wasn't supposed to crash the boards. He wasn't supposed to be anywhere near the rebound — of his own missed free throw, mind you — that ultimately won the game for Arizona.

Trailing by one with 1:39 to play, York had stepped to the line and made his first shot. On his second, he knew right away: Off, to the right.

Normally, he'd have sprinted back like he was supposed to and let the bigs handle the glass. But as he watched the ball bounce around the rim, he thought to himself.

"I missed the free throw so I knew Coach (Sean Miller) might be a little pissed off at me," York said later, smiling, "so I tried to make a good play."

York found himself surprisingly unguarded, so he grabbed his own offensive rebound and tipped in the go-ahead basket. The Wildcats took the lead for good on the way to beating Utah 63-57 to clinch at least a share of the Pac-12 regular-season title.

York's gamble paid off; he acknowledged it was just that afterward. Had the Utes grabbed the rebound and started a break, he likely would have ended up benched. But York is a junior. He's been in stressful situations before, and he'd learned to make decisions — the right ones — in a split second.

"If you're an experienced team, you're resilient and you know when to make the plays," senior point guard T.J. McConnell said.

That's what this Arizona team is. That's what this Utah team isn't, despite how talented its players are and despite what remarkable progress the program has made under coach Larry Krystkowiak. The current Utes hadn't played in games of Saturday's magnitude yet. They certainly hadn't learned how to win games like that just yet.

The Wildcats, on the other hand, can list a dozen examples of hard-fought, back-and-forth, physical battles in which they've participated — and, in many cases, won. There's a bunch from this year's non-conference slate, from games in Maui to an overtime win against Gonzaga and even that loss at UNLV. Conference play hasn't been easy, either; the Wildcats know they get every Pac-12 opponent's best shot.

Had they not taken those punches and learned how to jab back, do they win Saturday's game?

"We don't win it, no," Miller said. "I think all of that builds toward this. Let's face it: Last year does, too. That's the one thing — because we weren't in the Final Four, you forget how close we were and how many games we played like this last year, with a number of the players (on this year's team, too) who have been through this type of atmosphere. I don't believe we're as affected. Hopefully that remains a constant for us."

Miller's players never seemed rattled, despite trailing more than a few times as the minutes ticked down and despite the hostile Huntsman Center crowd, which McConnell called the best he'd ever played in front of. There was no need for rah-rah speeches in huddles, or coaches soothing players' nerves.

"We just said, 'We've been here before,' " McConnell said. "We just need to get stops. We needed to play defense."

McConnell was one of the guiding and calming forces on last year's team, and he remains so now. York has stepped into a larger role. Kaleb Tarczewski, a junior, is sixth on the team in scoring but led the Wildcats on Saturday when they needed him most. Junior Brandon Ashley stuffed the stat sheet, with seven points, three rebounds and three blocks. Sophomore Rondae Hollis-Jefferson used his shimmy-shake free throw technique to help ice the game.

Freshman Stanley Johnson played somewhat poorly — shooting just 3-for-19 from the field — yet it didn't cost Arizona because of the veterans around him.

Now, Johnson will have learned what it's like to play in a high-pressure environment with a bull's-eye on his back. He'll store away this experience like he would a penny in a piggy bank.

"Some of the freshmen didn't know what it was like to play in here, and now they do," McConnell said. "That will be helpful in the next two games, (at the Pac-12 tournament) in Vegas and in the (NCAA) tournament."

McConnell didn't mince words — and he didn't need to. He didn't need to say Saturday's experience might help the Wildcats in the future. Or that it hopefully would help them in the future.

He's been there before. He knows it will. So does the rest of his team, and so does his coach.​

It's March now, and it's time to cash in on that experience. It's never been more valuable.

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