Is Arizona Falling Apart?

Ron Chenoy-US PRESSWIRE

No. 9 Arizona was just at the cusp of entering into the top-5 in the AP Poll this week, until it hit a roadblock with Colorado on Thursday night.

The Buffaloes (17-7, 7-5) pummeled the Wildcats in a 71-58 route. Colorado controlled the entire game, playing stingy defense, nabbing loose balls, inhaling rebounds and moving the ball with the upmost of efficiently which led to open looks. And they took advantage of every one. Spencer Dinwiddle led all scorers with 21 points, while freshman Xavier Johnson added a season-high 19 points.

Meanwhile, the Wildcats (20-4, 8-4) were cold from all areas of the floor, shooting a poor 42 percent from the field while knocking down only 5-of-19 three point attempts. Their leading scorer, Solomon Hill, netted just 12 points while Mark Lyons followed suit with 11.

“It’s never as bad as it seems, and the sky isn’t falling,” head coach Sean Miller said.

Though, it may be cause for alarm.

The Wildcats dropped their second matchup of the week, the first coming on a 77-69 loss to the Cal Bears.

Once again, the Wildcats trailed the entire second half of the game and couldn’t rebound from a 17-2 run that eventually sealed their fate. The biggest worry here is that the loss came against a team that had been a combined 1-9 against Top 100 RPI teams in the country before its matchup with Arizona.

So what are we supposed to make of the Wildcats?

Currently, the team has dropped out of first place and looking up at Oregon and UCLA for the top spot in the division standings. They were just handed two bad losses this week and they are primed to drop into the late teens of the AP poll.

However, wins against Utah and Washington in next week’s matchups could easily boost them back atop the Pac-12, given the recent influx of upsets in college basketball. So we shouldn’t count them out by any means.