There are bad beats, and then there are bad beats. What happened Thursday night falls into that last bucket, as we saw potentially the worst bad streak of this men’s college basketball season.
Bettors on unranked Washington State and the 5.5 points at FOX Bet were worried most of the game against the No. 6 Arizona Wildcats in a Pacific-12 Conference game in Pullman, Wash., on Thursday at night.
The Cougars trailed by as many as 12 points in the first half and were still trailing by 10 after Arizona’s Courtney Ramey hit a 3-pointer with 55 seconds left to make it 63-53.
WSU had its next shot attempt blocked seven seconds later, and all the Wildcats had to do to cover was take care of the basketball and run out the clock.
And that’s when it started to unravel for Arizona’s backers.
Arizona proceeded to turn the ball over with 23 seconds left, leading to a layup by Andrej Jakimovski to make it 63-55 and WSU called a timeout.
But Wildcats punters were still in good shape. Arizona just had to run a clock, maybe get fouled and then make a free throw or two.
Good news for Arizona backers: Azuolas Tubelis drove to the basket and had a good look, no, a great look.
Bad news: Tubelis missed an open dunk attempt with five seconds left.
The Cougars quickly moved the ball down the court, finding DJ Rodman, son of former NBA star Dennis Rodman, wide open on the wing behind the 3-point line with one second left.
You can guess what happened next.
Arizona 63, Washington State 58.
well
WSU covered despite shooting 32.8% from the floor. But the Cougars taking on the nationally ranked Wildcats shouldn’t be a surprise, considering WSU upset Arizona 74-61 earlier this month, ending its 28-game home winning streak.
How bad was Tubelis’ missed dunk? The scoreboard operator for the telecast briefly gave Arizona the two points.
Those two points would have made all the difference in the world for Arizona punters.
Azuolas Tubelis’ double-double leads Arizona over Washington State
Arizona forward Azuolas Tubelis’ double-double led the Wildcats to a 63-58 victory over the Washington State Cougars.
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