Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

No. 2 Arizona loses third-straight, falls to No. 19 Purdue in Battle 4 Atlantis

UMBC v Arizona

TUCSON, AZ - NOVEMBER 12: Head coach Sean Miller of the Arizona Wildcats gestures during the second half of the college basketball game against the UMBC Retrievers at McKale Center on November 12, 2017 in Tucson, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images)

Getty Images

PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas (AP) — Dakota Mathias scored 24 points to help No. 18 Purdue roll past No. 2 Arizona 89-64 in the seventh-place game at the Battle 4 Atlantis, sending the Wildcats home with three losses in three days.

The Boilermakers (5-2) had struggled with their shooting through two tournament losses of their own, but shot 57 percent and made 11 of 22 3-point attempts in a break-loose performance.

Carsen Edwards added 22 points in what could have been a possible title-game matchup in the eight-team tournament. Instead, the Boilermakers and Wildcats found themselves playing the final game just to salvage a win.

Now, shockingly, Arizona (3-3) is the lone team leaving the Bahamas with an 0-3 tournament record.

Freshman Deandre Ayton had 22 points before fouling out for the Wildcats, while junior Allonzo Trier — who came in averaging 27.8 points — finished with just eight on 3-for-10 shooting.

BIG PICTURE

Arizona: Paradise turned into a total nightmare for Arizona. There was the opening-game 90-84 loss to North Carolina State that left coach Sean Miller frustrated by his team’s poor defense. Then there was the loss to SMU in which the Wildcats undercut any defensive gains by failing to secure stop-ensuring rebounds. This time, his team offered meager defensive resistance to a hot-shooting team that quickly gained confidence with each possession. And that raises the question: how far will the Wildcats fall in Monday’s AP Top 25? Or will they stay in the rankings at all?

The last time that a team went from No. 2 to unranked was in November of 1986, when defending champion Louisville fell out of the polls.

Purdue: The Boilermakers couldn’t hold leads in their first-round overtime loss to Tennessee, then got out-toughed in a loss to Western Kentucky. Still, Mathias had insisted there was plenty to play for. His team came out and proved it, playing with a free-flowing confidence while knocking down open look after open look to reboot their suddenly sputtering offense. Purdue shot just 39 percent from the field and 33 percent from behind the arc in the first two tournament games, but had no trouble tearing through Arizona’s defense.

UP NEXT

Arizona: The Wildcats host Long Beach State on Wednesday.

Purdue: The Boilermakers host No. 19 Louisville in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Tuesday.