LOS ANGELES -- On a space in the lower left-hand corner of a board in the Arizona locker room, Sean Miller printed the words "Seattle Pacific." In the top right, he put "NCAA tournament."
The Wildcats were two points short of connecting the final dot.
The season-opening exhibition loss to Division II Seattle Pacific was hardly reflective of the rest of the season, but the NIT appears to be the Wildcats’ postseason destination after a 53-51 loss to No. 6 seed Colorado in the Pac-12 tournament final at Staples Center.
“Losing to ASU really took us back,” senior forward Jesse Perry said Saturday night, referring to last weekend's upset in Tempe. "No matter how far we played and went to the championship game, I think we had to win it all to get to the tournament."
It was the Wildcats’ second straight loss in the conference finals, but last year only its seeding was affected.
"Today was much different," Miller said, "because it meant the NCAA tournament versus no on that, and it’s a difficult loss for all of us. I’m not saying that we are not close. We’re not games away -- we’re probably about four plays away.
"We worked very hard and we've climbed that mountain. I don't know too many teams that had a lower starting point. We've dealt with adversity, injuries and off-the-court things that have hurt us. We've won 23 games. But when you come so close, it really hits you.
"Just certain plays and the way the game went, it's disappointing."
One of those plays came on the final possession Saturday. Colorado forward Austin Dufault missed two free throws with 14.4 seconds remaining, and Perry controlled the rebound for UA. Freshman Nick Johnson brought the ball up court and passed it to Brandon Lavender, who relayed it to Kyle Fogg as he came around a Perry screen.
The Buffaloes saw it coming. They swarmed Fogg, with Dufault showing hard off Perry’s screen and Nate Tomlinson fighting his way through the pick. Fogg, the Wildcats’ most valuable and most consistent player down the stretch, did not get anything resembling a good look, and his contested 25-footer did not even draw iron.
Fogg, a senior who had 14 points and made the all-tournament team, was distraught afterward, pulling his No. 21 jersey over his head in the locker room and declining comment.
"To have the ball in Kyle’s hands is something that has been good for our team,” Miller said. "The last play didn’t win or lose the game."
Dufault said that -- as when the game in Colorado earlier this season got down to a final possession in Colorado -- the Buffaloes expected Fogg to get the ball for a final shot. Colorado denied Arizona a good final look in that game, too, coming away with a 64-63 victory.
"We knew they were probably going try to go to Fogg,” Dufault said. "They are a great ball-screen team, and we were expecting a high ball screen. They ran him off the ball screen. I showed hard. Nate got through it like he’s been doing the entire season. (Fogg) was coming off the screen pretty hard, so I just wanted to cut off his angle to the basket, then wait for Nate to bet back in front of him."
The Wildcats trailed by 12 points with eight minutes remaining before playing the defense that got them this far, holding Colorado to just one free throw in 10 possessions while gaining ground on two baskets by Solomon Hill, one by Angelo Chol and three free throws by Jesse Perry.
Carlon Brown’s tomahawk dunk with 52.6 seconds remaining gave Colorado a 53-47 lead, and while the Wildcats scored on their next two possessions, they came up empty on the last one.
“It’s definitely heartbreaking,” said Perry, who had 11 points and also made the all-tournament team, as did Solomon Hill (13 points).
"You put so much time and energy into the whole season and have been fighting and fighting, and every time you are almost there, a team almost take it away from you ... we’ve been in that situation three or four times. Tonight was another one of those nights."
The Cats beat UCLA and Oregon State in the previous two days, but as well as they played in the early second half Friday night to build a decisive lead against the Beavers, they had a reversal against Colorado, which scored 20 of the first 30 second-half points to take a 50-38 lead.
"Energy," Perry said when asked what made the difference in the game.
"We didn’t come out right off the bat and play as a team. It’s no guy’s fault or anything like that, but a lot of us guys were just trying to make something happen. So eager to get the win, to make something happen, and really forgot about the team ball, setting screens and stuff like that. We were going one-on-one a lot, and that really affected us."
Arizona has been so good in the modern era that win-or-NIT games have been rare. The program's lowest NCAA seed during Lute Olson’s run was No. 5. But the Wildcats now head into Selection Sunday knowing that they'll likely be preparing to host a first-round NIT game, as Colorado did last season before making it to New York for the NIT semifinals.
"We don’t stop here,” Perry said. "The NIT is great. And this is my last year. I want to play as many games as I can. Just take it from there."
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