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Storrs, Conn. — Shortly after the final buzzer sounded, the entire Arizona roster huddled around FOX Sports analyst Bill Raftery for a postgame interview that reflected what had truly been a team victory.
The fourth-ranked Wildcats, underdogs by a handful of points at Gampel Pavilion on Wednesday night, rallied in the final moments after surrendering a double-digit second-half lead. A flurry of seven straight points in the final two minutes fueled a 71-67 victory over No. 3 UConn.
Point guard Jaden Bradley (21 points) and freshman sensation Koa Peat (16 points, 12 rebounds) were arguably the two best players on the court in what will be remembered as a signature win for the Wildcats come Selection Sunday.
Here are my takeaways:
1. Absence of UConn center Tarris Reed Jr. changed the game
Roughly 90 minutes before tipoff, a UConn spokesman distributed an email with two injury updates for Wednesday’s contest: Shooting guard Braylon Mullins, who has yet to play this season while recovering from an ankle injury suffered during the preseason, would miss his fifth consecutive game. And while Mullins did move around gingerly in warmups, that was far from surprising given the original four- to six-week timeline laid out by the school.
But then came the stunner: Senior center Tarris Reed Jr., who leads the Huskies in both scoring (20 points per game) and rebounding (9.3 per game), would be sidelined with an ankle injury that was previously undisclosed. Head coach Dan Hurley hadn’t mentioned Reed as a potential candidate to miss the game during his media session on Tuesday afternoon. The betting line shifted by a point and a half almost immediately, trimming UConn’s projected advantage down to 4.5 points.
Reed’s absence thrust true freshman big man Eric Reibe into the starting lineup for the second time this season. Reibe had previously started the season opener while Reed nursed a lingering hamstring injury. On that night, against New Haven, a team playing its first Division I game, Reibe scored six points and grabbed one rebound in 18 minutes. He’d averaged 11.7 minutes per game in UConn’s three subsequent outings once Reed returned.
The early minutes against Arizona proved challenging for Reibe, whose primary defensive matchup was Arizona’s towering center, Motiejus Krivas, listed at 7-foot-2, 260 pounds. Krivas muscled Reibe for position in the lane while chipping in two baskets before the first media timeout.
Reibe responded with a flurry of his own late in the first half, scoring a difficult layup in traffic and then rising for a dunk on a beautiful feed by UConn point guard Silas Demary Jr. He connected on a pair of 3-pointers in the second half and appeared far more comfortable as the game progressed, finishing with a team-high 15 points before fouling out. But several critical free-throw misses and uneven finishing around the rim will leave both Reibe and his coaches frustrated when watching film.
2. Arizona’s freshman phenom Koa Peat is as good as advertised
A star-studded 2025 recruiting class in college basketball has injected the sport with arguably its best collection of one-and-done NBA prospects in years. From AJ Dybantsa at BYU to Darryn Peterson at Kansas to Cameron Boozer at Duke, some of the best all-around talents in the sport this season are unquestionably newcomers direct from high school.
Based on how the first few weeks have unfolded, it’s more than fair to add Arizona power forward Koa Peat to the list. Peat was a five-star prospect in his own right and the No. 9 overall player in the country, according to the 247Sports Composite. He chose the Wildcats over Baylor, Arkansas, Arizona State and Houston, among others.
In a high-profile opener against then-No. 3 Florida on a neutral floor, Peat turned in one of the best collegiate debuts in recent memory when he scored 30 points, grabbed seven rebounds, dished out five assists and tallied three steals in a 93-87 win. It was a performance that turned more than a few heads from the dozens of NBA scouts in attendance, especially given the caliber of competition in facing the defending national champs.
Though Peat was somewhat quieter in subsequent games against Utah Tech (18 points), Northern Arizona (10 points) and UCLA (seven points), he was unquestionably the most talented player on the floor against UConn on Wednesday night. At 6-foot-8, 235 pounds, Peat wielded size and strength advantages over UConn senior forward Alex Karaban, carving out space in the lane and scoring easily around the rim. He followed a missed layup from Arizona guard Jaden Bradley by tipping an offensive rebound off the glass to himself and then scoring on his second try. By halftime, Peat had already scored nine points and snagged seven rebounds as the Huskies hunted for a better defensive matchup after Karaban picked up his second foul.
Peat chipped in an additional seven points and five rebounds in the second half while ceding some of the offensive workload to Bradley, whose driving layups and ability to draw fouls confounded UConn’s guards. Peat and Bradley were the two highest scorers for either team.
Ivan Kharchenkov #8 and Koa Peat #10 of the Arizona Wildcats react during the second half against the Connecticut Huskies. (Photo by Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images)
3. Fitting conclusion on a night when Arizona dominates the glass
With the Wildcats trailing by a point in the waning moments of Wednesday’s game, Bradley tossed an ill-conceived jumper toward the rim. The miss was severe, striking only the backboard and caroming downward at a strange angle. But there to scoop up the miss and turn it into a clutch half-hook was Krivas, who’d been brilliant on the glass all evening. His basket put Arizona ahead for good.
That play — an offensive rebound and putback — felt like an appropriate ending to a game in which the Wildcats punished UConn on the backboards for 40 minutes. The trio of Krivas, Peat and forward Tobe Awaka out-rebounded the Huskies by themselves en route to a plus-20 advantage. Not a single UConn player finished with more than four rebounds.
Part of that discrepancy can be attributed to UConn playing without Reed, a bruising force under the basket. His replacement, Reibe, fouled out and only grabbed four rebounds despite his 7-foot-1 frame. Losses in which the Huskies weren’t the most physical team are the hardest for UConn coach Dan Hurley to stomach.
4. Foul problems persist for UConn’s defense
An area of emphasis for Hurley entering the 2025-26 season was to improve defensively after finishing 75th nationally in defensive efficiency, far and away the lowest mark since his first season at UConn. The transfer portal additions of guards Silas Demary Jr. and Malachi Smith, both of whom are regarded as plus-defenders, were certainly viewed as upgrades in that category over what the Huskies had in their backcourt last season. Retaining Reed, whose minutes have expanded in a leading role, was also viewed as a step in the right direction.
Through five games, there’s been no question that UConn’s defense has improved significantly, even with a difficult game against then-No. 7 BYU last weekend. The Huskies entered Wednesday’s date with Arizona ranked 16th in the country for defensive efficiency, best in the Big East thus far.
But the problem that has nagged UConn to begin the season — and one that reared its head again in a loss to the Wildcats — is fouling. The Huskies were tied for 205th in the country in fouls per game with an average of 18.8 committed, which placed them fewer than two fouls per game away from landing outside the top 300 programs in Division I. They were whistled for 21 fouls by a fairly strict officiating crew on Wednesday night, with six players picking up two or more by the 9:57 mark of the second half.
UConn’s struggle to defend without fouling led to 19 points at the free-throw line for Arizona — a plus-10 advantage in a game that was decided by single digits.
Jaden Bradley #0 of the Arizona Wildcats is defended by Malachi Smith #0 of the Connecticut Huskies during the second half. (Photo by Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images)
4 ½: Arizona and UConn are both good enough to reach the Final Four
With the caveat that plenty can change between now and March — from injuries and suspensions to assistant coach departures and fluctuations in locker room dynamics — the level of basketball played in Storrs suggests both of these teams are good enough to play deep into March, perhaps even reaching the Final Four.
There were, conservatively, seven future pros on the two rosters combined Wednesday night, including a pair of likely lottery picks in Koa Peat and Braylon Mullins. The depth of talent and quality shot making across the floor was reflected in the final box score, where six players reached double-figure scoring in a balanced affair. That UConn hung close with Arizona despite missing Mullins and Reed speaks to the depth Hurley has built this season.
It wouldn’t be surprising to see either of these teams, or perhaps both, pushing for a national championship in a few months’ time.
Michael Cohen covers college football and college basketball for FOX Sports. Follow him at @Michael_Cohen13.
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