Arizona blows 14-point lead, loses to Seton Hall to end season

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The last game of the Arizona basketball season unfolded much like the season itself.

Arizona (20-10) came out in the first half and dominated, looking like a Final Four contender. Then the Wildcats fell apart, and both the game and the season ended with bitter disappointment.

Seton Hall (21-9) outscored Arizona 39-18 in the last 15 minutes of last night's first-round NCAA Tournament game, erasing a 14-point UA lead to beat the Wildcats, 78-75.

CHRIS CODUTO/Arizona Daily Wildcat RALEIGH N.C. -- 3/18/04 during the second half of Arizona's game against No. 8 Seton Hall. Arizona lost to Seton Hall 80-76, eliminating Arizona from the NCAA Tournament.

"It seems like a repeat of our problem all year long," head coach Lute Olson said following his team's season-ending loss. "We have a hard time living with prosperity."

Arizona forward Andre Iguodala, who led the UA with 19 points, had one final chance to send the game to overtime with his team down 78-75 and 10 seconds left. But Iguodala's 3 rattled in and out. Less than 30 seconds earlier, Iguodala had hit a clutch 3 to keep the Wildcats alive.

"I don't even think we lost it at the end of the game," said senior guard Jason Ranne, who did not step on the RBC Center court in his final game as a Wildcat. "We lost it with 10 minutes to go. Yes, we needed a bucket (at the end), but why should we be in that position when we're up by 14?"

Olson cited one Pirate run in particular -- an 8-0 outburst that trimmed the UA's lead from 14 to 6 in just over two minutes -- as the game's turning point. Arizona took a 6-point lead into halftime, and when Wildcat freshman Mustafa Shakur broke down Pirate star Andre Barrett off the dribble to hit a 15-footer and extend his team's lead to 14 points, it looked like a coup de grace.

But then Seton Hall sophomore Kelly Whitney took over. Whitney scored 15 points in the decisive second half and grabbed 7 boards, bringing his totals to game-high levels of 24 points and 14 rebounds.

Whitney did everything for the Pirates down the stretch, including channeling Willis Reed after suffering a leg injury. With 9 minutes remaining and his team trailing by 1, Whitney's leg cramped as he battled UA junior Channing Frye -- who posted 13 points and 12 boards -- for a rebound. Despite the injury, Whitney hit a put-back to give Seton Hall is first lead since 3-2 in the opening minutes.

For good measure, he pulled down one more board over Frye at the other end before collapsing on the floor when the ref blew the ensuing timeout.

By that point, the Seton Hall faithful had already begun to chant his name. And his team would not trail again in the game.

"He has a lot of guts," Pirate head coach Louis Orr said. "When you have a guy like Kelly that has the guts to play through things, you can count on him to put him back in and he will compete for you."

CHRIS CODUTO/Arizona Daily Wildcat RALEIGH, N.C. -In an 80 - 76 loss, the Wildcats were eliminated by Seton Hall in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Arizona finishes the season 20-10. Seton Hall advances to play Duke in Raleigh on Saturday.

Arizona's offense started the game firing on all cylinders. The Wildcats scored 15 of their first 19 points off of lay-ups on their way to shooting 56 percent in the half. Andre Iguodala scored 10 first-half points -- including 7 in a row at one point -- while Mustafa Shakur added 9.

On the other side of the ball, the UA defense held Seton Hall to 37.9 percent shooting in the first half, although SHU standout Andre Barrett scored 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting, including 3-of-5 from deep.

Junior guard Salim Stoudamire said the Wildcats weren't able to put together a consistent effort all year.

"I think we played like that the whole season. We were consistently inconsistent, and it showed again tonight," he said.

Olson said he thought a lack of leadership was partly to blame for the team's inconsistency.

"I think part of it is the absence of a take-charge kind of person. It was an obvious problem that we had to deal with," he said.

"And we just didn't get the job done."