Arizona is 21-0. The scary part? It can still get better

PROVO, Utah -- For just the second time in a proud history that dates back more than 120 years, the Arizona Wildcats have reached 21-0.

And they got there Monday night in near-cataclysmic fashion. 

For the better part of 40 minutes, the top-ranked team in college hoops physically overwhelmed No. 13 BYU. The Wildcats were better in transition (18-6 in fast break points) and more effective in the paint (34-26) while getting the best joint performance this season from their starting backcourt of senior Jaden Bradley and babyfaced freshman Brayden Burries. The two combined for 55 points. 

Arizona won 86-83.

But before the score was settled, it all nearly came crashing down in the final 65 seconds.

For the majority of the second half, Arizona had been in command, frequently hushing a sellout Marriott Center crowd that was eager for evidence to keep the joint as loud as a jet engine. Burries outshined not just talented freshman teammates Koa Peat and Ivan Kharchenkov; he vastly outplayed BYU star frosh AJ Dybantsa, who finished with 24 points on 24 shots. It was, by far, the worst shooting effort of his college career, ironically transpiring just two days removed from his best game in a BYU uni: 43 points in Saturday's Holy War home win over hated Utah.

Despite Dybantsa's off night and Rob Wright III's similarly poor 3-of-14 evening, BYU never tapped out. Inconvenience be damned, the Cougs seem to love the edge of a comeback mindset. BYU nearly ripped the game in its favor after turning an 11-point deficit with 1:05 remaining into a one-point game, Arizona up 84-83, following a rolling sequence of possessions that gave BYU life and threatened the Wildcats' pristine record three months into the season. 

What was Tommy Lloyd's message to his Arizona team as BYU kept hacking into that lead with every possession, a vomit-on-your-shoes collapse feeling imminent?

"Hang with it, we've just got to make one more play than them down the stretch," Lloyd told CBS Sports. "Get over the past mistakes or bad calls or whatever they were, just get over them and keep it moving." 

Among the events that nearly doomed Zona: a Flagrant 1 foul against Burries on Dybantsa, who would've had an easy dunk if not for Burries' two-armed takedown in the final minute.

"I just didn't want him to score the ball. I didn't want to give him free two points," Burries told CBS Sports. "So I had to make the foul worth it. I didn't think it was a Flagrant 1, but they did. They called it, so I've just gotta live and learn for next time." 

Burries made up for the mistake a few possessions later. With the game 84-83 and BYU having won the ball back on a turnover, the Cougars somehow got the game on their proverbial racquet. Cougars ball, 11 seconds remaining. 

The comeback was nearly complete. 

Or so they thought. 

Shockingly, Dybantsa never touched the ball. Instead, Wright opted to look for the would-be game-changing shot. As he maneuvered closer to the hoop and wiggled Bradley off, it looked for a blip like a bunny bucket would boost BYU to a one-point lead in the final seconds.

Then Burries burst into action and came up with his biggest play of the night: a swat out of Wright's hands and then a snatch-and-steal off the block to clinch the win. He gave his team that one play Lloyd was talking about. 

A former five-star prospect, Burries started the season slowly but has been another outstanding freshman as of late in a season overloaded with first-year talent. He finished with a career-high 29 points, four assists, three steals and one huge block. He's up to 15.2 points per game and his emergence has made Arizona's increasing reputation as the best team in college basketball all the more credible.

"I know you guys have a job to do, to rank these guys and play with rankings every week. I don't," Lloyd told me outside the team locker room. "I just get to coach a good player and help him get a little bit of experience, and then, honestly, a big part of my deal is getting out of his way and when he's got enough experience, letting him go do his thing. And now he's to the point where he's got enough experience, he's a smart kid, he's a good learner and he has a lot of trust from me. So, I mean, I had no plan for this to happen today, him to play like that. He did it." 

Arizona's won in a variety of ways over the past three months, typically doing it with brawn and force. Monday's win was a new one for this group, though it did bear some similarity to the Cats' season-opening 93-87 defeat against preseason top-five Florida. Lloyd's team was ready to boot BYU from its building, and then all of it was nearly blown up in the final stretch. But 21-0 is 21-0 and any win in any style is acceptable for Lloyd.

"Revisionist history is a beautiful thing," Lloyd said of the narrow escape. "We're going to make it a good thing, for sure. Would it have been great to win by 20? Yeah. You know, we could really build on that too." 

The Burries performance exemplifies just how sturdy Arizona is in the grand scheme. Lloyd's had a really good team every year since he got to Tucson in 2021, but this is the best one because of the talent, size, physicality, experience and rock-solid dependable play. 

Burries growing into a capital-D Dude is huge for the Wildcats' national championship expectations.

Lloyd went a little deeper with me after the game to explain why this midseason "growth spurt" has come to be with Burries and why Arizona was always going to be the best fit for the future NBA pick.

"I'll give them credit in the recruiting process," Lloyd said of the Burries family. "Everyone gets really sensitive. 'They want to be the point guard. Want to be that.' Brayden's dad said from Day 1, 'I want him playing with an experienced point guard. He can play some point, he can play some 2. I don't care. But I want him playing with an experienced point guard.' Well, we had a pretty good experienced point guard. I give his dad, Bobby, a lot of credit for having that foresight and not having a huge ego, where he had to make everything about his son. And think, because they think like that, this kid's gonna have a heck of a career." 

Bradley — an elite two-way lead guard who is pacing for an All-American season — is an ideal backcourt mate for Burries. He's unflappable, an A-level defender and the quiet/composed leader who is the heart of Arizona's roster. Those two are why Arizona won in this raucous environment Monday night. They're why Arizona's the best team in college basketball -- and still a stage or two away from fully-formed status. 

"Honestly, we can get better at everything," Burries said.

Maybe the win, though earned in a way that isn't enviable, gives Arizona a dose of reality that benefits them. The upcoming Big 12 schedule in February is a beast. Even if a loss or two is soon to arrive, Arizona might still be the top team in college basketball with a loss or two to its name. Consider: Monday was the first time in 15 years that a top-ranked team with a 20-0 or better record played on the road vs. a top-15 opponent. The most recent example was then-No. 1 Ohio State's 71-67 loss to No. 13 Wisconsin in 2011.

Losing here would've been entirely understandable. Arizona hasn't found a way to lose a game yet, though. It's stubborn like that.

Arizona improved to 20-5 all time as the No. 1 team on the road. And overall, U of A is 66-11 when ranked No. 1. But it could have been 65-12 if not for BYU's botched penultimate possession. When Arizona was up 64-45 with 10:53 remaining, a rout seemed inevitable. Credit to BYU (17-3) for never quitting, but it can't help but feel like the week was spoiled with how the game finished. 

Dybantsa just could never get going. Eleven of his 24 points were on foul shots. Every shot that could have helped BYU stem the tide didn't fall. A game removed from shooting 4-of-5 from 3-point range, Dybantsa was 1-of-8.

Earlier this season BYU set a program record by coming back from 22 down at halftime to beat Clemson at Madison Square Garden. This would've been even more impressive, but you can't spot Arizona a 19-point lead, not even at home. With the loss, BYU is 0-3 all time at home vs. No. 1s, the other two coming against Gonzaga in their shared WCC residency in the 2010s. 

At 21-0, Arizona's matched its best start with the 2013-14 team. That squad went 33-5 and lost as a No. 1 seed in OT to Wisconsin in the Elite Eight. It had Aaron Gordon, Nick Johnson, T.J. McConnell and Brandon Ashley. It was an outstanding team.

This one's better, and will get better still, even if a loss or two is soon to arrive. We will wait to see how exactly that materializes, because no one's been able to figure out Arizona yet.