Arizona Wins as Gardner Digs In Late

TUCSON —  Luke Walton was in street clothes, nursing an injured ankle.

Jason Gardner struggled with his shooting for the second game in a row.

Somehow, Arizona is still No. 1 after a 73-70 victory over No. 8 Texas on Sunday in front of 14,577 at McKale Center.

No Arizona defender could stay in front of slippery Texas point guard T.J. Ford for long, as he darted through the lane almost at will.

But Gardner -- only briefly lured into the one-on-one showdown everyone wanted to see -- had his team three points ahead at the end.

The score was tied with a little more than two minutes to play when Gardner -- who made only three of his other 12 shots -- had back-to-back baskets for a 69-65 lead the Wildcats never let go.

“Man, that’s a senior. Unbelievable,” forward Rick Anderson said. “I really can’t explain those shots.... That’s just a clutch player. He didn’t hit a lot of shots in the first half, but that doesn’t matter because he hit the ones down the stretch.”

The first, with 2:07 left, was a falling-down jumper for a 67-65 lead.

Ford lost the ball out of bounds at the other end, and Gardner drove the lane, then pulled up short for an easy jumper and a 69-65 lead.

Next, Ford tried to go baseline on Gardner and was called for charging, and even though Gardner missed two of four free throws down the stretch, he had done the biggest part.

Texas still had a chance to tie with a three-pointer on the final possession, but Ford missed, and Brandon Mouton failed to get beyond the three-point line for his follow attempt, another miss.

The score in the point-guard duel was Ford, 13 points and nine assists; Gardner, 13 points, seven assists, eight rebounds and one victory.

“I didn’t want to make it into a one-on-one matchup with T.J. Ford,” said Gardner, who had missed nine of 10 shots in his previous game against San Diego State. “I trusted my team to come through.... He is a great player and he played really hard, but I’ve got to give the most credit to my team for playing hard enough to get the win.”

Let Ford leave with the title of best point guard in the game: Gardner and Arizona left with a 5-0 record. Texas is 5-2.

Anderson nodded his approval.

“I could kind of see [the temptation to go one-on-one with Ford,]” he said. “But Jason is such a leader -- and he’s a couple of years ahead of T.J. in experience.”

James Thomas, the Longhorns’ powerful center, led Texas with 20 points and 12 rebounds, his fifth double-double of the season.

But Texas, previously ranked as high as No. 2, has to come to terms with two losses in the past eight days after losing to Notre Dame Dec. 8.

“Right now, we should be the No. 1-ranked team in the country, but we haven’t finished two games in the last four minutes,” Texas Coach Rick Barnes said.

Arizona is No. 1, despite some shaky play at times and a young rotation that featured two freshmen Sunday, forward Andre Iguodala and guard Hassan Adams, from Westchester High.

The Wildcats got by, but with Walton out, the offense lost its nerve center.

“When Luke plays, Jason doesn’t have to do so much dribbling,” said Salim Stoudamire, who came off the bench to lead Arizona with 14 points, making four of eight three-pointers and doing a better job than anyone else who tried guarding Ford.

“Luke’s so versatile. That’s why he’s so important to our basketball team.”

Walton, not Gardner, led Arizona with 18 assists before Sunday’s game. The Wildcats are focused on Walton returning before their showdown with Oregon Jan. 2.

“We need him, plain and simple,” Anderson said. There’s nothing else to say.”

For at least one day, they survived a top-10 team without him.