Arizona Regains Nastiness in Oregon St Win

Ezra Amacher

With one exaggerated smirk from the face of Kyle Fogg, it came back. The heart, swagger, and most of all, nastiness, from last season's team all returned in a matter of seconds in the overtime session of Arizona's win against Oregon State.

What followed Fogg's unsportsmanlike smile to the Beavers' Jared Cunningham was a "fight" where no punches were thrown, thanks to Sean Miller breaking things up before the scuffle escalated. But the emotional outburst by the Cats was enough to make fans believe that Arizona has final got that toughness back that helped lead them to an unexpected deep NCAA Tournament run last March.

The Cats' eight point overtime victory started out like almost every game this season. Arizona was unable to separate themselves early because of too many turnovers, almost no interior play, and a lack of made shots.

Even in the early part of the second half when Arizona was down multiple possessions, it seemed like the team was content on playing lethargic basketball.

Then came a three pointer from Brendon Lavender. And then another. And another. And two more after that. For really the first time all season, someone stepped up in the most crucial minutes of the game and it isn't the least bit surprising that guy was.

But in typical Arizona fashion this season, the Cats were not able to close out the game as they let Oregon State exploit their weak interior defense and Oregon State guard Ahmad Starks caught fire in the final minutes of the game.

It appeared the Beavers might sneak out of McKale with an upset win until Fogg drove down the lane and scored on an uncontested layup in the final seconds of regulation. Following a Starks' miss at the buzzer, the game went to overtime, which is when months of practice and preparation seemed to click at once.

From the tip, the Cats looked different than they had for the previous two hours. On every Oregon State possession, there was tight defense that ended up resulting in the Beavers not making a single basket in overtime.

At the 1:18 mark, following a big put back dunk by Nick Johnson and then an Oregon State missed jumper, Josiah Turner rebounded the ball and dished the ball to Fogg who made an acrobatic layup while getting fouled.

From there, all hell broke loose but in those chaotic couple moments, two things became apparent. First was that Arizona was going to pull off the win and move to 3-1 in Pac-12 play. The other was that the Cats had gotten their "nastiness is required" attitude back.

The latter of the two will turn out to be more significant. There is no telling right now what this 2011-2012 Arizona team is capable of but now, one thing is for certain. They are not going to just lay down and accept mediocrity without putting up a fight.

Is this team as talented as last year's squad? Of course not but in basketball, heart often trumps and it is clear that this team has a lot of it.

It is also seems that there are finally a few leaders on this team, in Fogg and Lavender and considering they have been through more than anyone else, it only makes sense that they are the ones who stepped up when the going got tough.

Only time will tell how big a turning point this game was but if nothing else, it should at least prove that Arizona has not lost their nastiness.