On a Saturday full of marquee college basketball matchups, Tennessee and Arizona offered up an exhilarating night cap at the McKale Memorial Center in Tucson.
The highly anticipated primetime meeting put the Vols' top defense up against the Wildcats' nation-leading offense in what was Tennessee's first true road test 11 games into the season.
It's hard to win on the road anytime, but 24 fouls significantly hurt the Vols' chances — even with guard Zakai Zeigler turning in an impressive 21-point performance in a 75-70 loss.
Arizona shot 88.9% at the free throw line, which included 13-of-15 shots made there in the final 20 minutes. Tennessee (9-2) had five players with two or more fouls, causing key contributors to miss critical stretches on the bench.
The first half was mostly neck-and-neck with both teams suffering through extended scoring droughts while the other rattled off runs to build leads.
Courtney Ramey and Tyreke Key gave a very early indication of what kind of game would be in store. Ramey hit a 3-pointer on the Wildcats' opening possession before Key answered right back with one of his own.
Santiago Vescovi responded to a Azuola Tubelis score with another three, and back-to-back scores from Uros Plavsic inside gave Tennessee a 10-7 advantage over two minutes in, but Arizona went on a quick 6-0 spurt to go up 13-10.
Zeigler answered the first of two scoring first half scoring droughts for Tennessee that went more than two and a half minutes with his first three. That score opened the way for the Vols' own stretch that produced a 29-22 lead, which included two rare 3-pointers from Olivier Nkamhoua.
Foul trouble started to plague Tennessee in the last six minutes of the half and Arizona took advantage at the free throw line, scoring nine of its last 13 points of the period at the charity stripe.
Jahmai Mashack evened the score at 35-35 with a layup just before halftime, but Tennessee struggled to gain momentum out of the break with more fouls and turnovers that allowed Arizona to take back the lead and hold it for good — despite a push from the Vols that put them within a point in the final two minutes.
Freshman Tobe Awaka scored the Vols' first points of the half over two minutes in, and Tennessee’s first free throws of the game — which came from Vescovi with 15:51 left in regulation — kept the Vols within four.
Arizona swelled its lead to as much at 10 with less than eight minutes left following Ramey's three, but a technical foul from the Wildcats' bench resulted in Ziegler free throws before he and Key connected on back-to-back shots from beyond the arc that made it 63-61.
The Wildcats (10-1) outscored Tennessee 9-7 over the last 2:38, which was enough for them to hang on.
The Vols host Austin Peay at Thompson-Boling Arena on Wednesday in their final non-conference game before SEC play begins at Ole Miss the following week on December 28.
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