One of the best college basketball games of the season took place on Saturday evening when the 7th-ranked Arizona Wildcats played host to their in-state rivals, the Arizona State Sun Devils. Things came down to the last possible moment, when Desmond Cambridge Jr. threw up a prayer from beyond halfcourt that got answered and give the Sun Devils a gigantic win.
A pair of free throws by Azuolas Tubelis gave Arizona a lead early in the second half, and for the remainder of the game, Arizona State played catch up. They kept chipping away, and with just under two minutes left, the Sun Devils took an 84-83 lead, which the two teams would pass back and forth for the rest of the game. And with 29 seconds left, the sequence that looked like it was going to decide the winner happened, as Pelle Larsson hit a layup to put the Wildcats up by one, DJ Horne missed a jumper on the way back down, and Oumar Ballo split a pair of free throws to give Arizona an 88-86 advantage.
On the ensuing inbound with about three seconds left, Cambridge got the ball, dribbled once, and decided to put up a shot before the defense could get in a position to contest. It could not have been any more different, and while the crowd at McKale Memorial Center was stunned, the Sun Devils ran onto the floor to celebrate their 89-88 win.
ARIZONA STATE FROM HALF COURT AT THE BUZZER pic.twitter.com/n41Yr5qcrF
— College Basketball Report (@CBKReport) February 25, 2023
With the win, Arizona State moved to 20-9 on the year with an 11-7 mark in conference play.