Late 3 by Washington State leads to brutal bad beat for Arizona bettors

Last updated: 2023/01/27 at 7:54 PM

BigP Published January 27, 2023

There are bad beats, and then there are BAD BEATS. What happened Thursday night falls into the latter bucket, as we saw potentially the worst bad beat of this men’s college basketball season.

Bettors who took unranked Washington State and the 5.5 points at FOX Bet were worried most of the game against the No. 6 Arizona Wildcats in a Pacific-12 Conference game in Pullman, Washington, on Thursday night.

The Cougars trailed by as many as 12 points in the first half and were still down 10 after Arizona’s Courtney Ramey hit a 3-pointer with 55 seconds to go to make it 63-53.

WSU had its next shot attempt blocked seven seconds later, and all the Wildcats had to do to cover was take care of the basketball and run the clock.

And that is when it started to unravel for Arizona backers.

Arizona proceeded to turn the ball over with 23 seconds to go, which led to a layup by Andrej Jakimovski to make it 63-55 and WSU called a timeout.

But, Wildcats bettors were still in good shape. All Arizona needed to do was run some clock, maybe get fouled and then make a free throw or two.

Good news for Arizona backers: Azuolas Tubelis attacked the basket and got a good look — no, a great look.

Bad news: Tubelis missed a wide-open dunk attempt with five seconds to go.

The Cougars quickly moved the ball down the court, finding DJ Rodman — son of former NBA star Dennis Rodman — open on the wing behind the 3-point line with a second to go.

You can guess what happened next.

Arizona 63, Washington State 58.

Welp.

WSU covered despite shooting 32.8% from the floor. But the Cougars hanging tough with the nationally ranked Wildcats shouldn’t be a surprise, considering WSU upset Arizona 74-61 earlier this month, ending its home winning streak at 28 games.

How bad was Tubelis’ missed dunk? The scoreboard operator for the TV broadcast briefly gave Arizona the two points.

Those two points would’ve made all the difference in the world for Arizona bettors.

Azuolas Tubelis’ double-double leads Arizonaover Washington State

Arizona forward Azuolas Tubelis’ double-double led the Wildcats to the 63-58 win against the Washington State Cougars.

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