The Cougars couldn’t overcome a similar turnover bug at Arizona, falling to the Wildcats 75-72, at the McKale Center on Tuesday.

In a game that came down to the final minute, BYU’s 27 turnovers and Arizona’s 33 free throw attempts proved costly. The Wildcats scored 22 points off Cougar turnovers and went 30-of-33 from the charity stripe, including four in the final 20 seconds to hand BYU its third loss of the season, and first to a non-ranked team.

Delaney Gibb and Marya Hudgins led the way for BYU with 21 and 17 points, respectively. Gibb was an efficient 7-of-13 from the floor and 3-for-6 from three, offsetting six turnovers with eight assists, three rebounds and a steal in the loss. Hudgins was 6-for-7 from the field, went 3-of-4 from behind the arc, with six boards and a steal.

Freshman point guard Sydney Benally struggled against the Arizona pressure and turned the ball over nine times, finishing with just one basket and five points.

Arizona finished with zero bench points as their starting five accounted for all 75 of its points on the night, with all five scoring 10 or more. Nora Francois led all scorers with 21 points on 9-of-12 from the floor.

The Cougars outshot the Wildcats 43.6 to 39.6% from the field and 36 to 21.4% from three. BYU also outrebounded the home team 41 to 28, including 14 to six on the offensive glass. The U of A shot 33 freebies to the visitors’ 25 attempts and outshot BYU 90.9 to 60% from the line.

The Cougars led 57-51 entering the final frame and had a 61-54 advantage on a pair of Hudgins free throws with 6:52 to play. But Arizona went on a 10-2 run to retake a one-point advantage at 64-63.

BYU seemed poised to escape with a win, leading 71-68 with just 2:04 to play. But the Cougars surrendered a wide-open 3-pointer to Sumaya Sugapong with 1:08 to play that tied the game at 71-all and managed just one free throw the rest of the way, coughing up a critical turnover with 19 seconds remaining down just one point. Sugapong made two free throws with 15 seconds to go for a three-point Arizona lead and Brinley Cannon’s 3-pointer was off target just before the buzzer.

The Cougars (13-3, 2-2 Big 12) look to bounce back as they take on the Houston Cougars on Saturday at the Fertitta Center. Tip-off is scheduled for noon MT with the game streamed on ESPN+ and broadcast live on BYU Radio 107.9, byuradio.org and the BYU Radio App.