Arizona Wildcats vs Bradley Braves: Trier Makes Presence Known

The Arizona Wildcats basketball team looked to come out more aggressive, precise, and technique sound against Bradley.

In what should have been an easy win, Arizona hoped to escape any early season upset.

The starting five for tonight was Kadeem Allen, Gabe York, Mark Tollefsen, Ryan Anderson, and Kaleb Tarczewski. Coming into this game, coach Sean Miller was wanting a more refined, complete game compared to their first outing. Arizona clearly had the size advantage so going inside early and often to establish that presence should have been a goal.

Nov 16, 2015; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats guard Gabe York (1) and Arizona Wildcats forward Ryan Anderson (12) celebrate after scoring against the Bradley Braves during the second half at McKale Center. Arizona won 90-60. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Arizona did just that by going right to their MVP from the first game, Ryan Anderson. He was fouled going to the hoop and ended up making 1/2 free throws (missed free throws is a recurring theme so far for the Wildcats).  Arizona went inside again, this time to Tollefsen, who does what he does best: dunk it in the opponents face. Zeus was next in-line to take it inside, off a sweet dish by Allen and slam it home. And back we went to Anderson inside, drew the foul, but missed both free throws.

Bradley would not go away, mainly due to their Freshman Ronnie Suggs. Suggs scored several points in a row for Bradley, with a big three in the face of Tollefsen late in the shot clock. But Bradley was able to pass it around and get way too easy looks on Arizona. In the first half, the Braves had several wide open jump shots, uncontested. They were coming off of the back door and weak side screens hard, and Arizona was always two steps too slow.

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The Braves made Arizona work most of the night, and especially all the first half. In what will be an every game plan, Bradley came out with a match-up zone and moved into a 2-3 zone most of the night. For the last couple of years, Arizona has shown a weakness against zone defenses. This team is a better shooting team, although this was not evident in the first half.

Arizona badly needed a spark that came in the form of true freshman, McDonald’s All-American, Allonzo Trier. He first made his presence known around the 14:00 mark as he took the rebound, flew down the court and got fouled on a lay-up. He would make both free throws to help put the Wildcats up by 2. He would follow that up with a steal, going coast-to-coast, and drawing another foul. He would, again, make both of his free throws.

With Suggs and his Braves continuing to make things difficult for the Wildcats, Miller began subbing players in and out on a consistent basis. The defense wasn’t talking on screens, players were late closing out on the opponent, and Bradley was out hustling Arizona on the boards.

Mar 26, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Arizona Wildcats guard Elliott Pitts (24) moves to the basket against Xavier Musketeers during the first half in the semifinals of the west regional of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

A nice jolt came from the Wildcats bench when Elliott Pitts made his season debut. After being sidelined with an ankle injury, Pitts looked ready to help out with his defense and calming attitude. It didn’t take Pitts long to make his mark on the stats sheet for the night, as he hit the game’s first three at the 12:00-minute mark off a fast break. Parker Jackson-Cartwright moved the all up quickly and hit Pitts in stride for a smooth three in transition.

The rest of the first half seemed to drag on forever. Wait…it did actually drag on forever. That was due to how many fouls were being called in the first half. At the 4:00 mark, there were 26 total fouls called: 15 on Bradley and 11 on Arizona. It was made a point of emphasis this season to allow an offensive player freedom of movement, and boy did these refs meet their quota.

But what didn’t help Arizona were all the missed free throws. The only consistent free throw shooter was Allonzo Trier. He was perfect from the line in the first half, and wouldn’t skip a beat in the second.

At the 3:30 mark of the first half, Arizona had a 34-26 lead that was quickly cut down with Suggs hitting his second three. With the first half in the books, Suggs accumulated 13 pts, 4/5 shooting, 2/3 from deep. Something had to be done to stop him.

Arizona went into halftime with a 39-33 lead. This is typically something to celebrate, but you could tell Miller was not happy with what he saw. Bradley was the more aggressive, disciplined, and together team. The bright spots for the Wildcats came in the forms of Allonzo Trier (11 pts, 2-2 FG, 7-7 FT), and Ryan Anderson (7 pts, 2-2 FG, 3-7 FT).

Nov 16, 2015; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats head coach Sean Miller argues a call during the second half against the Bradley Braves at McKale Center. Arizona won 90-60. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

In the second half, Sean Miller sent out PJC, York, Pitts, Anderson, and Zeus. The offense immediately went back to Anderson down low, who pushed the lead to 41-35. And only 40 seconds later, Anderson got the rebound off of a Bradley miss, outlet passed to PJC, who pushed his way down the lane, and had a nice dump off pass to the trailing Anderson. Anderson was then able to get the bucket and the foul and completed the And-1 by making his free throw.

This began a back and forth between Bradley and Arizona for a good amount of time. Each time it looked like Arizona was going to make a run, the Braves were right there to put on the brakes. The Bradley players were again getting easy looks inside, which is concerning considering our huge advantage.

Arizona stretched the lead out to 52-41 after a smooth floater by York, but Bradley was there to answer again. This time by getting multiple looks after missed shots, all while doing this over two 7’0″ Wildcats.

Just when Arizona needed another spark, Allonzo Trier was there to answer the call. With about 13:00 left in the game, Trier snagged a defensive rebound, raced up the court, and finished strong at the rim drawing another foul. He completed the And-1 by making his free throw, as he was still perfect from the line at this time.

Arizona stretched the lead out to 60-44 with Anderson making two free throws off of a flagrant foul. He was literally dragged to the ground by a Bradley player to prevent the what was sure to be a fast break dunk.

Nov 16, 2015; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats guard Gabe York (1) prepares to shoot the ball during the first half against the Bradley Braves at McKale Center. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Things became stagnant, again, with Arizona still holding a 67-48 lead with around 9:00 left in the game. But Gabe York was there to bring life back into his teammates, as well as those in McKale. Just under 9 minutes left, York was able to connect on his first 3. The team was now 2/10 from deep at this point.

Bradley was quick to recover, racing down the court and getting another easy bucket. But York was there, again, to answer with a quick trigger of his own, hitting a deep 3 with 8:30 left in the game.

From this point on, the Arizona team we all know finally got things together and rallied behind York, Anderson, and Trier. Parker Jackson-Cartwright got in on the action with a step-back 3. Trier was forcing his way inside, down the lane, and all over to draw fouls, or finish at the rim. Dusan Ristic also started going back to work with his inside game, showing the footwork he has.

With just under 6:00 left in the game, Miller subbed out Allonzo Trier for the final time for the night. Justin Simon and Chance Comanche were now in the game to gain experience, and hopefully help keep a large lead this time.

Allonzo Trier was the MVP of this game, no doubt about it. Not only did he have two SportsCenter Top 10 worthy moves with breaking the defenders ankles twice, but he finished the game with dominating numbers: 22 pts, 4/5 FG, five rebs, and 14/14 from the line. Yes, he finished 14/14 from the free throw line!

Nov 16, 2015; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats guard Allonzo Trier (11) shoots the ball as he is defended by Bradley Braves forward Callum Barker (30) during the second half at McKale Center. Arizona won 90-60. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Spor

Anderson was next in leading the Wildcats finished with 15 pts, 4/4 FG, 7/12 FT, and four rebounds. Zeus had a quiet, but typical quiet, game for himself. He finished the night with 11 pts, 3/3 FG, 5/6 FT, and lead the team with seven rebounds.

The final score was 90-60 with Arizona increasing their nation-leading home win streak. The final score does not do justice to how close Bradley kept this game for about 80% of the night.

Trier had this to say after the game:

“It definitely felt good to bounce back from my first game. My teammates were just keeping me positive.”

This is what Miller had to say about his star freshman:

“Nobody’s in the gym earlier, nobody stays longer, and nobody’s more consistent than him.”

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Miller was clearly upset with his team most of the night. There was a large difference from what was shown in the first half, to what we all saw in the second half. But this team prides itself on defense, rebounding, fundamentals, and hustle. There are definite takeaways from this win. We saw adjustments made, players gather together, and a true freshman rise above everyone, in a time of adversity, to spark this team to victory!

Next up….Thursday night against Boise State!