Arizona Wildcats Run through the Washington State Cougars

After a dominating win over the Washington Huskies, the Arizona Wildcats looked to sweep the Washington schools with a victory over Washington State 90-66.

Destroying the Huskies earlier this week, the Arizona Wildcats were looking to stay on the high and sweep the Washington schools. The Washington State Cougars came to Tucson looking to end the nation’s longest home winning streak, but the Wildcats were too much for them.

The nation’s longest home winning streak was extended to 49 games as Arizona dominated Washington State.

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The win tonight was expected, but Washington State came ready to play for most of the first half. Ryan Anderson and Kadeem Allen got the Wildcats started tonight with early buckets. This was great to see as Anderson has been a man on a mission since his poor performance on the California trip. And Kadeem has really stepped up in all facets of his game.

The two teams fought back and forth for most of the first half. Arizona was able to creep out to a four, six, or eight-point lead, but the Cougars were able to respond to stop any sort of run for the Wildcats.

Gabe York, Parker Jackson-Cartwright, Kaleb Tarczewski, and Mark Tollefsen all chipped in for Arizona. Gabe, PJC, and Tollefsen all made three’s. PJC, who provided 11 assists against the Huskies, was 3-4 from deep in the first half. It great to see PJC have his confidence back and Miller said as much in his post-game interview with Brian Jeffries.

The same can be said for Tollefsen as he picked up where he left off from the Washington game. He was all over the court early with his 3-point shot, rebounds, and defense.

The Wildcats jumped out to a 29-21 lead after back-to-back baskets by Zeus and Anderson. The Cougars answered right back with a three. But Arizona responded right back with a great block by Anderson and a sweet 3-point play by Tollefsen where he showed his hops.

The Wildcats, after another three by York, went into halftime with a 46-31 lead. After seeing slow first half’s against USC, UCLA, and Washington, it was a breath of fresh air to see Arizona close out a half in a dominating fashion. The Cougars came out and matched Arizona with size, which is rare. But the overall athleticism of the Wildcats could not be matched.

The Wildcats continued to flex their muscle in the second half. If there was any worry about a second half let down, or Sean Miller letting off the gas, that was squashed quickly. The Wildcats jumped out to a 23 point lead after a 3-point play by Anderson and some smooth shooting by Kadeem with a two and three-point jumper. But to cap off the fast and furious run, and put Arizona up 56-33, was a Sports Center Top 10 moment by Gabe York.

The Wildcats just wouldn’t be stopped tonight. All players were shooting the ball well, and the defense was sound as Miller switched to zone from time to time. If you remember, Miller mentioned the team would be using zone occasionally after the games against the Huskies. It was a good mix to throw at the Cougars tonight as Miller worked in Justin Simon and Chance Commanche more, both provided quality minutes.

The Wildcats again maintained a 23 point lead in the second half, and Washington State never got anywhere close to causing panic. If the Cougars were able to get any points, Arizona was able to immediately respond. If it was by offensive output or defensive stops, the Wildcats were on too much of a roll.

As the game got out of hand, we were able to see the young guys get involved. Simon played a decent amount of time tonight, but you could tell his heavily taped right hand was causing him to miss easy shots. He made up for some easy misses by getting a steal and taking it all the way for a two-handed slam. Chance also got in on the action slamming it down off a nice feed from Allen to make a baseline dunk.

In the end, the Wildcats crushed the Cougars by the score of 90-66. This easily could have been in the hundreds, which Bill Walton was calling for Arizona to do. But the dominance showed, and Arizona showed why, again, people shouldn’t count them out after the Cali trip.

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Trust in Miller, trust the players, and trust the process!

BearDown!