Arizona Basketball: Wildcats dominate the Buffaloes at home

Arizona Basketball flat out dominated the No.20 ranked Colorado Buffaloes at home by a score of 75-54

Domination. Arizona Basketball started out a little slow in the beginning of the game, but then went on a 16-2 run to take full control of this one. Carrying over from the prior game in which the Wildcats hit 15 threes, they made 9 this game to come away with the 75-54 victory. They finally get their much deserved Top 25 win and now move to 13-5 and 3-2 in Pac-12 play.

It took a little while for the Wildcats to get going from the field, but once they did, wow, they looked unbeatable. Josh Green was leading the way early on, but then others got involved. Max Hazzard and Dylan Smith each had two threes in the first half, plus Nico Mannion and Zeke Nnaji were also contributing.

One of the key area of emphasis all season long for Sean Miller has been his team’s ability to rebound. Knowing how good of a rebounding team the Buffaloes were, it was going to be especially important for the Wildcats to stay with the Buffs on the glass. That they did. After 20 minutes they led 20-13 in boards and by the end of the game they won the battle on the glass 39-25!

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One other key stat that stood out in the first was 13-0 edge in fast break points. The Wildcats caused 8 different turnovers and made the Buffaloes pay for it by finishing on the other end. Green several times in this game attacked the basket with no fear and finished. Gotta love it!

The second half of play, it was all Wildcats. They continued to play excellence defense, forcing the Buffaloes to shoot 37% from the field and 30% from three for the game. Their leading scorer, McKinley Wright led his team in scoring with 15, but no one else really stepped up to help except for D’Shawn Schwartz, who had 12 points.

Everyone was playing their part in limiting the Buffaloes to second chance points, which was huge in this one. The combined effort of the bigs inside, Nnaji and Ira Lee, made it difficult for their opponent to get any momentum going off a miss.

Whenever the Buffaloes tried to make a run, the Wildcats just came down the court and either hit a three, got Nnaji the ball insides, attacked the rim and finished with authority. For almost 40 minutes the Wildcats did not let the foot off the gas pedal. That’s what needed to happen today for them to victorious. Mission accomplished.

This game was a full team effort with balance scoring and team defense. Green and Smith led with 13 points, Mannion had 12, Gettings had 3, Nnaji with 12 (and another double double), Hazzard had 9, Baker had 7 and Lee Time had 6.

In front of a rockin McKale Center, Arizona Basketball delivered a message to the rest of the Pac-12 and the country…we back!

At Zona Zealots, we would like to congratulate this team on two straight wins. Lets keep the winning streak going. Up next, ASU next Saturday in Tempe at 7:30pm MST. As always, Bear Down, Arizona!