Arizona Basketball: What fork? Wildcats dominate the Sun Devils

Just as we predicted, Arizona Basketball beat Arizona State, but we didn’t predict the Cats would win by 38 points!

The Wildcats beat the Sun Devils, 99-61 in Kaleb Tarczewski‘s last rivalry game at Mckale. He added one more win to his total to bring him one win closer to being Arizona’s all-time most winningest player. His team moved to the top of the Pac-12 alone with a 10-4 record. Allonzo Trier scored a game-high 20 points to lead the Cats to their sixth straight win.

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The good news tonight was that Kadeem Allen and Chance Comanche were back and healthy, the Cats were firing on all cylinders. Arizona put on a clinic in McKale, with every player in an Arizona Wildcats uniform getting to playing minutes much to the fans delight.

The difference in size between the two teams made a big difference, especially when Miller plays both Tarczewski and Dusan Ristic together. The Cats pulled away in the first half after the Sun Devils made a big run when Arizona went cold and evened the score 17-17 after back to back 3s by the Sun Devils. But the Cats made 70% of their field goals, and 54.7% of their 3-pointers in the second half and didn’t lose their halftime lead the rest of the game.

The point spread for this game was -13, Arizona. The Cats beat the spread by 25 points; they hadn’t beaten the spread against USC and UCLA, so they made a statement tonight and seem to have found their identity. Five players scored in double digits in addition to Trier’s 20 points: Ristic scored 16, Gabe York 12, Ryan Anderson 15, and Allen 12.

In the last couple of games, Kaleb Tarczewski has looked absolutely NBA ready. His energy and dominance were visible and welcome; he is not playing soft anymore. Zeus took Miller’s words to heart when Miller talked to the seniors at halftime during the UCLA game, asking them what they wanted their legacy to be.

In this game, there was no question. Zeus made four monster blocks and a career-high 15 rebounds along with scoring six points. He has grabbed more than ten rebounds only twice in his career in McKale. Sean Miller feels there is more to his game than the stats show, Zeus is a major presence on the court, he dominates the paint and is really good and picking up players who aren’t being guarded.

Zeus’s performance tonight inspired ZonaZealots friend @uofaedits to create this awesome meme which you all can now use in your tweets.

Miller also sang Parker Jackson-Cartwrights praises post game, ““PJC is playing the best basketball of his career…it’s his defense we’re the most proud of.” He also mentioned the PJC has not missed one practice, and he didn’t turn over the ball once against ASU. In fact, the Wildcats held their turnovers to only eight tonight.

Miller has mentioned many times that if his team can keep TO’s below ten, the Cats have an excellent opportunity to win a game. In many games this season, the Cats had turned over the ball more than ten times just in the first half, so the team has made a ton of progress on that front. Also, the team out-rebounded the Sun Devils 44-23 and blocked eight shots.

The only bad news for the night was that Elliott Pitts has removed himself from the team for personal reasons and will not return this season, there is not news on if he will be back next season. It is what it is; we’ll just leave that alone out of respect for all involved.

Fun facts care of self-proclaimed Stat Nerd Javier Morales:

Just when you thought ASU coach Bobby Hurley hated Arizona Wildcats fans and had no respect for the team, he pulls an 180 and praises the team. He and Miller go way back. According to Doug Haller, ‘In 1991, they were teammates in the World University Games in Sheffield, England.’

The Cats will rest a week; they have no games until next Wednesday when they take on the Colorado Buffs at 7:00 p.m. MST on ESPN2, followed by a game in Utah on Saturday also 7:00 p.m. MST on ESPN against the Utes. Miller feels these two games could be the biggest test for his team, a road trip against two teams who have the potential to beat the Wildcats.

Enjoy this post-game interview of our senior center by Miles Simon:

More wildcats: Meet future OL Michael Eletise and family in this warm-hearted interview

The Cats are on a hot roll, let’s hope they don’t cool off in their week off, but instead find even more chemistry and purpose together as a team, missing a beloved point guard.

BearDown Cats! We are proud to be your fans!