No. 16 Arizona Basketball easily handles Arizona State in a monster 91-75 win.

Jan 5, 2017; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats forward Lauri Markkanen (10) and center Dusan Ristic (14) celebrate after scoring against the Utah Utes during the second half at McKale Center. Arizona won 66-56. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 5, 2017; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats forward Lauri Markkanen (10) and center Dusan Ristic (14) celebrate after scoring against the Utah Utes during the second half at McKale Center. Arizona won 66-56. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

The Arizona Basketball team continued their winnings ways against Arizona State, as the Wildcats move to 5-0 in Pac-12 Conference play. 

Bang, the No.16 Arizona Basketball got off to a blistering hot start against the Sun Devils Thursday night in a Red-Out game at McKale Center. The lead was quickly pushed to double digits early and became too much for ASU to overcome as Wildcats came out victorious 95-71.

From start to finish the team play as a cohesive unit with Kadeem Allen at the helm dictating the offense. But this game was all freshmen phenomenon PF Lauri Markkanen put together an all-time great performance against the Sun Devils. He hit four of seven from three-point range with a career high of 30 points, eight rebounds, two blocks and NO turnovers. Second chance points and defensive rebounding kept the opponent at bay even though the Wildcats became a little sloppy turning the ball over twelve times. Arizona as a team retrieved 38 rebounds and with that

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Second chance points and defensive rebounding kept the opponent at bay even though the Wildcats became a little sloppy turning the ball over twelve times. Arizona as a team retrieved 38 rebounds and with nineteen-second change points.

Kadeem Allen played an all-around game hitting five of nine shots from the field, seven for ten from the free-throw line, retrieving four rebounds, making eight assists and to top it off his defensive prowl churned out four steals. One of his assists led to Rawle Alkins one-handed empathetic slam, off Alkins steal.

The other freshmen, Rawle Alkins and Kobi Simmons, brought an all around game effort with their defensive prowl and offensive scoring abilities. Both Alkins and Simmons can handle the ball and pass dimes as Alkins threw up an alley-oop pass to Kobi Simmons to cap off the night.

A Red-Out game with Arizona State in town, the ZonaZoo made their presence known to Coach Bobby Hurley. They continued to call out the Sun Devil coach after he received his first technical foul for running onto the court screaming about Kadeem Allen running over his player. A technical foul well deserved but it also put Coach

A technical foul well deserved but it also put Coach Hurley in check. After that moment ASU as a team was able to calm down and started making three-pointers to get the lead to within eleven points. Obinna Oleka, F, kept the Sun Devils in the game with twenty-two points, nine rebounds, one assist, one block and two steals. But his effort was not enough to overcome such a deficit.

But as  Wildcats get deeper into their PAC-12 conference scheduling they will need be on their A game for the rest of the way especially if they want to get a sweep against the Los Angeles school’s which eluded them last season. Both games against UCLA and USC went into overtime but the USC game went to a four-overtime thriller. With that game less than a week away, it is going to be tough but I believe the team that Arizona has assembled now can beat both basketball squads.

Here are Lauri’s record night highlights!

Must Read: Shane Dale: Torian Graham lets the ZonaZoo know they are number 1

It will be tough with Allonzo Trier out indefinitely, but now more than ever Arizona has to stick to their winning formula as they head out to Los Angeles for a matchup against No. 25 USC Trojans Thursday night at Galen Center. BEARDOWN!!!

Schedule

Schedule