Arizona Basketball opens 2018-19 season against Houston Baptist

The 2018-19 Arizona Basketball season is finally here, as the Wildcats will kick-off the regular season versus Houston Baptist.

We’ve finally made it! The long wait until the official start to the 2018-19 Arizona Basketball is over, as the regular season starts tonight against the Houston Baptist Huskies.

After two exhibition wins over Western New Mexico and Chaminade, now is when it really counts. All the preparation for the 2018-19 season now matters, and how the Wildcats play now, impacts their potential post-season resume.

Arizona Wildcats

So far, we’ve seen a myriad of contributions from a number of players, most namely sophomore wing Brandon Randolph, and freshman guard Brandon Williams. Beyond that, the production is wide open for anyone else to step-up and make an impact.

Arizona had a battle with Chaminade the other night, where the Wildcats were unable to pull-away until late in the game.

In that contest, it was a great learning experience for this team that replaced all five starters from last season.

We (I) anticipate, that Arizona will have some struggles at the beginning of the year, as this team gets used to playing with each other, and allows team roles to become settled within itself. Nonetheless, it should still be a pretty talented group to potentially compete for a Tournament spot.

The game against Houston Baptist is a great opportunity for the Cats to compete, gain some confidence and get guys reps if they come out focused.

Keys to the Game:

Be focused, play hard- Arizona had an unusually tough game against Chaminade, where the Wildcats trailed by as many as eight points in that game. Luckily, Arizona was able to re-focus and come away victorious.

Aside from the tough game, the Wildcats had some invaluable experiences from that game. It’s good to at least get the younger guys tested early and provide them great opportunities to learn and get better.

Tonight, the team just needs to come out focused, play hard and set the tone early. This should be an easy win, but Arizona needs to want it.

Get up early, get other guys reps- Arizona enters as a 21.5-point favorite, so this one “should be” a given victory. If the Wildcats come out early and build a substantial lead, this would be a great chance to get other guys reps.

This team will need contributions everywhere if they want to have success, but the only way to do that is get more guys reps. On Sunday, freshman Devonaire Doutrive didn’t play, and there really wasn’t much of an explanation as to why. Perhaps a blowout over Houston Baptist could give him and others key minutes.

Gain  experience, gain confidence-  Similar key to last game, this season is all about gaining confidence and gaining experience. This is a solid group that is mostly unproven and untested. The only way to correct and/or remedy that is to get them opportunities to gain confidence.

This game against Houston Baptist is a perfect opportunity to do this. Get guys feeling good after a big win to open the year and build off the early successes in the season!

Game Information:

Time: 7:00 pm MST/ 6:00 pm PST

Location: Tucson, AZ- McKale Center (14,545)

Line: -21.5 Arizona

Television: Pac-12 Network

Radio: Arizona IMG Sports Network Arizona Wildcats (Try TuneIn Radio) or 107.5 KHYT (Tucson)

Team Records:

Arizona Wildcats (0-0, 0-0): The Wildcats won their first two exhibition games 95-44 and 75-64 over Western New Mexico and Chaminade respectively.

Houston Baptist Huskies (0-0, 0-0): Like Arizona, this is their first official game to the 2018-19 season.

All-Time Record: 1-0 Arizona. These teams last met in 1984 when the Wildcats won by a 63-56 final in McKale Center. That was the first year Arizona made the tournament under Lute Olson.

This one shouldn’t be as close of a match-up this time around, with the Wildcats being favored to win pretty heavily.

Listen to head coach Sean Miller and Arizona following the teams’ win over Chaminade:

At Zona Zealots, we are excited for the start of Arizona Basketball and hope the Wildcats get out to a great start for 2018-19! Bear Down, Arizona!