Arizona Basketball: Wildcats beat Iowa State in first round of the Maui Invitational

The Arizona Basketball team were persistent tonight in their premier onto the national stage at the Maui Invitational Tournament beating Iowa State in round one.

The 2018 Maui Invitational tournament includes a few top three teams including Duke and Gonzaga. Tonight the Arizona Basketball teams first challenge was to get past the Iowa State Cyclones who were without four players due to injury and suspensions.

Coach Sean Miller pointed out his two team captains, Justin Coleman and Chase Jeter who did not play with the team last season and produced tonight and did a “tremendous job in tonight’s game.” 

Coleman hit key shots at key times in the game, especially down the stretch. And it wasn’t just a jump shot, he made three’s to keep the Cats in the game. He scored 18 points on 7-13 shots, 4-8 from three. With 5:11 left in the game, Coleman tied it up with a lay up, and then again with a jumper and 2:25 left he hit a jumper.

Jeter logged a double-double scoring ten points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Jeter’s rebounding efforts resulted in a third of the team’s total rebounds. He also blocked two shots at the rim.

Other than the teams’ captains, Brandon Williams, Ryan Luther and Brandon Randolph each ended the night in double figures. Williams was Mr. Clutch hitting 9-10 or 90% of his free-throws, four at the end of the second period with the game on the line.

The first half was a bit disjointed. The Cats made just 30% of their field goals and 14% if their three’s. Still, they went into halftime down just nine points. From the reactions of our Zona Zealots contributors in our private chat, you would have thought the Cats were down by 20 points. I was assured their criticality was just because they were sure the team could perform better, that they weren’t living up to expectations they had coming off the first three games of the season.

Nine points weren’t insurmountable but the team had to make more of their shots and rebound the ball more to win the game.

More from Arizona Wildcats

• How Wildcats Fans Can Claim $200 INSTANT Bonus at BetMGM Betting $10 Right Now
• Last-Minute Game Information Arizona Football vs Mississippi State
• Arizona Football dominates NAU in their Season Opener
• Former Wildcat Nick Foles named an Honorary Captain
• Caesars Arizona Promo Code: 5 Weeks of $50 Bonus Bets Backing Wildcats!

What was clear tonight was that the team has chemistry and they play as a team. There was no ball hogging, no showboating, the team followed Head Coach Sean Miller’s plan and instructions and even when it looked grim, the team came back to tie the Cyclones late in the second half which was impressive because they had been down by ten points.

I don’t think I have been that excited during an Arizona Basketball game for quite some time, a close game, a comeback and a giant win (71-66 ) against an experienced team. Iowa State ran out of time. I hate even mention it, but the officiating was hard to swallow, they spent a lot of whistle time on offensive fouls but ignored fouls at the rim. Just goes to show you, you never know how an officiating team will call a game and you have to get ready for anything. Bill Walton announced the game and was complaining a ton about the refs.

Note: Bill Walton also incorrectly stated that former Arizona Associate Coach Lorenzo Romar lost his house in the Malibu fire, but Romar put out a Tweet saying his house was safe.

For the first time in either a long time because I have forgotten, or the first time, which had me blinking to see if I was imagining what I was looking at, Miller called for a full court press in the middle of the game. That seemed to shake up ISU, get them a bit off-kilter having to shoot faster than they normally would have. And although some of us were calling for a zone defense, we didn’t get to see it, not yet at least.

Ryan Luther made a key play towards the end of the second half by diving on a loose ball which turned into a three-pointer. That’s where the heart of the team showed up again. Williams, Luther and Dylan Smith closed out the game making eight straight free-throws.

The Cyclones shots stopped falling and the Wildcats walked away with a 4-0 record. Next up No. 3 Gonzaga on Tuesday night at 8:30 pm (MST) on Tuesday, Nov. 20 on ESPN.