Arizona Basketball: Wildcats with a huge win on the road against the Huskies

The Arizona Basketball team came up huge in their first true road game of the season against UCONN and win 76-72. They improve their overall record to 6-2.

The Hurley Brothers are now 0-8 to Sean Miller’s teams. That is something to celebrate. Seth Greenberg thinks that ASU is the best team in the Pac-12, backing former Duke player and now ASU Head Coach Bobby Hurley. What’s new? Proving all doubters wrong. Arizona Basketball had their first true test of the season on the road in a hostile environment against the UCONN Huskies. This team stayed composed for 40 minutes, even when things weren’t going their way and were able to pull out a 76-72 win.

After a good outing at the Maui Invitational and coming close to beating now the No.1 team in the country, Gonzaga, the Wildcats showed why they are one of the top teams not only in the Pac-12 but in the country.

Right out of the starting blocks, the Wildcats didn’t look intimated at all as they took an early lead several minutes into the game and were able to maintain it for the majority of the first half. At one point towards the end of the first half, the Wildcats had a 7 point lead. Combination of limiting turnovers, solid passing and pack-line defense helped them end the first half with a 42-38 lead.

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The Wildcats had a well-balanced attack in the first half with everyone scoring who entered the game. Dylan Smith led the team with eight points, going 2-4 from three and was 2-2 from the free thrown line. As a team, they only had 5 turnovers and had 19 bench points!

With about 10 minutes to go in the first half, the Wildcats were already in the bonus and knocking down their free throws. They were also looking to get the ball inside to Chase Jeter more, who fouled out at the end of the game, but finished with 14 points and seven rebounds. It wouldn’t be a Wildcats game without Jeter causing offensive fouls. As a coach, you gotta love that!

As the second half went on, the Huskies would keep this game close, forcing the Wildcats to take care of the basketball and knock down free throws, and that they did. Both teams were making high-quality shots and taking it to the rim. The Wildcats at one point had multiple players with two and three fouls, but were able to play smart defense and not foul out (except for Jeter in the last 15 seconds, but was a smart hard foul).

Both Brandon’s had exceptional games as well. Brandon Randolph finished the game and led all Wildcats with 20 points and Brandon Williams finished with six points, three assists, including two clutch free throws at the end of the game to give the Wildcats a 76-72 win. Late in the 2nd half, both Brandon’s had back to back layups that gave the Wildcats an eight-point lead with about 8 minutes left to play:

Justin Coleman had another all-around solid game, finishing with six points, three rebounds, two assists in 28 minutes of play. He also had to deal with a lot of ball pressure when bringing the ball up the court, but only had four turnovers. Coach Sean Miller was substituting both Coleman and Williams in out in the 2nd half due to each in foul trouble. This was a good decision as UCONN was playing an aggressive style of basketball.

Emmanuel Akot, who started the game, finished with six points, five rebounds, and one assist. E-Man played well from start to end on both ends of the floor. Ryan Luther, who came off the bench, had 10 points, four rebounds and made crucial free throws down the stretch. Ira Lee and Alex Barcello both had quality minutes off the bench, each scoring two points but provided an extra spark on the floor.

The two stats that were key in today’s victory for the Wildcats were points in the paint, favored by the Wildcats 42-34 and free throwing shooting, where the Cats made 19-22. This team came into today’s game needing a big-time statement win and that they did on the road. They also were unranked and haven’t received any votes into the AP Top 25. Wouldn’t be surprised if that were to change.

Relive all the highlights of the close, hard-fought battle between the Wildcats and Huskies:

At Zona Zealots, we would like to congratulate this team on big-time road win. This team is for real and people around the country, especially ESPN, better start understanding that. This game was so badly broadcasted by ESPN that at one point I had to mute my television set. I shouldn’t have to do that. Anyways, that didn’t bother our Wildcats as they fought hard and earn themselves the win. Bear Down!