Arizona Basketball keeps non-conference home winning streak alive

The Arizona Wildcats (7-2) battled until the very end before escaping with a 80-69 victory over the visiting Utah Valley Wolverines.

Home sweet home. After coming off a big win on the road against UCONN, the Arizona Wildcats traveled back home to take on the Utah Valley Wolverines.

Unmoved by the big stage, the Wolverines would not be intimidated at all from the start, giving the Wildcats everything they could handle for 40 minutes.

Arizona Wildcats

Perhaps facing a bit of a hangover from the win over UCONN, Utah Valley came out swinging, and in a big way. Tied at 20-20 with 12:01 in the first half, the Wolverines would end the half on a 21-9 run.

As was mentioned by Zona Zealots expert Eric Townsend in the preview of this game, the Wildcats could not afford to have a slow start. They did.

A combination of really poor defense and offensive led to several runs by the Wolverines. At one point in the 1st half, Arizona would go scoreless for almost four minutes.

Arizona trailed for a majority of the first half, but did go on a run to take a six point lead early in the half. However, that was the only bright spot in that first half.

Unfortunately too many turnovers, too many easy buckets to the rim, bad shooting put the Wildcats down 41-29 at the end of first half.

The Wildcats finished that half shooting 38 percent from the field to go along with 11 turnovers that led to 19 Wolverine points. They were also outscored in the paint by a 20-10 margin.

Justin Coleman led the team in scoring in the first half with seven points, but had three personal fouls heading into the locker room.

Bad defense and turnovers doesn’t make a coach happy. Whether it was a lapse in focus from the start or not able to handle the dribble handle offensive on defense, they were able to make the necessary adjustments at halftime.

Those who know Arizona basketball and Coach Sean Miller, I am sure we can all agree he probably had some choice words for his team at the half, and deservedly so. No matter who the opponent is, this team can’t afford starts like this, especially come conference play or potentially come March Madness.

In a game of runs, luckily the Wildcats put together a massive 16-2 run to start the second half to give them the lead. Brandon Randolph led the charge, going 4-4 from three point range to help put the Wildcats ahead for the first time since the 13:40 mark when Arizona was up 18-16.

Randolph would finish the game leading the team in scoring with 16 points and two rebounds. After the game, Coach Miller compared what Randolph did to what former Wildcat great Gabe York did in how he was just feeling it from three point land and couldn’t miss.

As a Wildcat fan, you love seeing Randolph’s aggressiveness on offensive, but sometimes he is a little of out of control when driving it to the rim. As the season goes on, he will need to learn to not to force it if the opening isn’t there:

As the game went on, the Wildcats’ defense was much improved and they were taking better care of the basketball, only turning it over five times that second half. They shot the ball 61 percent from the field and went 8-14 from three in the 2nd half, finishing the game 12-22 as a team.

Both teams would trade the lead late in the game, before the Widcats went on another run with about eight minutes to play and never looked back.

Brandon Williams came up big for this team with Coleman in foul trouble for most of the game. Williams finished the game with 15 points, 10 rebounds, five assists in his first double-double as a Wildcat!

Personally, what I love most about B-Will is his “no-fear” mentality when taking to the rim. Scary to think he is only a freshman. Just imagine next year with him, Nico Mannion, Josh Green, Terry Armstrong, Zeke Nnaji and Christian Koloko, plus all the returners from this year – wow!

Chase Jeter really couldn’t get going offensively, finishing with only four points, but did have nine rebounds and played well on defense, drawing charges – the charge machine!

Ryan Luther provided Coach Miller some solid minutes, scoring seven points and three rebounds in 21 minutes of play. He had a couple of drives to the basket, including this one from the baseline:

Both Alex Barcello and Emmanuel Akot provided some good quality minutes as well for the Wildcats. Barcello knocked down a three and Akot had seven points, three rebounds and four assists.

Finally E-man is starting to gain some confidence, which is a huge bonus for this team! He is one of those x-factors because of his size, wing span and ability to put the ball on the floor and size up well on defense. Nice to see Miller putting him in the starting rotation.

Other key stats were rebounds, free throws and bench points. The Wildcats out-rebounded the Wolverines by 36-26 margin, outscored them in bench points 23-12 and finished 14-16 from the charity stripe. These three stats will be crucial for this team to capitalize on. It will allow them to be a real contender in the Pac-12 conference at home and on the road.

Here are some highlights from the game:

Up next for the Wildcats is another big test on the road at Alabama this Sunday on ESPN at 11 am. This game had it all, but in the end the Wildcats were able to secure another victory! They now improve their overall record 7-2 and look to continue their winning ways. Bear Down Arizona!