Arizona Basketball: Wildcats bounce back with a statement win against the Oregon State Beavers

After losing against Oregon at home in their last game, the Arizona Wildcats bounced back with a 82-71 win over the visiting Oregon State Beavers.

Team basketball. The Arizona Basketball team played together as a team, without one of their star players Chase Jeter, and demonstrated what it truly means to “bear down.” Four minutes into the game, Jeter went down and was out for the rest of the game. Everyone stepped up huge for this team in Jeter’s absence, including freshman sensation Brandon Williams who lead the team with 20 points, one rebound and five assists.

Five Wildcats scored in double figures: Williams (20), Luther (16), Coleman (14), Smith (13) and Brandon Randolph (10) who added five rebounds and four assists.

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Everyone saw increased playing time with Emmanuel Akot no longer on the team and Jeter out after only playing four minutes. Even Jake Desjardins played a minute and scored a point!

Jeter took a nasty fall after going for a rebound and was undercut by Tres Tinkle. The refs ended calling a flagrant one on that play. He went straight to the locker room, but did come back out in the second. Jeter didn’t play at all the rest of the game, but was there on the sideline cheering his team on. Get better Chase!

Being undersized didn’t stop this team at all! They dominated in these key categories:

• Out-rebounded their opponent 41-29
• Made 28 second chance points, Beavers only had 9!
• The bench for the Wildcats dominated, outscoring the Beavers bench 25-9

Three point shooting. That is the downfall of this team because they are so guard dependent. When shots aren’t falling from beyond the arc, that really hurts the Wildcats chances of winning. Tonight they were on fire from three! They made 13-27 and that wins you games!

From the start, this team was much more focused than they were against Oregon. That seems to be a common theme for this team. When they start slow and have to play catch up it takes a toll on this team. Williams got the team on the board early with a couple of threes contributing to a 13-3 lead for the team early in the first half.

Then with 15:48 left in the first half, Jeter would leave the game and the Wildcats would look to Ryan Luther and Ira Lee to step up in the absence of their big man. That they both did. Luther would finish the first half with nine points and four rebounds. Lee would finish with two points and three rebounds. Luther would go onto have a monster second half – stay tuned!

Other players stepped up as well. Dylan Smith, who started the game in place of Luther, had 10 points, was 2-3 from three-point range and grabbed three rebounds. Alex Barcello even got in the action in the first half, knocking down a three which got McKale Center to its feet. He would on to finish with six points. Randolph didn’t score any points in the first half, but like Luther he would get going in the second.

Here is one of Luther’s three in the first half. This man can shoot!

The Beavers mixed up their defense in the first half, showing various zone trap defenses, but the Wildcats moved the ball around nicely and were able to knock down their shots. On the flip side, the Wildcats played good defense holding one of the Beavers leading scorers, Stephen Thompson Jr, to zero points in the first 20 minutes of play. Tinkle though scored nine points, keeping his team within striking distance. He would finished with a double-double including 25 points and 10 rebounds – this guy is good!

The Cats held the lead for the entire half and had a 38-27 lead to begin the second half.

In the second half, the Wildcats continued their dominance on both ends of the floor, making seven three pointers! Coach Sean Miller though did have to get creative with his substitution patter due to Luther and Lee both getting into foul trouble.

In my opinion, Luther was the player of the game. He finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds in 31 minutes of play giving him a double-double. Smith, Randolph and Coleman also had solid performance, finishing in double figure points. When Luther plays with confidence he adds another much-needed dimension to this team.

The Beavers would get within four points midway in the second half, but not enough consecutive defensive stops and lights out three-point shooting from the Wildcats prevented from any sort of upset happening. They are going to be a dangerous team for the rest of conference play, mark my work. Always great to see an opponent come into McKale and put up a good fight.

For the Wildcats, they played together as team. Without Jeter, Akot and coming off a loss to Oregon they fought together as one cohesive unit and were rewarded. Coleman was also a highlight tonight, scoring his 1000th career point. Way to go J Cole! The Wildcats move to 14-5 overall and 5-1 in the Pac-12, second behind the Washington Huskies who are undefeated and playing really good basketball right now.

Relive all the highlights of this exciting Pac-12 game:

After the game, during the press conference Coach Sean Miller indicated this about Jeter:

At Zona Zealots, we want to congratulate this team on a well deserved win. They continue to prove doubters wrong. They continue to prove they are team not to be overlooked. They continue to face adversity with no problem. This team is for real. This team knows how to Bear Down!