TUCSON, AZ – Facing their best competition so far in the early part of the season, the Arizona Basketball team used a big second half to spark their 90-69 win.
It was a tale of two halves in this one. After surviving a hot shooting first half by the Illinois Fighting Illini, the Arizona Basketball team was able to make adjustments to pace themselves to the 21-point victory.
Led by the stellar play of their freshmen, the Wildcats leaned heavily on Nico Mannion, Josh Green and Zeke Nnaji who had 23, 20 and 19 points respectively.
Arizona Wildcats
All off-season, we heard just how talented these youngin’s are, and on Sunday night in front of a loud and energetic McKale Center, the Wildcats had their first, marquee match-up of the 2019-20 season, taking on the visiting Fighting Illini.
From the start, the challenge was on. Illinois came out fighting, not scared of the big stage as the seemed to challenge Arizona, going tit-for-tat.
Illinois would start the game by going on a 17-10 run, but luckily the Wildcats would respond in a big way, slowly chipping away at that lead. Finally, with 11:51 to go in the first half, Arizona would gain their first lead, after a Max Hazzard lay-up to put the Cats up 18-17.
For the rest of the first half, it would be a complete back-and-forth contest, with both squads exchanging leads and buckets.
Trailing 36-32, Arizona would respond over the next few minutes, going on a 7-2 run to end the half, regaining the lead after Hazzard hit the go-ahead three-pointer to essentially end the half that put the Cats on top 39-38.
Looking to make adjustments, Arizona would enter the second half a bit more focused and a bit more prepared to slow down Illinois.
The Wildcats would open the half with a 12-5 run, but after a little offensive surge by the Fighting Illini, and Illinois would get it as close as 51-50. However, and luckily for us, the Cats were able to respond and virtually shut down Illinois from here on out.
Using a combination of speed, length and overall athleticism, and Arizona would cruise to the 21-point win, outscoring the Fighting Illini 39-19 over the next 13 minutes to pace themselves to the dominating, 90-69 win.
Nico would finish the game with a game high, 23 points and nine assists, meanwhile Green’s day would be done after adding 20 points with five rebounds and three assists.
The freshman Nnaji would look good for his second-straight game, as Zeke would finish with 19 points, five rebounds and two assists.
As for Arizona, they improve to 2-0 and will return to action on Thursday to take on San Jose State, followed by a Sunday game against New Mexico State. As always, Bear Down, Arizona!