Arizona Basketball finally returns to action against Eastern Washington

Finally, after having numerous cancellations, the Arizona Basketball team (1-0) will return to action on Saturday against Eastern Washington (0-1). 

It has been over a week since the Arizona Basketball team last took to the court, and after much ado, we finally have basketball action, as the Wildcats take on Eastern Washington.

So far what we’ve learned and are seeing in the Pandemic-Plagued 2020-21 season, is that the Wildcats always have to be ready to see their games potentially be canceled, and for them, that also means staying mentally prepared for anyone as well.

Arizona Wildcats

This past week has certainly been a challenging one for the Wildcats. After being scheduled to face UTEP and Colorado, both schools have had to cancel, and naturally, Arizona did their best to quickly reschedule those games, and luckily for us, Eastern Washington is on deck.

From the first game, we saw the Wildcats put together a solid performance in their 19-point win over Grambling State, however, we also learned that this team still has a ways to go if they are going to compete with the better teams in the Pac-12 this year.

Come this Saturday, the Wildcats will have a tough test against Eastern Washington, as the Eagles have a pretty solid team. Despite being 0-1, they did take the Washington State Cougars to the wire, losing 71-68.

Arizona has to play a more complete game this week if they hope to come away with the victory. If they are going to win, these are the Keys to the Game:

Start Fast, end strong: Last week the Wildcats did a pretty good job of taking it to Grambling State, however as we also saw, the need to end strong as well.

For this week, Arizona needs to start fast and put Eastern Washington away. This is a more competent opponent in my opinion, and it’s going to be a challenging game, to say the least.

So still with no fans in attendance, start fast, built confidence, put the Eagles away early, and coast the victory!

Lean on Akinjo  and Brown: After watching the first game against Grambling State, we learned that James Akinjo and Jordan Brown are the real deal. To me, we go as far as they go, so might as well lean on them.

They are the experienced vets here, so continue to lean on them. Granted Arizona does need to find contributors outside of those two, but if we are going to come away with the win against Eastern Washington, they are going to need to have big games as well.

Find our rotation: Last week, we didn’t see a whole lot from our bench and moving forward, that needs to change. If the Wildcats are going to not only come away with the win but also have success this season, they are going to have to find their rotation and quickly.

Unfortunately for the Wildcats, it hasn’t helped that their games in the past week have been canceled, so they couldn’t sort those things out. But with a winnable game against Eastern Washington, this is a great opportunity to settle that rotation even more, and find those extra contributors.

Game Information:

Date: Saturday, December 5th, 2020

Time: 12:00 PM MST (Arizona Time), 11:00 AM PST

Location: Tucson, AZ – McKale Center – Tucson, AZ (14,545… 0)

Line: -12.0 Arizona

Television: Pac-12 Network

Radio: Arizona IMG Sports Network Arizona Wildcats (Try TuneIn Radio)

Team Records:

• Arizona Wildcats (1-0, 0-0):  Playing their last game over a week ago, and facing many cancellations, the Wildcats return to action and look to become 2-0 in a winnable matchup.
• Eastern Washington Eagles (0-1, 0-0): After dropping their first game to Washington State, the Eagles finally return to action, looking to upset the Wildcats.

All-Time Record: Arizona is 1-0 all-time versus Eastern Washington after previously beating them 79-45 in Tucson back on December 28, 2004.

At Zona Zealots we are excited to see the Cats back in action. It should be a good game, and we of course are hoping the Wildcats can come away victorious in this one. Bear Down, Arizona!