Arizona Basketball dominates in road win over Washington
SEATTLE, WA – Travelling up to the Pacific Northwest, the Arizona Basketball team came away with the dominating, 80-53 win over Washington!
It was another well-balanced effort for Arizona Basketball (8-1, 2-1), as the Wildcats had four players finish in double-figures, helping to propel them to the 27-point win over the host, Washington Huskies.
Freshman wing Ben Mathurin and junior forward Jordan Brown led the way, combining for 25 points and 13 rebounds, in what was another complete-team effort from Arizona.
Arizona Wildcats
Coming into this game, the Wildcats were favored to win by eight-and-a-half, but I had felt a lot would be contingent on how the Wildcats would respond, especially just days after learning that the school decided to self-impose a postseason ban for 2020-21.
While maybe difficult for some to find motivation, especially when you virtually have nothing to play for now, coming into Friday’s game against the Huskies, the Wildcats showed a lot of fight in their win.
From the start, Arizona was ready and focused. The team came out firing on all cylinders, hitting their shots and showed great ball movement.
In the first half, Arizona looked good in all facets. They outrebounded the Huskies by a 28-15 margin, they scored seven points off turnovers, had 11, second-chance points, and 19 bench-points.
Holding Washington to just 21 percent shooting in the first half, it was a dominant effort, especially as the Wildcats climbed out to a 42-28 lead.
In the second half, it was more of the same for the Cats. Despite going ice cold from the field, Arizona held Washington to 18 percent shooting and continued to dominate the glass as well as the paint, sealing the win, and looking impressive in the process.
Following the win, a few Wildcats spoke at length about the win, as well as the news of the postseason ban.
Luckily for us, it seems that despite the bad news, the team is still very motivated to prove themselves, and will look to finish the season by playing with a bit of a chip on their shoulder.
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With the win, Arizona now moves to 8-1 (2-1) on the season, with a big showdown against Washington State looming. Hopefully, the Wildcats will be ready and will come away victorious. As always, Bear Down, Arizona!