Major Takeaways in the Arizona Basketball win over NAU

TUCSON, AZ – Kicking off the Tommy Lloyd era of Arizona Basketball, we look at the major takeaways in the Wildcats’, dominant win!

The 2021-22 Arizona Basketball season officially kicked off Tuesday night in Tucson, as the Wildcats took on in-state foe Northern Arizona.

Arizona came away with the big win, outpacing the visiting Lumberjacks 81-52 to begin the Tommy Lloyd era of Arizona Basketball.

Overall, the Wildcats looked pretty sharp in their dominant win, as the Cats did it on both ends of the floor, holding the Lumberjacks to just 42.3 percent (28.6 percent from three). Arizona also didn’t have their best shooting night but came away with the 29-point win.

So with the 2021-22 Arizona Basketball season officially underway following their win over NAU, these were the major takeaways.

Arizona Basketball has enough talented scorers that anyone could have a big night

Leading the Wildcats in scoring with 17 points on Tuesday evening, Kerr Kriisa arguably shined the brightest in the Wildcats’ win. The was despite him just shooting the ball ‘okay’.

Outside of Kerr was Azuolas Tubelis scoring 13, and Dalen Terry scoring 11 as well. No one shot the ball that well on Tuesday evening, and assuming Arizona doesn’t have too many nights like that, virtually anyone can go off.

Dalen Terry is going to be a big surprise this season:

One of the more pleasant surprises from Tuesday evening was the play of Dalen Terry. A highly sought-after recruit in the 2020 class, Dalen is finally coming into his own as a player and that is a great thing for the Cats.

Against NAU, he was stellar, doing it on both ends of the floor! He would finish his evening with 11 points and seven assists, and if he can continue to have that kind of impact, he is going to be a valuable piece to the Wildcats in 2021-22.

Christian Koloko and Oumar Ballo were a big presence down low:

Dominating the paint both on offense and defense was Christian Koloko and Oumar Ballo. Together, the two combined for 16 points, 13 rebounds, and seven blocks in 34 minutes of game action.

Granted I don’t see them having that kind of production every night as Arizona had the clear size advantage down low against NAU, but the two showed a lot of potential and should provide a big paint presence for the Cats.

Ben Mathurin still has off games:

Still facing some of the same struggles that he had last year, Ben Mathurin would occasionally have nights where he just wasn’t as sharp, or where shots weren’t falling. On Tuesday, we saw that again from Ben.

Finishing the night with eight points and five rebounds on 2-13 shooting, Ben is going to have to play much better if the Cats are going to go deep this season. And it will also be very interesting to see how he responds in the next game.