No. 17 Arizona Basketball rolls in Exhibition win vs Western Oregon

TUCSON, AZ – Unofficially beginning their 2022-23 season, No. 17 Arizona Basketball cruised to the 91-61 win over Western Oregon. 

It has been a long, 222 days since the Arizona Basketball team last took to the hardwood, but finally, after much anticipation, the Wildcats were back in action.

Returning to McKale Center on Tuesday evening to face Western Oregon for an Exhibition match, the Wildcats kicked off year two under head coach Tommy Lloyd.

Fueled by a collective team effort in this one, six different Wildcats finished in double-figures as Azuolas Tubelis led the way with 19 points and three rebounds on 9-16 shooting.

Arizona’s Adama Bal and Oumar Ballo even finished with 15 points and 14 points respectively!

Starting the game on an 11-3 run, the Wildcats looked sharp from the start as they used lockdown defense and transition offense to eventually build a 41-19 lead with 3:54 to play in the first half.

Unfortunately, the lead would quickly dissipate as Lloyd shuffled players and got younger guy’s reps. As a result, Western Oregon was able to cut Arizona’s lead to 42-31 after a 12-1 run just 1:43 later.

Luckily, Arizona was able to close out the half on a small run, outscoring the Wolves 6-2 to take a comfortable, 48-33 halftime lead.

Controlling the first half, Arizona Basketball would use a late surge in the second  half to run away with the 30-point win.

Hoping to keep their momentum going in the second half, unfortunately, the Wildcats started slow as Western Oregon was able to stay step-for-step with Arizona.

Beginning the half by outscoring Arizona 11-7 over the first 4:23 of the second half, the Wolves were able to cut Arizona’s lead to 55-44.

Fortunately for us, the Wildcats locked in and tightened things up as they quelled the Wolves’ scoring run and began to open the game up.

Once again using stifling defense and transition offense, Arizona was able to outscore Western Oregon 36-17 over the final 15:48 to play to eventually come away with the 91-61 win.

With the win, the Wildcats start the season off on the right foot with a dominant exhibition win; however, now the real work begins when the Wildcats officially kick off the 2022-23 season with a matchup against Nicholls State on November 7. Tip-off is slated for Monday at 7:30 PM MST.

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