PHOENIX, AZ – No. 4 Arizona men's basketball (9-1) narrowly escaped Alabama (6-5) in the Footprint Center, and there's a lot to take away from the game
No. 4 Arizona Basketball took a short road trip to Phoenix to play in the Jerry Colangelo Hall of Fame Series against Alabama at the Footprint Center. Though the Wildcats took an 87-74 win against the Crimson Tide, nothing about it was pretty until halfway through the second period in this "gotta-have-it" win.
Weaknesses exposed
Alabama, a currently unranked team that started the season at No. 24 in the AP Poll and rose as high as No. 17 in Week 3, gave the Wildcats a run for their money. The Wildcats started the game ice cold, which allowed the Crimson Tide to jump out to an early 9-0 lead before three minutes had passed.
Caleb Love had his third cold night of the season, posting a final stat line of 3-11 from the field and 0-4 from beyond the arc. He finished the night with 13 points, and 7 of those points came from the free-throw line. Even 3-11 is inflating his offensive performance, considering he went 1-9 from the field in the first 37 minutes of the game. Pair this with his three turnovers and a team-lead-tying four personal fouls, and we get an all-around middling performance.
Oumar Ballo, despite posting a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds, exposed a glaring weakness in his game. As the announcers were quick to point out, Alabama deployed the "hack-a-Shaq" strategy against Ballo. Though he went 6-10 from the charity stripe, his misses came in big moments and his shots tended to clunk off the front of the rim.
Role players stepping up
The biggest names often heard when discussing the Wildcats (Keshad Johnson, Ballo, and Love) took a back seat in favor of guards Pelle Larsson and Kylan Boswell.
Larsson stole the show for the Wildcats and filled up the stat sheet. He logged a season-high 38 minutes against the Crimson Tide where he scored a team-leading 16 points and shot a team-leading 50% from the field. He also hauled in six rebounds, posted three steals and two assists, and blocked a team-leading two shots while only turning the ball over once. Larsson's 16 points were his second-highest total of the season, behind only his 21-point career day against No. 23 Wisconsin, and tied for the third-highest scoring total in his career.
Boswell also tied his second-highest totals this season in both minutes (33 vs. No. 23 Wisconsin) and points (15 vs. UT Arlington). The sophomore stepped into the shoes vacated by Kerr Kriisa at the beginning of the season and has proven himself ever since. Boswell posted a career-high five steals against the Crimson Tide while also dishing out three assists.
Young newcomers Jaden Bradley and KJ Lewis each made a solid case for more play time, as well. Lewis, a first-year freshman, had a standout game. Alongside his 9 points, he snagged four rebounds, dealt out two assists, and logged three steals. The most impressive part of it all is that he did all this in just 23 minutes and was the only Wildcat to not turn the ball over. Bradley, a sophomore who transferred in from Alabama last offseason, posted a mere 4 points. However, he dished out two assists, tallied a steal, and hauled in two rebounds in just 17 minutes.
Looking ahead
Though an ugly win is always preferable to a well-executed loss, the 'Cats still have room to improve. Ballo should work on his free throws to make a team pay for trying to "hack-a-Shaq" him, Love needs to find a way to get into a scoring rhythm earlier in the game, and the whole team has to play more in-control to limit fouls.
They aren't through their gauntlet non-conference slate just yet and still have one more game against No. 14 Florida Atlantic on Saturday, Dec. 23. If Arizona can escape the first part of the season with only one blemish against one of the top three teams in the country in Purdue, they will be set up extremely favorably. If the Wildcats can exert their will over a Pac-12 that is much more lackluster than in years past, their chances at a No. 1 seed come March look promising.
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