There are going to be nights when the shooting isn’t there. Arizona’s hasn’t had many of those during its unbeaten run, but it did on Wednesday night. As long as the defensive effort remains consistent, though, the wins will keep coming. Top-ranked Arizona held Cincinnati to 30.4 percent shooting in a 77-51 win on Wednesday […]
There are going to be nights when the shooting isn’t there. Arizona’s hasn’t had many of those during its unbeaten run, but it did on Wednesday night.
As long as the defensive effort remains consistent, though, the wins will keep coming.
Top-ranked Arizona held Cincinnati to 30.4 percent shooting in a 77-51 win on Wednesday night at McKale Center. The UA outscored the Bearcats 37-13 over the final 14 minutes to improve to 19-0 overall, 6-0 in Big 12 play.
Motiejus Krivas had 17 points and nine rebounds, going 7 of 9 from the field, Brayden Burries had 12 points and 10 boards for his second career double-double. Arizona shot 42.9 percent, tied for the second-lowest accuracy of the season, but dominated the paint 48-14 and were plus-13 on the boards against a Cincinnati defense that came in ranked 7th in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency.
Cincinnati (10-9, 2-4) got 14 points from Baba Miller and 13 from Shon Abaev but it turned it over 14 times, leading to 17 points for Arizona. Former UA guard Kerr Kriisa, who returned after a 4-game absence from a shoulder injury, played just one minute for the Bearcats.
The UA led 33-27 at halftime but shot only 36.7 percent, its poorest half of shooting at McKale since the second half of last season’s loss to Houston. Cincinnati scored five straight to get within a point before starting center Moustapha Thiam was called for a flagrant foul onKrivas with 18:37 left.
That was the first of four fouls Arizona drew in under a minute, and though it only managed to make 3 of 6 free throws during that span it got into the bonus with more than 14 minutes to go.
A putback byBurries made it 38-31, and Cincinnati cut it to two twice before the Wildcats scored eight in a row with all the points coming in the paint off drives or putbacks. Two free throws by Anthony Dell’Orso, who hadn’t scored in the previous two games, got Arizona into the double bonus with 10:52 left.
Arizona maintained at least a 3-score lead the rest of the way and extended it to 58-44 with 6:18 left on a layup by Jaden Bradley off a steal and assist from Ivan Kharchenkov. Cincinnati scored on the other end and quickly called timeout, which allowed Tommy Lloyd to appeal the UA’s previous possession saying a flagrant foul had been committed.
The appeal was successful, withMiller whistled after the fact, and Krivas made both free throws, then Bradley hit a pair of foul shots. That keyed an 11-0 run to go up 69-46 with 2:54 remaining.
Arizona scored on its first five possessions, prompting Cincinnati coach Wes Miller to burn a timeout less than three minutes in. The Wildcats were up 15-6 but then went more than four minutes without scoring and more than six minutes without a basket, allowing the Bearcats to take a 20-16 lead midway through the first half.
The UA missed 11 of 13 shots at one point, with both makes byKrivas, before Koa Peat (who had 13 points) dunked to put Arizona back up 22-20.
The Wildcats built the lead back to seven but missed out on chances to extend it more off Cincinnati’s 10 first-half turnovers, making only two field goals over the final 7-plus minutes.
The UA remains home to face West Virginia on Saturday. The Mountaineers (13-6, 4-2) beat ASU 75-63 on Wednesday night and will be making their first trip to McKale Center since 1992.
Category: General Sports
