Sports
Cats start to get comfortable
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| Scott A. Taras | Special to the Green Valley News Arizona point guard Nic Grigsby (right) takes Northern Arizona defender Josh Wilson off the dribble during the Wildcats’ 74-57 win over the Lumberjacks on Monday night. The Wildcats wrapped up the two-game homestand with a 84-57 win against Loyola Marymount on Tuesday night. |
By Nick Prevenas, Green Valley News
TUCSON—The learning curve is over. The real tests are just around the corner.
Since the infamous 72-71 loss to the University of Alabama-Birmingham on Nov. 18, the Arizona Wildcats (5-1) have had four games against not-so-stellar competition to regain their bearings before entering a challenging three-week stretch of hoops.
The team held up its end of the bargain, winning those four, including the last two at home against Northern Arizona and Loyola Marymount combined record: 1-12.
“These early games are big for our role players to kind of get their feet wet and figure out what it takes to compete at this level,” Nic Wise said.
Last night’s 84-57 win over the Lions (0-7) was one of Arizona’s stronger performances of the season, despite another slow start.
The “big three” took a backseat to Zane Johnson’s career night.
The sophomore sharp-shooter from Phoenix scored a game-high 17 points, including 5-9 from three-point range. Teammates constantly say that Johnson is the squad’s best pure shooter. Last night, he had a chance to show it off in a game situation.
“Never in a million years did I think I’d lead the team in scoring,” Johnson said. “But I’ve had some good days in practice and I’ve been building off that.”
Last year, a season Johnson called especially frustrating, he scored only 14 points.
Jordan Hill and Wise scored 15 apiece, with Hill adding 17 rebounds in 30 minutes of action. This was Hill’s fifth double-double in six games. He was one rebound shy against Santa Clara.
“I’m really impressed with Hill,” said acting Loyola Marymount coach Max Good. “He’s a huge presence inside and he cleans the boards both offensively and defensively.”
Loyola Marymount started out in a triangle-and-two defense, hoping to keep Chase Budinger under wraps. Head coach Russ Pennell said it took the team a few minutes to figure it out.
After scoring the game’s first basket, the Wildcats trailed for the next seven minutes, until a Budinger three-pointer from the top of the key put the Cats ahead to stay at the 12:41 mark.
Arizona opened things up with a 24-2 run to put the game away, allowing Budinger, Hill and Wise to watch most of the second half from the bench.
The hard-luck Lions were without their leading scorer/rebounded Vernon Teel, who broke his foot on Nov. 21 against Notre Dame. They’re also missing head coach Bill Bayno, who’s taking a leave of absence to deal with some medical issues.
Against the Lumberjacks (1-5), the Wildcats’ vaunted “big three” of Budinger, Hill and Wise led the way with 63 of the team’s 74 points.
“If we played in a three-on-three tournament, we’d beat just about anyone in the nation,” Pennell said.
The team shook off a rough first half (tied at 31 at intermission) to shoot 56.5 percent for the game and open up a healthy second-half lead.
Perimeter defense had been a problem for the Wildcats, especially in the closer-than-anticipated win over Santa Clara. However, Arizona put the clamps on the Lumberjacks’ outside shooters, who hit only four of 19 attempts from beyond the arc.
With these games out of the way, the Wildcats must step up against a much stiffer batch of competition.
On Friday, Arizona heads to College Station to battle the formidable Texas A&M Aggies, with star senior Josh Carter.
The Wildcats follow with a home game against San Diego State and a Desert Classic match-up with No. 5 Gonzaga next week.
A trip to Las Vegas to take on UNLV happens on Dec. 20, with defending national champs Kansas coming to Tucson two days before Christmas to cap a daunting non-conference stretch.
“We know our schedule takes a big step up the next couple weeks,” Pennell said. “It will be a real tell-tale sign to see how we play.”
Friday’s game against Texas A&M will tip off at 7:30 p.m., with Fox Sports Arizona providing TV coverage.
nprevenas@gvnews.com | 547-9747
Since the infamous 72-71 loss to the University of Alabama-Birmingham on Nov. 18, the Arizona Wildcats (5-1) have had four games against not-so-stellar competition to regain their bearings before entering a challenging three-week stretch of hoops.
The team held up its end of the bargain, winning those four, including the last two at home against Northern Arizona and Loyola Marymount combined record: 1-12.
“These early games are big for our role players to kind of get their feet wet and figure out what it takes to compete at this level,” Nic Wise said.
Last night’s 84-57 win over the Lions (0-7) was one of Arizona’s stronger performances of the season, despite another slow start.
The “big three” took a backseat to Zane Johnson’s career night.
The sophomore sharp-shooter from Phoenix scored a game-high 17 points, including 5-9 from three-point range. Teammates constantly say that Johnson is the squad’s best pure shooter. Last night, he had a chance to show it off in a game situation.
“Never in a million years did I think I’d lead the team in scoring,” Johnson said. “But I’ve had some good days in practice and I’ve been building off that.”
Last year, a season Johnson called especially frustrating, he scored only 14 points.
Jordan Hill and Wise scored 15 apiece, with Hill adding 17 rebounds in 30 minutes of action. This was Hill’s fifth double-double in six games. He was one rebound shy against Santa Clara.
“I’m really impressed with Hill,” said acting Loyola Marymount coach Max Good. “He’s a huge presence inside and he cleans the boards both offensively and defensively.”
Loyola Marymount started out in a triangle-and-two defense, hoping to keep Chase Budinger under wraps. Head coach Russ Pennell said it took the team a few minutes to figure it out.
After scoring the game’s first basket, the Wildcats trailed for the next seven minutes, until a Budinger three-pointer from the top of the key put the Cats ahead to stay at the 12:41 mark.
Arizona opened things up with a 24-2 run to put the game away, allowing Budinger, Hill and Wise to watch most of the second half from the bench.
The hard-luck Lions were without their leading scorer/rebounded Vernon Teel, who broke his foot on Nov. 21 against Notre Dame. They’re also missing head coach Bill Bayno, who’s taking a leave of absence to deal with some medical issues.
Against the Lumberjacks (1-5), the Wildcats’ vaunted “big three” of Budinger, Hill and Wise led the way with 63 of the team’s 74 points.
“If we played in a three-on-three tournament, we’d beat just about anyone in the nation,” Pennell said.
The team shook off a rough first half (tied at 31 at intermission) to shoot 56.5 percent for the game and open up a healthy second-half lead.
Perimeter defense had been a problem for the Wildcats, especially in the closer-than-anticipated win over Santa Clara. However, Arizona put the clamps on the Lumberjacks’ outside shooters, who hit only four of 19 attempts from beyond the arc.
With these games out of the way, the Wildcats must step up against a much stiffer batch of competition.
On Friday, Arizona heads to College Station to battle the formidable Texas A&M Aggies, with star senior Josh Carter.
The Wildcats follow with a home game against San Diego State and a Desert Classic match-up with No. 5 Gonzaga next week.
A trip to Las Vegas to take on UNLV happens on Dec. 20, with defending national champs Kansas coming to Tucson two days before Christmas to cap a daunting non-conference stretch.
“We know our schedule takes a big step up the next couple weeks,” Pennell said. “It will be a real tell-tale sign to see how we play.”
Friday’s game against Texas A&M will tip off at 7:30 p.m., with Fox Sports Arizona providing TV coverage.
nprevenas@gvnews.com | 547-9747
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