ANAHEIM, California — There's no letting up this week for Arizona and it has had to find that out on back-to-back nights in Anaheim. After the Wildcats (8-0) needed a game-saving shot from Nico Mannion to take down Pepperdine Thursday night, UA leaned on its freshman point guard once again in a tough battle with Penn during a semifinal matchup at the Wooden Legacy tournament Friday night.
The Quakers closed what was a 17-point lead down to four points with three minutes left to play at Anaheim Arena, but an important jump shot from Mannion created some separation and eventually helped the Wildcats pull away to earn a 92-82 victory over a pesky Penn squad.
Mannion finished with a career-high 24 points in the victory that helped secure the Wildcats' spot in the tournament final set for Sunday against Wake Forest. The UA point guard was the hero Thursday night after his game-winning bucket and he was tasked with keeping his team out front Friday night as the Quakers were able to keep clawing away by way of some hot 3-point shooting.
The UA freshman responded by hitting some difficult shots throughout the night including making seven of his eight attempts in the final 20 minutes.
"I was just trying to be aggressive and trying to make the right play," Mannion said of his impressive night from the floor in which he only missed three shots. "I hit a couple and started feeling good, but we were just playing well together. We were pushing the ball in transition and I think that's when we're at our best.
"I was getting good looks and we were all getting good looks, so it just made it that much easier."
Along with Mannion, the Wildcats were able to take advantage of their size and how teams have started to play Zeke Nnaji by getting senior big man Chase Jeter involved in the offense after a slow start to his final year. He finished with 19 points and six rebounds on an efficient night that featured only one missed shot from the veteran center.
"I really got on him," UA head coach Sean Miller said about Jeter. "Last night he played 26 minutes and and didn't have a rebound and I didn't think he was playing what he was capable of. Tonight he was 8 for 9 from the floor and he had six rebounds. He was really important to us winning."
As much as Arizona was able to get some impressive performances on the offensive end of the floor, the Wildcats continued to struggle with their defense. That was especially the case when guarding the perimeter against Penn. For the second straight night the Wildcats surrendered 13 made 3-point shots as the Quakers were hot from deep in the second half connecting on 10 of those attempts in the final 20 minutes alone.
UA simply didn't have an answer for Penn's perimeter shooting and it led to the comeback attempt late in the game. For Miller, there is an understanding that his team is just fine offensively after scoring 90 points for the fifth time this season but he remains concerned about how his group is performing on the other end of the floor.
"I've never seen so many threes go in in two days," Miller said after Friday night's game. "We've given up 26 made threes in two games, 10 in the second half today. Some of it is clearly who we're playing. Some of it is our defense, we have to get better. ... We're gonna only go as far as our defense improves.
"Who we are today, can we be better two days from now? There were segments in tonight's game that we were far better than we were last night against Pepperdine, but being able to sustain it for 40 minutes, sustain it when we sub throughout long stretches. I would say our defense is really like peaks and valleys."
UA has been challenged through its first two games away from McKale Center and the Wildcats know they have to be better with more challenging opponents on the schedule in the coming weeks.
"I think we need to do a better job defensively," Jeter said about how the team has adjusted to being out of its normal routine away from home. "... It's kind of time and situation, knowing the scouting report. We've got quick turnarounds in tournaments like this with two games on back-to-back days, but we've got some time here to scout for our next game and we're gonna make sure that we're better prepared defensively."
Wake Forest knocked off Long Beach State earlier in the day Friday setting up the championship game against the Wildcats. It is a matchup Arizona is looking forward to when it takes the floor Sunday evening at Anaheim Arena.
"We have a lot of room for growth, but I think the biggest point is our team is really excited about playing Wake Forest for a championship," Miller said. "I'm sure Wake Forest is very excited as well. We've been at this for a while and to win the fist two is something we're proud of and we have to be ready to go here on Sunday."
Tip off for the Wooden Legacy championship game is set for 7 p.m. MST at Anaheim Arena.
