Every coach will never be completely happy with his team's performance in any game, but it was difficult to pick apart Arizona after its 96-53 win over Northern Arizona at McKale Center on Monday night.

It started with the efficiency on the offensive end for redshirt junior guard Jemarl Baker Jr. who finished the game with 33 points, a new career high. Baker hit seven 3-pointers in the game including five in the first half to have his new best scoring night in just the first half of Monday's game. Overall, the California native connected on 12 of his 16 shots in the game to lead the Wildcats.

"The last couple games my shot wasn't really falling, but I wanted to stay aggressive," Baker said after his career night. "The coaches kept telling me to stay aggressive, and they were able to fall tonight. ... I knew I was feeling good after the first shot went in. I started the game early with a layup and that felt good as well.

"We have a really unselfish team and they kept getting me the ball and I was just able to keep hitting shots."

Baker's 33 points are the most ever for a player under Sean Miller during his time as Arizona's head coach. It also was one of the most prolific shooting performances for a UA player under Miller as Baker's seven made 3-pointers was just shy of tying the single-game record that was previously reached by Gabe York back in 2016 on his senior night.

"It reminded me of that night Gabe had," Miller said. "It really did. Jemarl got red hot. I thought his teammates did a good job setting screens and recognizing that he's hot and trying to get him the ball. As a coach and staff you learn your team through game experience as well, and we probably helped Jemarl a little bit better than we have as well. Recognizing his importance and how he can shoot the ball.

"... It's hard to be a really consistent shooter when he had the role that he had on last year's team. Although it was a very important and he was a good player for us, to really get going shooting you need opportunity. He has that on this year's team. Quite frankly, our team needs him not necessarily to play exactly like he played tonight, but being a guy that plays with great offensive confidence. I don't care who we played tonight or what the score was, the way he moved and shot the ball I think speaks for itself."

It was not just that Baker was hitting most of his shots that helped the Wildcats earn a victory over the Lumberjacks. Nearly every player on the floor was able to get in on the scoring and UA rarely missed, especially in the first half when the Wildcats missed just five shots on 23 attempts.

UA shot 67% in the win over the Lumberjacks including 59% from 3-point range by making 13 of 22 shots from deep.

In all, the Wildcats had 12 players contribute on the scoring end with six different players have at least five points.

Monday night proved to be a good one for redshirt sophomore big man Jordan Brown who bounced back from an unproductive day against Eastern Washington over the weekend with his second double double of the season. He was perfect from the field as he connected on all six of his shots in addition to hitting all five of his free-throw attempts in the game.

"Jordan came ready to play," Miller said of the UA big man who fouled out of the team's win over Eastern Washington on Saturday. "He's adjusted to teams taking the charge in the post and the way the game is, as I explained after our last game. We showed him film, we talked to him.

"Tonight he slowed down a couple of times and let the defense tell him what to do. He gets the ball in and around the paint he's got a great touch. Two of the first three games he's played he's been terrific."

The Wildcats will not have too much time to enjoy the win over Northern Arizona as it is part of a stretch of three games in six days as UA will next host Cal State Bakersfield on Wednesday before playing host to UTEP on Saturday.

GAME NOTE

• Miller is not concerned about UA assistant coach Jason Terry's inconclusive COVID-19 test that kept him off the bench for the Wildcats' win on Monday.

"That's what it is, it's inconclusive," Miller said. "I think we have a lot of positive thoughts that he's fine."

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