After having a dominating effort inits opening win, No. 10 Arizona was looking to stay on the winning path Saturday against Old Dominion in the second ever meeting between these two programs. The Wildcats jumped out to an 11-0 lead before giving up the first ODU basket of the game at the 16:10 mark. UA went on to steamroll the Monarchs 102-44 to secure the victory.
The theme of the night for Arizona was attacking the paint early and often as the team racked up 58 paint points. The Wildcats were led by transfer Tobe Awaka, who was all over the court with his 18 points, 15 rebounds, two blocks and a steal.
It seemed that every 50/50 ball not only went Arizona's way but that it was Awaka who was the player coming up with the ball. He was diving all over the floor and banging around in the post fighting for the tough bucket.
In a game where its completly one sided line on Saturday, you will find many area where the Wildcats dominated in the stat sheet. Arizona has able to put together a stout defensive effort by holding ODU to 32% shooting from the field while forcing 18 turnovers that led to 23 points on the other end.
A total of eight different Wildcats came away with a steal showing off the defensive effort and capability of this roster. The Wildcats were able to get their hands in the passing lane and have multiple players that could do this throughout the long season.
As a starting lineup, Arizona scored 52 points on the night and went 22 of 41 from the field for a 54% mark as a unit. Plus as a group, they had just three turnovers for the game.
After seeing just 10 minutes in the first game against Canisius, center Motiejus Krivas saw his minutes increase to 12 minutes, which might have been higher if the game didn't get out of hand quickly.
During that time, Krivas was efficient scoring six points and 1 of 3 shooting from the field while collecting six rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two steals showing his impact all over the court.
Arizona will now have just under a week to prepare to hit the road and take on Wisconsin with the game set for 7 p.m. (MST) on Peacock.
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