After a narrow loss to Tennessee its last time on the floor, No. 8 Arizona took the game over late against Washington Monday night to get itself back in the win column with a 95-79 victory at McKale Center.
The Wildcats’ ability to dominate was on full display throughout Monday’s game as Arizona (12-1, 2-0 Pac-12) had four out of five starters score at least 10 points and three starters score at least 20 points.
UA guard Dalen Terry also managed to record a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds and was two assists away from recording a triple-double.
Even though the Wildcats were in control in the first half, they turned over the ball 10 times in comparison to Washington’s two. The Huskies (5-6, 0-1) were able to capitalize off those opportunities and get 17 points off of Arizona’s turnovers in the first 20 minutes.
Washington’s zone defense created some issues for the Wildcats, but ultimately Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd was happy with the outcome despite his team’s 21 turnovers.
“Playing against them is a pain,” Lloyd said of the matchup against Washington. “I know obviously they haven’t gotten off to a great start this year, but I think they’re a better team than their record indicates. They’re a pain. That zone.
“... They do an unbelievable job of creating turnovers when you’re trying to pass inside the zone and then when you’re trying to pass from inside to outside the zone. And, you can’t simulate it at practice. Hopefully it was a great learning experience for our guys.”
Coming out of the gate firing, Arizona started off hot against Washington shooting 5 for 5 from the field and 4 for 4 from the 3-point line.
Sophomore Benn Mathurin took the reins in the first half, putting up 13 points while also contributing three rebounds. As a team, Arizona shot 60% from the field and 47% from the 3-point line in the first half. He finished with a team-high 27 points.
The Wildcats also felt the presence of point guard Kerr Kriisa, who helped out by dropping 12 first-half points with nine of those coming from the 3-point line. The sophomore finished the night with 21 points and three assists.
“I’ve never worried when Kerr puts up too many shots,” Lloyd said. “I’ve seen him make a bunch of them. When you play the way Kerr does, there has to be some mutual respect within that coach-player relationship and I got to give him freedom,”
The second half started off a little slower for the Wildcats though with them starting off shooting only 50% from the field. However, as the half went on the Wildcats started shooting better, particularly a player like Kriisa who built on a stellar first half.
“Every game is also different I would say,” Kriisa said. “Obviously everybody in the country knows that Washington plays zone. We started off good. We made shots, and then their zone moved up so we had more chances to get the ball inside and find those good angles to score inside. I think it was really big for us that we started off good after these three games that we didn’t start off that good. So for sure it was a good win for us.”
Mathurin put the team on his back in the second half, leading the Wildcats in scoring with 14 points off of 5 for 9 shooting from the field over the final 20 minutes. Defensively, Christian Koloko had seven second-half rebounds giving him 10 total rebounds for the game to go with 22 points.
"I think in the first half it was working both ways, inside and outside,” Koloko said. “I think we were scoring a lot inside, and our guards were doing a good job shooting the ball. So every time they’re gonna shoot the ball we don’t have any problem with that. We’re OK with Kerr shooting every time, because we know he’s gonna make it. So, it wasn’t a big issue for us having the guards shooting the ball.
Shortly after Arizona’s win over Washington it was announced that the team’s next game would be postponed. The Wildcats had been scheduled to play in-state rival Arizona State this Saturday in Tempe, but “health and safety protocols” for the Sun Devils will prevent the matchup from taking place.
The two teams will work with the Pac-12 on rescheduling the game for later in the season. As it stands now, Arizona’s next game is not set to take place until Jan. 13 at home against Colorado.
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