No let down for UA in rout for 6-0 start
All the ingredients for a little holiday weekend snooze were lined up perfectly: Two big wins in Las Vegas, a new national ranking, two off days and even a traditional Thanksgiving meal.
The Arizona Wildcats had no such interest. In a 105-59 win over Sacramento State on Saturday at McKale Center, they were the same Wildcats they’ve quickly become under new coach Tommy Lloyd en route to a perfect November.
That is, fast, selfless, physical and dominant inside, even on an evening when center Christian Koloko received a minor scare when he went down with a sprained ankle in the second half.
Before he left after just four minutes of the second half, Koloko had 20 points on 8-for-10 shooting plus seven rebounds and one block while forward Azuolas Tubelis went for 22 points on 9for-13 shooting. Lloyd said he believed Koloko’s injury was not serious and Koloko is expected to play in UA’s Pac-12 opener on Thursday against Washington.
The Wildcats (6-0) also had three other players in double-figure scoring, with Pelle Larsson scoring 17 on 6-for-7 shooting off the bench in his best game of the season.
Along the way, UA also dished a typically generous 31 assists for their 38 made field goals. It was the first time Arizona had 30 assists in a game in over two decades, since the Wildcats had 30 against Washington State on Feb. 10, 2001.
“It’s just the way we play and the chemistry that we have,” Larsson said. “We just like playing with each other. We like passing it to each other and if a guy has an open shot, we don't mind giving up a good one to get a great one.”
All that made it clear the Wildcats were not fat and happy, even if they might have been for a moment or two earlier in the week during practices that followed their Main Event championship win over Michigan and two ensuing days off.
“We got after it in practice for a few days and I was on the guys hard,” Lloyd said. “We addressed things I felt needed addressing and if I thought they were casual, I let them know. That's coaching and that's how the seasons roll.
“I think one of the biggest things you’ve got to compete against is human nature and our guys did a great job with that tonight.”
As a result, there was no suspense. The Wildcats led 47-22 at halftime and then started the half on a 15-0 run, keeping fans standing through the first media timeout because the Hornets couldn’t even score for the first four minutes of the second half.
Only then, briefly, did the Wildcats let up, with Sacramento State going on a 9-0 run thanks in part to turnovers from Tubelis and Bennedict Mathurin.
“That probably had to do with getting stagnant a little bit on offense and bad offense led to bad defense,” Lloyd said.
The Wildcats not only held the Hornets to just 35.8% shooting to that point but also kept them from putting back all but one of their 32 first missed shots.