Ristic, Markkanen lead way in easy victory over Anteaters
TUCSON, Ariz. - Dusan Ristic and Lauri Markkanen scored 18 points apiece, and No. 20 Arizona bounced back from its loss to Gonzaga by beating outmanned UC Irvine 79-57 on Tuesday night.
Ristic, who was two points shy of his career high and grabbed 10 rebounds, scored 14 in the first half. Markkanen had 13 in the second.
The Wildcats (7-2) pulled away in the final 6 1 / 2minutes of the first half and never were threatened again.
Jaron Martin scored 12 and Max Hazzard 10 for the Anteaters (4-5).
Rawle Alkins added 14 points and Kadeem Allen 12 for the Wildcats, who shot 54 percent from the field to UC Irvine’s 38 percent.
After a sluggish start, Arizona ended the first half on a 15-3 run to lead 39-23.
The Wildcats jumped out to leads of 14-5 and 16-7, but Martin’s second 3-pointer cut Arizona’s advantage to 24-20 with 6:40 left in the half. Ristic scored four of the next six points and Arizona was finally rolling.
Allen scored seven and Ristic six in the run.
Arizona led by as many as 30 points. UC Irvine’s only lead was 1-0.
A standout freshman, Markkanen was coming off the worst shooting game of his young career, when he went 4 for 14 in Saturday’s loss to Gonzaga. He was 7 of 10 against the Anteaters, including 4 of 6 on 3s.
Big picture
UC Irvine: The Anteaters lost four starters from last season’s team. They are big but not very athletic inside. If they expect to be competitive in the Big West, the Anteaters need to shoot better from long range. They went 4 of 20 on 3s against Arizona.
Arizona: The Wildcats needed a win after dropping two of their last three — to Butler and Gonzaga on neutral courts — with a tough game coming up at Missouri.