In its exhibition debut of the season, No. 12 Arizona basketball defeated Chico State 90-54 in McKale Center. Forward Ryan Anderson lead all Wildcats with a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds on an efficient 8-of-9 shooting.
“It’s an amazing environment here,” Anderson said. “There’s no place like this in the country. It gets me ready to go and we had a great day today as a team.”
The Wildcats opened the game strong on a 12-0 run before Tanner Giddings broke the Wildcats’ defense with a jumper. Chico State went on a 9-1 run to cut the lead to four later in the half.
The second half would consist of up and down basketball and many fast breaks. One thing that was evident throughout the game was Chico State’s heart who refused to go away, cutting the lead to single digits repeatedly.
It wasn’t toward the middle of the second half that Arizona put the game away, taking more than a double-digit lead.
Four Wildcats finished in double figures along with Anderson. Guard Gabe York scored 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting, five rebounds and two assists. Center Kaleb Tarczewski notched 12 points and four rebounds. Guard Allonzo Trier added 13 points and six rebounds.
“From the first day the freshmen got on campus, we really bonded,” Anderson said. “I’m really happy all the work that we put off the court to build a team shows on the court today.”
The Arizona frontcourt dominated the paint, compiling six blocks, three of which came at the hands of Anderson.
The zone defense caused some troubles to the Arizona offense in the first half as the Wildcats combined for seven turnovers in the half and 10 overall. At the same time, the Wildcats forced 20 points off Chico State’s 18 turnovers.
Arizona didn’t hit a 3-pointer until just more than 10 minutes in the second half. Overall, the Wildcats shot 2-of-13 from the arc.
Arizona shot 59 percent from the floor compared to Chico State’s 35 percent shooting.
The rebound totals were pretty even from both teams as the Wildcats had 39 compared to Chico State’s 32 rebounds.
Arizona shot 24-of-33 from the free-throw line, combining for 73 percent.
The Wildcats lead the entire game, with their largest lead being 39 points.
Isaiah Ellis and Giddings lead Chico State with eight and seven points, respectively.
