If the Arizona men’s basketball team was looking for something to build on, blowing through the Oregon schools might have gotten the ball rolling.
The Wildcats (15-9, 8-5 Pacific 10 Conference) defeated Oregon State (10-14, 3-10) 80-58 Saturday in McKale Center to finish off a weekend sweep in Tucson, their largest defeat of a conference foe this season.
“”It’s a big thing (to win by a large margin),”” freshman forward Marcus Williams said. “”It’s good to see (walk-on freshman guard David) Bagga in the game. He hadn’t been in in a long time.””
Junior forward Ivan Radenovic continued the impressive play from Arizona’s big men, finishing with a career-high 26 points, 18 coming in the first half.
Williams said when they got the ball to Radenovic, he converted and his inside-outside ability made it tough to guard him.
“”We were able to get him the ball, and he shot a good percentage from the field too,”” Williams said. “”He was real aggressive and there aren’t a lot of (forwards) that are versatile like him who can shoot the ball.””
Not only did Radenovic lead the Wildcats in scoring, but the Belgrade, Serbia-Montenegro native pulled down seven rebounds, also a team high.
Radenovic led a frontcourt presence that Arizona head coach Lute Olson has been insisting show up for the team to be successful, as the Wildcats jammed down 44 points in the paint against the Beavers.
“”Some of the things that we talked about in terms of getting the ball inside more and
creating openings as a result of that (was impressive),”” Olson said. “”We had 35 shot attempts by our four and five men, and they shot over 50 percent, so those guys did it again.””
Radenovic wasn’t the only player to tally a career high, as sophomore guard Daniel Dillon did so with nine points in 23 minutes.
Olson said Dillon is always an aggressive defensive player, but the scoring was an added bonus for the Wildcats.
“”Defensively we can always count on a big job out of Daniel,”” Olson said. “”He was 3-of-4 from the field and the only miss was the one with the (shot) clock running down and he was forced to fire it up, so I thought he played outstandingly.””
Dillon said that he gets confidence from senior guard Hassan Adams, who always tells him to be ready for however many minutes he’s going to get a game.
“”Hassan tells me you have to be ready, be ready to perform, so I keep that in mind,”” Dillon said.
Also contributing was Adams, who struggled with his shooting but notched a career-high nine assists to go along with his eight points and four rebounds.
“”He basically had 18 (more points) if you think about, nine assists are 18 points,”” Williams said. “”(He did) what a leader does, realize it isn’t his night shooting so I’m going to distribute the ball, and he did.””
Arizona started the game much like Thursday’s contest against Oregon, going on a 10-2 run to begin the game after Williams hit his second 3-pointer.
The Wildcats let Oregon State back in the game after a triple from senior forward Nick DeWitz tied the game at 31 each with 4:10 left in the first half, but following that, Arizona went on a 23-4 run and never looked back.
The Wildcats spread time between every player suited up except freshman guard J.P. Prince, who Olson said was late to a taping session.
“”They have a set time to get tape, and he was very late for that, so that’s not our responsibility, that is his responsibility,”” Olson said.
Arizona went back to the impressive on-ball defense that started the season, forcing 25 turnovers, the most the Wildcats have caused in their 13 conference games.
“”I really wanted to pick up on my defensive intensity,”” Williams said. “”We felt like we could get in their guards, make them make tough decisions and put pressure on their point guards.””
