A late-arriving McKale Center crowd was met with a late-arriving Wildcats offense, as it took Arizona men’s basketball some time to heat up against Bradley on Monday night.
Once the UA got going, there was no slowing down the Wildcats in what turned out to be a 90-60 rout over the Braves. The win marked Arizona’s 40th consecutive win at McKale.
Coming off a rough opening outing, freshman Allonzo Trier led Arizona with 22 points. The former McDonald’s All-American slashed to the hoop all night, repeatedly drawing contact and getting to the line.
The charity stripe was where Trier found most of his success, as he made all 14 of his freebies.
“He just has a knack of being able to get to the line,” Arizona head coach Sean Miller said. “He’s very effective on the offensive end. What he has to learn how to do is pick and choose the right times to [draw contact].”
The 14 free throws made by Trier were two shy of the school record set by former Wildcat point guard Jerryd Bayless.
Four other Wildcats scored in double digits, including 15 points from Ryan Anderson and an 11-point, seven-rebound performance from Kaleb Tarczewski.
Although the score depicts a decisive blowout, it wasn’t until early in the second half that Arizona flipped the switch offensively.
The opening half was dominated by foul calls and sluggish play, which prevented the Wildcats from finding much of a rhythm.
Arizona opened the game with a 7-2 run before Bradley responded with a mini-run of its own to tie the game at seven all.
Midway through the half, the Wildcats attempted to put some distance between themselves and the Braves, but once again Bradley kept things close by forcing contact and keep Arizona’s defense on edge.
With five minutes remaining in the first half, Arizona led 30-24. The lead fell to 35-33 with two minutes remaining before the UA ended the half with a pair of layups.
Bradley, playing a zone defense, held the Wildcats to 50 percent shooting in the half. However, Arizona made just 1-9 attempts from behind the arc.
While the fouls continued in the second half, the UA opened the game up by attacking Bradley inside.
Arizona heated up in the opening minutes of the second half, making four of its first six attempts. With 16:07 to go, Trier made a pair of free throws to push the lead to 50-39, giving the Wildcats their first double-digit lead since the 10:28 mark of the first half.
Arizona would hold onto a double-digit margin the rest of the night.
“The final margin was really a tale of two games,” Miller said. “A first half game and a second half game.”
A 12-2 run midway through the second half cushioned the Wildcats’ lead and the margin grew to 64-44 by the 10-minute mark.
The UA didn’t attempt its first 3-point attempt of the second half until the 8:44 mark, when Gabe York buried two straight treys from the right corner. A minute later, York assisted Parker Jackson-Cartwright for a 3-pointer of his own.
The long-range barrage pushed the lead to 77-50 with seven minutes to go.
By the final media timeout, the Wildcats were up 87-56 and most of the starters had checked out.
Arizona now has a few days off before it hosts Boise State on Thursday.
