Ivan Radenovic scored a career-high 27 points and Marcus Williams was one point shy of his, adding a season-high 24 points to go along with nine rebounds in Arizona’s 89-75 win over Nevada-Las Vegas last night in McKale Center.
“”It’s kind of hard to play me and Marcus at the same time,”” Radenovic said. “”Because we both can play inside and outside.””
Williams, who had been working on fixing his mechanics in his perimeter shot, got rid of the kinks, making all four of his 3-pointers. UA head coach Lute Olson said Williams had been falling away on his jumper.
“”I focused on it before practice and it’s coming around nicely,”” Williams said.
Arizona (4-1) closed the first half on a 17-3 run capped by Williams’ jump shot as time expired, and the Wildcats added the first seven points to start the second half for their second largest run of the season (24-3), behind the 25-0 run against New Mexico State. Williams recovered a tipped pass from forward Chase Budinger near UNLV’s bench and let go an off-balance 3-pointer in the face of two defenders as time expired.
Arizona continued to build the edge in the second half, taking a 27-point lead over the first 10:15 of the second half, outscoring UNLV (4-2) 29-12 in that span. The Wildcats used a 1-3-1 zone and a 2-3 zone for much of the game, going to the 1-3-1 during the crucial run to end the first half.
“”It worked pretty well against them. They really didn’t figure it out until late,”” guard Mustafa Shakur said.
Shakur, in a role he has been accustomed to, dished out a season-high 11 assists, while taking just four field-goal attempts.
Budinger hit the glass, grabbing eight first-half rebounds en route to his first career double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
“”Coach O has been telling me he always wants me on the glass, and tonight I just tried to get in there as much as I could, trying to tip in balls, just going after every ball,”” Budinger said. “”It’s funny because right before going out, coach O told me, ‘You got close last game with eight rebounds,’ he told me, ‘It’s time to get a double-double.'””
The Rebels closed the gap behind the shooting of forward Joe Darger, who scored all 11 of his points in the second half. Guard Wendell White led UNLV with 18 points, and former ASU guard Kevin Kruger chipped in with 16 points. Arizona shut down UNLV’s 3-point attack, particularly in the first half, when UNLV shot 3-of-17 from 3-point range. Rebel starting guards Wink Adams and Michael Umeh combined to shoot 1-of-10 from beyond the arc.
“”I knew they were going to come to play,”” said guard Jawann McClellan, who’s next-door neighbors with Adams back in Houston. “”They’re a great team, and we came out defensively and showed them a different side. We mixed it up.””
The Wildcats held UNLV scoreless for 4:35 before Kruger made a 3-pointer with five seconds remaining in the first half. UNLV had taken a 33-29 lead, the largest deficit Arizona has faced at home this year. The Runnin’ Rebels used an 11-2 run to take the four-point lead after the Wildcats led 25-18, but wound up trailing by 10 at halftime, 46-36.
“”When we had the starters in, in the first half, and went with the 1-3-1 for a while, they were having problems finding gaps in the 1-3-1,”” Olson said. “”They tried to do the same thing New Mexico State hurt us on, and they had a hard time finding that. Our guys did a good job of matching up.””
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Guard J.P. Prince, who hasn’t been feeling well and was possibly going to be out “”for a while,”” according to Olson, said yesterday he will try to work out and maybe practice tomorrow. …The College World Series winning softball team received its national championship rings at halftime.
