The University of Arizona men’s basketball team(19-9, 13-4 in Big 12) cruised to a 83-66 victory against the University of Utah (15-13, 7-10 in Big 12) in a home game matchup on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. in McKale.
Caleb Love led Arizona with an impressive 23 points, nailing 6-of-12 shots from the 3-point line. Three Wildcats ended the game with 12 points apiece including Henri Veesaar, Jaden Bradley and Tobe Awaka. Awaka led defensively with 10 rebounds
First half
While Utah earned the first points of the game, Arizona did not wait long to make its presence known. Utah held tight defense on Wildcat guards, aware of their shooting capabilities. Awaka, a junior forward for Arizona, was vital down low, collecting rebounds and posting up against Utah’s forwards.
Off the bench, Trey Townsend, Carter Byrant and KJ Lewis had valuable efforts. Townsend was able to bring down boards and steals early on in his minutes while Lewis and Bryant earned easy points for the Wildcats with layups and free throws.
“It’s a team game. We can’t just be dependent on one guy, and you know, we’ve never tried to be dependent on one guy,” head coach Tommy Lloyd said.
Utah tried to maintain the growing gap with a 3-pointer from Mason Madsen, shrinking the lead down to 25-16.
“[Mason] Madsen is a heck of a player,” Lloyd said. “That dude is moving all the time. The degree of difficulty of some of his shots that he hit were impressive.”
Utah sought outside shot opportunities after finding little success against Veesaar and Awaka down low. However, the Hawks could not keep up with Arizona’s dominant offense, trailing by as much as 16 in the first half.
Lawson Lovering, a forward for Utah, was one of the few on its team to find openings down low. His height served as a big asset standing at 7-foot-1 beneath the hoop. He ended the night with 6 points and 10 rebounds.
Bryant was able to find openings from around the arc with a huge three for Arizona followed by a block.
During a media timeout, the football team came out to introduce this season’s team, tossing shirts to fans in the stadium. Football head coach, Brent Brennan, was seen before the game handing out pizzas to students in the crowd. Support from other Arizona athletic departments is huge when approaching the end of inaugural seasons.
Nearing the final minutes of the first half, Arizona amped up their energy on the floor, diving for loose balls and earning crowd-reacting lay-ups and dunks.
Despite Arizona’s dominant presence on the court, Utah was still able to slip in points. It was made difficult for them to stay in the game with continuous 3-point makes from Love, who racked up 17 points throughout the first half. He shot 4-for-7 from beyond the arc and also contributed three rebounds and three assists.
As the half came to an end, Arizona remained in the lead 46-32.
Second half
Arizona started out the second half giving up fouls, allowing Utah to earn shots from the charity stripe. Awaka continued to bring down boards as Dell’Orso found success down low offensively.
Utah was held scoreless until the third minute into the second half off of a free throw. Arizona had held them to 32.
Love’s hands stayed hot in the second half, draining a 3-point early on, already having proven himself a threat from the outside.
“When he’s on, he’s on. And he was on tonight,” said interim head coach for Utah, Josh Eilert.
A few minutes of play were rushed and uncontrolled on Arizona’s end. Townsend earned a foul off of an attempted shot by Utah, followed up with another foul forced by Lewis. A turnover led to this series of events. During this period, both teams played physically as Utah gained fouls too.
However, Arizona kept a steady double-digit lead, growing its advantage to 23 points midway through the second period. Bradley was consistent in bringing the ball up the court and finding Veesaar down low who was able to draw fouls and earn shots from the line.
Nearly halfway through the second quarter, Bryant found Love off of a rebound and Love sank another 3-pointer for the Wildcats. On top of points, Love created openings for players like Veesaar down low to secure baskets for Arizona.
Veesaar ended the night with seven rebounds and partnered with Awaka down low who was also dominant defensively with 10 rebounds as they were a deadly duo against the Hawks.
Despite Utah’s continuous offensive attempts to close the gap between Arizona, the Utes weren’t able to pull into the lead at any period in the game. Arizona did a good job in moving the ball around the court to create opportunities for various players. Additionally, ball movement opened up shots for Bradley who usually accredits assists throughout the game.
Utah, desperate for baskets, pushed through the Wildcats’ defense and earned fouls that put them on the line where the Utes were able to earn limited points.
As the game neared its end, Arizona continued to dominate the board both offensively and defensively. Veesaar found a 3-pointer in the last minute of play to secure the Wildcat’s 83-66 victory.
Looking ahead
The Wildcats look to head on the road to face No. 9 Iowa State University for their second time this season on Saturday, March 1 at 7 p.m. in the Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa. This matchup will mark Arizona’s third to last game until the beginning of March Madness. Selection Sunday commences on March 16 at 4 p.m. MST on CBS.
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