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WHAT IS PRODUCTIVITY RATING?:
PP: Productivity Points (Points, assists, rebounds, steals, blocked shots, FGs made, FTs made added together and then subtracted by missed FGs, missed FTs, personal fouls and turnovers)
MIN: Minutes played overall
PR: Productivity rating per minute played (Productivity points divided by minutes played)
ARIZONA 66, DREXEL 62
PRODUCTIVITY RATING
* — STARTERS
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Nick Johnson has been a star thus far early in the season 4 Arizona – key reason for the big comeback vs Drexel .
— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) November 28, 2013
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Former Duke guard Jay Williams, an ESPN college basketball studio analyst, said during tonight’s broadcast of the NIT Season Tip-Off that junior Nick Johnson “is the glue that keeps things together for Arizona”.
As for Williams, that was a foul against Jason Gardner in the 2001 national title game when he rode Gardner like a body board … but I digress.
Johnson, Arizona’s productivity leader in four consecutive games after Wednesday’s performance against a gritty Drexel team, hopes to make Williams’ alma mater and legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski come unglued again Friday night in the championship at Madison Square Garden.
ARIZONA-DUKE SERIES
*-Steel Bowl Tournament; **-EA Sports Maui Invitational; ***-NCAA title game; ****-NCAA West Regional semifinal
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The West Coast vs. East Coast rivalry between Arizona and Duke will add another chapter after Arizona’s dominating 93-77 win in the 2011 Sweet 16. That rout should fuel Coach K’s fire to not allow Sean Miller to beat his team decisively again. Krzyzewski is 29 years Miller’s senior in the coaching profession.
Miller held serve against Krzyzewski after losing to the Blue Devils 82-64 as head coach at Xavier in 2008.
The Arizona-Duke series is tied 4-4. The schools have not scheduled each other directly since 1991. They have met in the Maui Invitational and NCAA tournament (including the 2001 national championship game won by Duke 82-72) since that year.
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In honor of his first-career double-double … #APlayersProgram pic.twitter.com/FOfp3gthjJ
— Arizona Basketball (@APlayersProgram) November 28, 2013
Johnson has established himself as the leader of this team in the same mold that Sean Elliott, Damon Stoudamire, Miles Simon and Jason Terry took over.
Nick Johnson
Johnson does it on both ends and through difficult circumstances. He made only 1 of 6 from three-point range and was out of sync on the perimeter. But he made 4 of 6 shots in the paint on aggressive drives. He also pulled down five rebounds, led the team with 20 points, and tallied four assists with only two turnovers in 36 minutes.
Defensively, Johnson was solid against Drexel leading scorer Chris Fouch despite Fouch’s 29 points. Fouch needed 27 shots to score that much. He was 3 of 11 from three-point range.
“Nick Johnson is one heck of a defender,” Miller said in the postgame press conference. “He’s defended a lot of terrific players. Chris I know shot 27 times — you have to be a talented basketball player to shoot 27 times, especially when Nick is guarding.”
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ARIZONA OVERALL PRODUCTIVITY RATING
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ARIZONA PAC-10/12
PLAYERS OF THE YEAR:
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Tarczewski notched his first career double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds in 29 minutes. He bounced back from an unsettling first half when he was turnover prone (he finished with four). He also posted four blocked shots.
Tarczewski showed he is more assertive … and mean. He was whistled for a technical foul in the second half for a demonstrative Rob Gronkowski-like slam dunk in which he hung on the rim.
“A year ago, he couldn’t have put a first half behind him like that,” Miller said of Tarczewski’s error-prone first half. “I think if he shows his growth as a player, a big reason we won is because of him, it was good job to see him fight through the first half.”
ARIZONA SCHEDULE/PRODUCTIVITY RESULTS
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WILDABOUTAZCATS.net publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He also writes articles for Bleacher Report, Lindy’s College Sports and TucsonCitizen.com.
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