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MORE COVERAGE FROM ALLSPORTSTUCSON.COM:
— The Productivity Report after Arizona’s 79-61 season-opening win over Pacific
— Reactions following Arizona’s game with Pacific
— Bradley, with the youngest team in college basketball, will try to snap the nation’s longest active home winning streak (39 games) when it visits No. 12 Arizona tonight. With a 12-man active roster that includes 10 freshmen, Bradley overcame an eight-point deficit in the final 6:30 Friday night to open its season with a 54-53 home win against Ball State (coached by former Arizona assistant James Whitford).
— Arizona boasts four seniors with 394 games games of combined NCAA Division I playing experience, the most number of individual games played by a senior class this early in a season in program history. Bradley’s roster totals 136 total career games played, 128 from two players.
— Whitford undoubtedly shared notes about Bradley in the last couple of days with his former boss Sean Miller. He must have told him how active the Braves’ young players on defense.
— Facing a 45-37 deficit, Bradley came out of a media timeout with 7:29 remaining with five
freshmen on the floor and the Braves rode those rookies to a 54-53 victory. The freshman quintet of forward Callum Baker, guard Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye, guard Joel Okafor, guard Ronnie Suggs and forward Luuk van Bree played out the final 7:29 together.
— After coming up with a pair of blocked shots on consecutive possessions on the defensive end,
van Bree, of The Netherlands, drained 3-pointers on consecutive Bradley possessions to complete a run, giving the Braves a 50-47 lead with 3:18 left. Lautier-Ogunleye, who hails from London, England, scored a game-high 18 points, grabbed eight rebounds and had three assists, while Barker just missed a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds.
— “They started changing defenses on us,” Whitford said in a release. “They started pressing a little bit late, and they went a little bit of zone. I thought we attacked it great a couple times. We got the ball right to the rim and they had a couple spectacular blocks. We were able to attack their pressure, but we couldn’t finish at the rim. At the other end van Bree hit a couple big 3’s when we really had a chance to open up the game.”
— On performance of Lautier-Ogunleye: “They put the ball in his hands and put him in position to make plays off pick and rolls. They were having a really tough time scoring, and they put the ball in his hands and he was in attack mode. His getting to the free throw line 15 times was the difference in the game.”
— Bradley junior guard Alex Foster, who transferred from Texas Tech after last season, must sit out this year. Foster can at least share his McKale Center experience with his young teammates of when he played with the Red Raiders on Dec. 3, 2013, in a game won by the Wildcats 79-58. Foster played only two minutes off the bench and did not score. Off that Arizona team, only two years ago, the only scholarship players remaining are Kaleb Tarczewski, Gabe York and Elliott Pitts.
— The Wildcats have not lost at home since Pac-12 rival Cal exited McKale Center with a 77-69 victory Feb. 10, 2012. Arizona has won 25 straight non-conference home games, a streak started after Bucknell earned a 65-54 victory against the Wildcats March 14, 2012 in the first round of the 2012 NIT. The non-conference home winning streak is the seventh-longest active streak in the nation.
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BRADLEY (1-0) VS. NO. 12 ARIZONA (1-0)
Tip Time: 6:02 p.m. MST
TV: Pac-12 Network (Kevin Calabro/Matt Muehlebach)
Radio: Arizona IMG Sports Network (Brian Jeffries/Ryan Hansen)
Series: Bradley leads, 7-3
In Tucson: Arizona leads, 3-2
Current Streak: Arizona won 1
Sean Miller vs. Bradley: Never Met
Last Meeting: UA W (3OT), 85-83 in Tucson
Feb. 3, 1965
Site founder and award-winning sports journalist Javier Morales has published his first e-book, “The Highest Form of Living”, a fiction piece about a young man who overcomes a troubled upbringing without his lost father (a Vietnam War POW) and wayward mother through basketball and hope. His hope is realized through the sport he loves. Basketball enables him to get past his fears. His experience on the court indirectly brings him closer to his parents in a unique, heartfelt way. Please order it at Amazon (for only $4.99) by clicking on the photo:
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)
SEASON PRODUCTIVITY RATING
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Alternate Grey @nikebasketball uniforms tonight. #Nike pic.twitter.com/9a8I9CZml2
— Arizona Basketball (@APlayersProgram) November 16, 2015
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— When Arizona last lost at McKale Center 33 months ago, freshman guard Allonzo Trier was a sophomore in high school representing Tulsa (Okla.) NOAH (Northeast Oklahoma Association of Homeschools). He went on to play for Montrose Christian School in Rockville, Md., as a junior and then Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nev., as a senior a year ago. Yes, a lot has happened since Arizona last lost in Tucson.
HOW ARE THEY DOING?
Present RPI ranking of non-conference opponents Arizona has played. The Wildcats’ RPI rating is No. 122. Bradley is at No. 183.
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Tonight we play…tune in and cheer for these Braves!! #AllAboutTheB #mvchoops #BuildTheBrand #bradleyuniversity pic.twitter.com/97cWhqOKwJ
— Bradley Basketball (@bradleyumbb) November 16, 2015
LONGEST McKALE WIN STREAKS
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ARIZONA’S TOP SCORING CENTERS
Rank: Overall school ranking.
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SENIOR-LADEN LINEUP
Seniors Kaleb Tarczewski, Gabe York, Ryan Anderson and Mark Tollefsen have combined
to play in 390 Division I games entering their final season of eligibility. That is the most games of any Arizona class entering its senior season in recorded history. It is also the most among current senior classes in the Pac-12 (courtesy Arizona media relations department)
2015-16: Ryan Anderson, Mark Tollefsen, Kaleb Tarczewski and Gabe York – 390 games
1976-77: Bob Aleska, Bob Elliott, Jerome Gladney, Len Gordy, Herman Harris, Gary Harrison – 366 games
1995-96: Reggie Geary, Joe McLean, Corey Williams, Joseph Blair – 346 games
2007-08: Bret Brielmaier, Daniel Dillon, Jawann McClellan, Kirk Walters – 303 games
2002-03: Ricky Anderson, Jason Gardner, Luke Walton – 298 games
2005-06: Hassan Adams, Isaiah Fox, Chris Rodgers – 287 games
1987-88: Steve Kerr, Joe Turner and Craig McMillan – 271 games
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ARIZONA SCHEDULE/PRODUCTIVITY RESULTS
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He has also written articles for Bleacher Report and Lindy’s College Sports.
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