Arizona Basketball

Notebook: Northwestern State vs. Arizona Wildcats

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— Both Northwestern State and Arizona lost a talented player to an ACL injury already this season. Demons’ senior Jalan West developed into the nation’s assist leader as well as a dangerous scorer last season, while Wildcats’ freshman Ray Smith was a unanimous top-20 recruit nationally in high school. Both are out for the season. West injured his knee in the season-opener with Ole Miss. Smith injured his during preseason drills.

— West, who also averaged 20 points last season and ranked in the top 25 in eight different categories, aided in Zeek Woodley’s 22.2 points per game. Woodley is the nation’s leading returning scorer. Woodley scored 39 points in his first game without West (a 99-97 loss to LSU Alexandria) and is averaging 28.3 points per game in his first three games as a junior. “It’s tough because he’s Jalan — one of the best point guards around,” Woodley said on the team’s Web site. “But we’ve got to come together as a team.”

— If West was healthy and able to play, he may have been the best point guard Arizona faced all season. ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla Tweeted this upon learning that West was not among the players listed as Bob Cousy Award candidates: “No Jalan West from Northwestern State on Bob Cousy List? Ask the “high major” coaches he played against.” Bleacher Report national basketball columnist Jerry Miller wrote of West: “(He) has the skill to be the next player in the Stephen Curry and Damian Lillard club of mid-major players who become NBA stars.”

— The Demons play in what they call waves, five-man substitution rotations that typically extend deep into each half barring fouls or game scenarios. After West was hurt in the final minute at Ole Miss,
second wave point guard Devonte Hall moved into the first wave, ironic since Hall also replaced West at Bossier City (La.) High after the 2011 seasons, when they combined (Hall a freshman, West a senior) to lead the Bearkats to a state championship.

— Northwestern State Mike McConathy used a baseball analogy to describe the task at hand for his 0-3, undersized team going against the 12th-ranked Wildcats (3-0). “We use the analogy of running to first base in baseball,” he said. “Everybody on this team can do that better, and that’s the effort we’ve got to have all the time, especially when facing a team as big and talented as Arizona.”

— The Wildcats have won each of their first three games by double-digits. Arizona overwhelmed Pacific (79-61), Bradley (90-60) and Boise State (88-76) all at McKale Center. The most double-digit victories to start the season since the beginning of the Lute Olson era is five, last achieved in 2010-11 by Sean Miller’s first Elite Eight team. Olson’s 1999-2000 team started 5-0 with double-digit wins including a 63-51 triumph over Kentucky in the title game of the Preseason NIT. The 1991-92 team also started 5-0 with double-digit victories, including an 87-67 win over LSU and Shaquille O’Neal at McKale Center. The most impressive start, however, was four opening victories in double-digits in Arizona’s first Final Four season of 1987-88. The Wildcats beat Michigan 79-64 and Syracuse 80-69 to win the Great Alaska Shootout in that span.

— Arizona’s trio of Gabe York (15.3 points per game), Allonzo Trier (14.3 points per game) and Ryan Anderson (13.7 poins and 10.3 rebounds) lead eight players averaging at least seven points per game.

–The Wildcats outrebound their opponents by 15 per game with the help of five players that are 6’8″ or taller, including two 7-footers (Kaleb Tarczewski and Dusan Ristic). Northwestern State has been outrebounded by an average of eight per game. The Demons have four players 6’8″ or taller. Woodley, a 6’2″ guard, leads his team with five rebounds a game.

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NORTHWESTERN STATE (0-3) VS.
NO. 12 ARIZONA (3-0)

Tip Time: 6:10 p.m. MST
TV: Pac-12 Network (Roxy Bernstein/Steve Lavin)
Radio: Arizona IMG Sports Network (Brian Jeffries/Ryan Hansen)
Series: Never met
Sean Miller vs. Northwestern State: Never met

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:
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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)

SEASON PRODUCTIVITY RATING
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PRODUCTIVITY REPORT
ARIZONA PAC-10/12
PLAYERS OF THE YEAR:
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HOW ARE THEY DOING?
Present RPI ranking of non-conference opponents Arizona has played. The Wildcats’ RPI rating is No. 147. Northwestern State (0-3) has an RPI of No. 316.
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LONGEST McKALE WIN STREAKS
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Thursday’s game
ARIZONA 88, BOISE STATE 76
PRODUCTIVITY RATING
* — STARTERS
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ARIZONA’S TOP SCORING CENTERS
Rank: Overall school ranking.
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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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