It was another one of those sprinkle games for Arizona. You know – a little of this from that guy, some more from that other guy, and a few more things from the other guys.
A little sprinkle here, a little sprinkle there and voila … Arizona pulls away in impressive fashion.
It didn’t happen enough – in so many people’s minds this season – but timing is everything and Friday night that meant the first round of the NCAA tournament in Seattle.
Arizona ran away from a very outmanned Akron, 93-65, to advance to the second round.
Timing is everything. On Friday, five players scored in double figures with Jaden Bradley having a team-leading 19 points in what looked like his best game of the season.
It was a little dash of this, and little dash of that.
Trey “Mr. March” Townsend had 16 points.
Carter Bryant had 12 in what seemed like a coming out party of the ages.
Caleb Love and KJ Lewis each had 10.
Seemed like everyone who played had a moment. Didn’t it?
“Obviously it’s a great offensive game, … I want to see what else is out there,” said Tommy Lloyd in the postgame press conference in Seattle regarding a question about his team performing to its ceiling. “I’m not going to put any limitations on us. I challenged our guys before the game; asked them, ‘Could we out-rebound these guys by 15?’ And I think the answer ended up being, ‘yes.’ I think we out rebounded them by 31, which is — that’s how you — give yourself a lot of margin for error if you can control the glass like that.”
For the record, Arizona owned the Zips on the boards, 53-22.
Which calls in the defense, of course, but was it Arizona’s defense or Akron’s poor shooting? Maybe both.
“You got to get them to miss shots,” he said. “When you miss shots, you got to have guys that assume you’re going to miss and pursue rebounds.
“So just a great moment-by-moment effort by our guys. They stacked up lots of good moments within possessions, and I thought it was just tight as we played defensively all year against a team like that. With our switches and our coverages, I thought our guys did a great job.”
Akron shot 33 percent from the floor, including just 7 for 25 from beyond the 3-point line.
The Zips were out of it early, then in it briefly then totally out of it by the middle of the second half.
Arizona is now 23-12 and will play on Sunday.
Arizona went an eye-opening 12 for 25 from beyond the arc.
Bradley hit 3 of 5. Remember, he hadn’t done that well from the line all season.
“I’ve had conversations with him and K.J. a little bit on 3-point shooting, but at the end of the day, I really trust those guys,” Lloyd said. “I want them to know that I have confidence in them, and I want them to shoot 3s when they’re comfortable. They don’t feel like they have to shoot them all the time.
“Yeah, but if they could step up, the combination of those two, and make a few 3s here and there, it’s really an added element because what teams are deciding to do is not guard them.”
By the second half, it was a funfest, on how many dunks it would end up with. How many points they’d win by and who would have the best highlight.
Carter, who drew raves from the TruTV analysts, had a couple, highlighting who he is as a player: athletic and lean and with so much potential.
By the end of the night, they were offering each other compliments, especially on all those dunks. Townsend’s putback dunk was super nice, but Bryant had one, too. Bryant and Lewis said Townsend’s was the better of all of them.
“I’m the old head, but I’ll give it to Carter’s little lob from Henry,” Townsend said. “His head was above the rim. I didn’t get quite that high on mine, but I appreciate the compliments from them.”
Compliments to everyone involved. Now onto Saturday.
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