No. 4 Arizona may have started shaky with 12 turnovers in the first half, but it finished strong with balanced scoring, rebounding and assists from all of its rotation players.
Jaden Bradley led that effort with a game-high 19 points (8 of 13 shooting from the field), six rebounds and three assists in the 93-65 victory Friday over No. 13 Akron in the NCAA tournament first-round game in the East Region.
Arizona (23-12) will play either No. 5 Oregon or No. 12 Liberty in the second round Sunday at Seattle.
Trey Townsend had 16 points (7 of 8 from the field) with eight rebounds in the win over Akron, a game in which the Wildcats led from start to finish.
Carter Bryant finished with 12 points, five rebounds and three blocked shots.
Caleb Love had 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Love attempted only nine shots from the field, only the third time all season that has happened and Arizona has won each time, including last week against Texas Tech in the Big 12 tournament at Kansas City, Mo.
KJ Lewis finished with 10 points, five rebounds and four assists.
Anthony Dell-Orso had nine points and a team-high five assists. Henri Veesaar had eight points and seven rebounds. Tobe Awaka had four points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots.
Arizona outrebounded Akron 53-22, which enabled the Wildcats to outscore the Zips 48-20 in the paint.
The Wildcats finished with 16 turnovers, but Akron only scored 13 points off them — a testament to Arizona’s defense.
Akron scored 17 points under its team average and shot only 33.3 percent from the field, 28.0 from 3-point range.
Arizona overcame its 3-point shooting woes in the regular season by making 12 of 25 from beyond the arc, led by Bradley going 3 of 5.
The Wildcats shot 56.5 percent from the field and amassed 21 assists.
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