As the college basketball season moves along and No. 1 Arizona gets deeper into its Big 12 schedule, the games become tougher and gritty. The Wildcats were averaging 90.6 points per game, which put them 11th nationally.
However, when you’re in conference games, it can get gritty and scoring becomes hard when going up against defensive minded teams.
On Wednesday night, the Wildcats a (19-0, 6-0 Big 12) faced off against a gritty Cincinnati (10-9, 2-4) team that was able to slow things down for 60% of the game and found itself in a 40-38 game. But, Arizona was able to get on a roll and routed the Bearcats 77-51 to stay unbeaten in the conference.
Arizona was able to turn things around in the second half in large part due to the effort from center Motiejus Krivas, who finished the night with an impressive 17 points and nine rebounds while shooting 7 of 9 from the field.
Now that the game has gone final, we at All Sports Tucson have come up with our three takeaways from the Wildcats’ 26-point win over the Bearcats.
The Kharchenkov Effect
Every highly rated team since the dawn of time has a guy that brings energy and enthusiasm to the court that lifts his teammates and helps get things moving in the right direction.
During the Tommy Lloyd era, Arizona has had a handful of guys that have filled that role and excelled on the court in players such as Dalen Terry, Kerr Kriisa, Pelle Larsson and KJ Lewis.
This Arizona team has found its energy guy in forward Ivan Kharchenkov, who seemingly gets the team’s energy going and the home McKale crowd into the game. He was able to do it once again on Wednesday against the Bearcats.
“It helps a lot. Honestly. It just helps us generate points and makes us stay more connected with each other,” said guard Brayden Burries when asked about Kharchenkov’s energy. “And it feels like we’re just in practice having fun with each other.”
When the game was tight, Kharchenkov was able to make hustle plays and helped flip the switch on the defensive side of the court for Arizona. After those few moments, the Wildcats went on to dominate Cincinnati the rest of the way.
Kharchenkov finished with 14 points, two rebounds and an assist while shooting 6 of 11 from the field.
Again, although Kharchenkov had a very good game and is maybe the best defensive player on the team, it is his energy plays that can’t be duplicated for the Wildcats.
Second Half Offense
The first half of basketball was anything but easy for either team on the court with Arizona shooting 36% from the field and Cincinnati matching the percentage. However, the Wildcats’ offense got things together in the second half.
The Wildcats shot 48% from the field and finished the game at a 43% clip. One of the main differences in the second half for Arizona was that it was able to attack the glass and score 28 points in the paint.
Even with the improved offense, the Wildcats weren’t really able to find their rhythm from the 3-point line and finished the game going 3 of 13 from deep.
Perfection is Pressure
As the games move along and the Wildcats continue this winning streak, which has improved to 19 games, there will be more and more talk of the potential of a perfect season and the added pressure that goes along with it.
During the 2013-24 season under former head coach Sean Miller, Arizona started the season 21-0 before losing a heartbreaking 60-58 game at Cal that not only snapped the 21-game streak but resulted in forward Brandon Ashley suffering a season-ending injury.
The 21-0 start was the best start in program history.
That team had pressure as the games went along and eventually saw the season come to an end in the Elite Eight with a 64-63 loss to Wisconsin.
Now, we are a long way from the end of the season but we are getting closer to No. 21. If Arizona is going to get a program record, the Wildcats will need to go 3-0 in their upcoming games against West Virginia, No. 13 BYU and against rival ASU.
“I can’t speak on behalf of my players. They have a right to their own feelings. I think it’s really important to just keep it in perspective,” said Lloyd when asked about being undefeated.
“We’ve literally taken these games one by one and we’ve been able to come out on the right side of them. Obviously, we have a really good team. But, we’re building for something bigger.”
Although this team seems to be taking things one game at a time, there is no question more eyeballs will be on the program as the streak continues.
Arizona will stay at home this Saturday as the Wildcats take on West Virginia (13-6, 4-2) with the game tipping off at noon on CBS.
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