Stella went to Jamaica to get her groove back. Arizona went to the Bahamas.
You get the point – Arizona did in bunches.
Arizona had fun in the sun and then in Imperial Arena at Atlantis Paradise Island on Wednesday night to beat Davidson, 104-71, in the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis.
This was the game – against a decent team – everyone had been expecting this season from the No. 24 Wildcats, particularly after falling to Wisconsin almost two weeks ago and Duke last weekend.
Arizona was the lone ranked team in the tournament that advanced in the winner’s bracket as No. 3 Gonzaga fell to West Virginia and No. 14 Indiana lost to Louisville. It’ll prevent UA from the possibility of facing Gonzaga (and a Tommy Lloyd vs. Mark Few matchup) and Indiana where UA could have faced former Wildcat Oumar Ballo.
All that doesn’t matter now.
What matters is Arizona advanced and will face Oklahoma at 3 p.m. Tucson time.
At the very least, it was a complete game, save for – perhaps – the first seven minutes when Davidson had Arizona by seven points.
But in stepped senior Caleb Love – what’s a groove without Love, right? – with his best game of the young season as he finished with 20 points on 7 for 13 shooting, including 3 of 7 from the 3-point line.
“Caleb did a great job (but) like in some of those other games he didn’t quite get going right away,” said UA associate head coach Jack Murphy. “It took him a little time but he got downhill . he got into the lane, got to the paint, got to the rim and finish(ed). That kind of gave him some rhythm, and then he was able to knock down some open 3s.”
Big threes that helped Arizona open up its offense, something it hadn’t done in three weeks.
Then there was Anthony Dell’ Orso, who had a game-high 21 points, hitting five 3-pointers. Last year, Dell’Orso had 16 points against Davidson while playing for Campbell. He stayed consistent against the Wildcats, doing what many thought he was capable of, hitting from beyond the 3-point arc.
“Coach (Tommy Lloyd) was telling Delly ever since he got here that he was going to have his Arizona moment, he was on the cusp of it. Tonight was his first of many,” Murphys said.
“It was great to see those 3s go down, but even better to see him get physical defensively. He guarded his yard.”
The team did that as well, although it still looks like that could be an area of improvement still. Arizona had a hard time defending the deep shot, giving Davidson some hope in staying close – until it didn’t.
“I thought the guys did a great job of locking in,” Murphy said, adding it’s not easy dealing with all the cuts Davidson makes. He admitted that Davidson gave UA trouble early on when it was 18-18 before Arizona started to pull away.
But offensively, It was to play less in the halfcourt and get in transition or at least move the ball in free-flowing form. It hit 59 percent from the floor, and 50 percent from the 3-point line.
The outside game helped the inside game – or vice versa – as UA went to the inside with new starter Tobe Awaka played big-body ball, grabbing 10 rebounds and scoring 13 points. KJ Lewis, who had just three points, had 10 rebounds. And Trey Townsend, who hadn’t had an impact yet, scored 17 points on 6 of 11 shooting.
Arizona had 50 points near the basket.
Mo Krivas, who was moved to the bench in favor of Awaka, had 10 points and four rebounds.
‘Mo did a great job finishing when he had the opportunities,” Murphy said. “Tobe did an amazing job, 13 and 10 … a lot of superlatives to pass around.”
