Coming off a win against San Diego State in Phoenix, Arizona looked to continue its perfect start to the season against Bethune-Cookman. Christmas came early for the Wildcats from Tucson as they won 107-71 on Monday night at McKale Center.
Brayden Burries had a phenomenal second half, scoring 18 of his 20 points after halftime. He was followed by Ivan Kharchenkov and Mo Krivas who each had 14. The Wildcats had seven players score in double figures.
Top-ranked Arizona dominated the glass as it outrebounded
Bethune-Cookman 42-22. In the first half, Arizona shot 45.5 percent, which then skyrocketed to 70 percent in the second half.
The one blemish for the Wildcats statistically was the 15 turnovers committed.
It’s the first time Arizona is 12-0 since the 2014-15 season, and is only the sixth time in program history. Tonight was also the sixth game of the season with 20+ assists.
Koa Peat got the scoring started for Arizona with a dunk off of an alley-oop pass from Jaden Bradley. However, it would be a sloppy start to the game for UA, as it committed three turnovers and was 0-4 from three.
Bethune-Cookman tied the game at a couple points but Tobe Awaka along with Peat made sure that Arizona was still in control.
With under ten minutes to play in the first half, it would only be a two point lead for Arizona after a series of turnovers and three pointers by Bethune-Cookman.
Dwayne Aristode’s shooting from behind the arch helped to balloon Arizona’s lead to seven, but another Bethune-Cookman three cut back down to four with just over seven minutes left in the first half.
Bradley was the just second player to hit from three and it took about 16 minutes for another player outside of Aristode to hit one.
A 12-0 run gave Arizona a 16 point lead, and the run was highlighted by back to back steals by Anthony Dell’Orso and Kharchenkov.
Some late first half antics resulted in Mabil Mawut being ejected. Regardless, the Wildcats took a 14 point lead into the half.
After earning a couple trips to the line, Krivas was called for a flagrant foul, but that did not stop Arizona from maintaining its large lead.
Burries found his groove in the second half, which helped Arizona start to pull away from Bethune-Cookman. The Wildcats were in full control for the rest of the game, but the night was capped off with some baskets by Sven Djopmo and Jackson Francois.
Next up for Arizona is the nonconference finale against South Dakota State on Dec. 29 before opening Big 12 play Jan. 3 at Utah.
