The Arizona Wildcats visited a very cold Gallagher Iba Arena Tuesday Night but it didn’t take them long to get as hot as a firecracker, en route to 92 points and a 14-point road victory over OSU.
The Cats shot exactly 56% in both halves, 40% from 3-point range, and made 18 of their 23 free throws. They had 16 assists and just 8 turnovers on the offensive end, and 10 steals on the defensive end.
The Cats had twice as many assists as they did turnovers, and they had more steals than they did assists, so they were efficient and are maybe the most skilled offensive team in the Big 12.
And, as for OSU, it will be hard to beat anyone allowing that many points.
The Cowboys had a good night on the offensive end, which kept the game competitive for a while. And Arizona never really went on a long defined run, they just slowly squeezed the life out of OSU.
OSU shot 46% from the field, and 43% from 3-point range, and made 19 of their 24 free throws. So, putting the ball in the basket wasn’t a problem, but keeping Arizona from doing it was.
Several times OSU hit shots, many times 3-pointers, and were a stop or 2 away from getting back into the game, but, Arizona had answers, every time. The Cats never let OSU get close enough to put much scoreboard pressure on them down the stretch.
Here’s what Coach Lutz had to say about the defense
“You just can’t win in this league, if you are going to play that way on defense,” Lutz said. “And that’s not to say we can’t cause they showed it for 15 minutes if you can do it for 15 minutes, you can do it for 40 minutes, it’s a matter of want and will.”
For just the 2nd time all year, the Cowboys lost when Bryce Thompson scored in double digits. Thompson was hot early and was scored in a myriad of ways. He pulled up for jumpers, took the ball to the rim, and shot from range.
He also made himself hard to guard away from the ball. He worked off of screens and was very active in working to get open and in a position to score.
OSU did not win, and Bryce did not mince words in the postgame. He “point blank,” said that we can’t win games giving up 92 points, and the only thing he cares about is winning, I enjoyed hearing his comments and greatly appreciated them.
His progression is one I have enjoyed watching and has led to a deep appreciation of what he has given and continues to give OSU.
Abou Ousmane had another really nice game on the offensive end scoring 14, pulling down 6 boards, and getting himself to the line 10 times. Ousmane is averaging 12.8 points per game and is making 53% of his field goal attempts.
When OSU plays through him in the post, the offense seems to flow better, the ball seems to get shared more and the shots tend to fall on more of a regular basis.
Brandon Newman was a big factor on the offensive end, especially in the 1st Half when OSU either had the lead or the game was close. Newman has a game that can work as a “bridge”, between the great jump shooting of Chi Chi, and the post-presence of Abou. He can do a little of all of it, and his experience is something this team needs.
Good player that needs to keep exerting himself!
Chi Chi for threeeee!
Dude can flat shoot the ball, and did his part to get OSU back in the game with several 3s when Arizona was extending into double digits. The problem was, that we just couldn’t get any stops, so the Cats answered every big shot we made.
Dude is shooting close to 40% from 3-point range, which is a weapon, and he pulls down more than 5 boards a game on average too.
OSU needs to keep playing offense like they did last night, then figure out the defensive end. Of course, Arizona might be the best offensive ball club in the Big 12, so last night was tough, but still need the defense to catch up.
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