SALT LAKE CITY—This March is already higher than the final one.
Second-seeded Arizona wrapped a 16-0 run round halftime to run away from No. 15 Lengthy Seaside State, profitable 85-65 within the first spherical of the NCAA Event within the Delta Middle on Thursday afternoon.
It was the UA’s seventh consecutive NCAA win in Salt Lake Metropolis and comes a 12 months after getting upset within the first spherical by No. 15 Princeton in Sacramento. The Wildcats (26-8) will play both No. 7 Dayton or No. 10 Nevada in Saturday’s second spherical.
Arizona had 5 gamers in double figures, bettering to 17-1 this season when having not less than 5 get to 10 or extra factors. Main the way in which was Kylan Boswell, who made 4 3-pointers and scored a career-high 20 whereas including eight assists.
Caleb Love went for 18, his most since Senior Day in opposition to Oregon, including a career-high 11 rebounds (for his second profession double-double) and 5 assists, whereas Oumar Ballo went for 11 factors and 13 boards to notch his 13th double-double within the final 14 video games.
Pelle Larsson added 15 and Keshad Johnson 13 because the UA shot 41.7 p.c, that quantity closely impacted by a variety of early misses on the rim because it labored to penetrate Lengthy Seaside’s 3-2 zone. It was 13 of 35 from 3, probably the most triples in class historical past in a postseason recreation and probably the most makes an attempt all season.
Lengthy Seaside, which made a miracle run by way of the Massive West Event after coach Dan Monson was fired going into it, shot 33.3 and had been 3 of 17 from 3. The Seaside (21-15) outrebounded the UA 50-47, grabbing 17 offensive boards and outscoring the Wildcats within the paint 38-32.
The UA led 41-35 on the break, holding Lengthy Seaside scoreless the ultimate 2:34 of the primary half. It scored the primary 9 of the second half, making it 16 in a row relationship again to 2:14 left earlier than halftime, to go up 50-35. The Seaside acquired two free throws to finish their drought solely to see Arizona run off 5 extra together with a Larsson 3 to make it 55-37 and power Monson to name a second timeout in lower than 4 minutes.
The lead swelled to 21 on a Love triple with 13:46 remaining, and Larsson’s third longball made it 65-43 with 11:08 to go to set the varsity tourney report.
Lengthy Seaside, which began the second half 2 of twenty-two, went on an 8-1 run to get inside 66-51 however may get no nearer. A breakaway dunk by Boswell made it 75-53 with 6:14 remaining, prompting one other Lengthy Seaside timeout that allowed Arizona’s bench to present Boswell shit for his kind.
If ever there was an indication of how relieved this workforce was to get previous that first recreation, particularly after the way it began.
pointer till greater than six minutes into the sport. The Wildcats acquired to the rim very often on drives however stored lacking, beginning 2 of 14 from contained in the arc.
The UA led 17-9 with 13:09 left within the first half earlier than going ice chilly, lacking 10 pictures in a row whereas turning it over twice. That fueled a 13-0 Lengthy Seaside run to go up 22-17 with 8:40 remaining earlier than the half.
A scoring drought of greater than 5 minutes when Love drove and was fouled in transition, sparking a 7-0 run with the opposite two makes coming off steals to place Arizona again up 24-22. However Lengthy Seaside fired proper again and took its largest lead at 31-26 on a Jadon Jones 3 with 4:26 remaining.
After that the Seaside solely made two extra pictures as Arizona completed the half on a 15-4 run that included a mixture of drives, 3s and journeys to the road.