Arizona faces Washington State in Pullman on Saturday
It turns out this winning on the road thing is pretty nice. The Wildcats, who earned their first true road win of the season at Washington on Thursday, looks for the rare road sweep in the Pac-12 Conference. With home teams making the lives of visitors pretty miserable this season in league play, Arizona has a tremendous opportunity when it visits Washington State on Saturday.
Arizona (14-6, 4-3 Pac-12) has impressive power numbers – No. 10 NET Ranking, No. 12 according to Ken Pomeroy – but still have a lot to prove, particularly away from home.
WSU (13-9, 4-5 Pac-12) is coming off an impressive upset win of Arizona State, and is looking to right its own ship with a home sweep. CJ Elleby scored 27 against the Sun Devils. The 6-foot-6 sophomore capped his performance with a step-back 3-Pointer with four seconds remaining to stun ASU.
If Elleby, who leads WSU in scoring and rebounds at 18.8 points and 7.3 rebounds per game remains hot, the Cougars have a chance to defeat Arizona. However, if Arizona is able to get scoring balance across its roster, it’s difficult to imagine the Wildcats losing in Pullman.
For Arizona, keys to victory remain the same as they were entering its tip against Washington: defensive rebounding, turnovers, and transition scoring.
Arizona was excellent in keeping the Huskies off the offensive glass, limiting Washington to just six second chance points. Similarly, they only committed two turnovers in the second half and outscored the Huskies on the break by 13 points.
If the Wildcats do the little things right and avoid being their own worst enemy, they not only can win but should win. Arizona is favored by nine points, and that might actually be generous for those wanting to lay the points.
Of course, anything can happen and often does.
Worrisome is Arizona has yet to really put things together on the road. Despite defeating Washington, Wildcat big men Zeke Nnaji and Stone Gettings battled foul trouble all game. Starting guards Dylan Smith and Josh Green struggled to score all game. Arizona did commit eight turnovers in the opening 20 minutes, while basically giving away a 10-point lead until Max Hazzard bailed the Wildcats out with a 3-Pointer with five seconds remaining before halftime.
While perfection is unattainable, Arizona is still searching for ways to play well for the full 40 minutes on the road. Saturday they’ll get another chance and, this time, seemed poised to deliver.
Expect Arizona to push the ball as often as possible, using defense to trigger offense. Also expect Nnaji to play his usual 30-plus minutes and make more of an impact on the offensive end of the floor. If he’s effective in and around the paint, shooting zones should really open up for the Wildcats and give key players an opportunity to break out of mini slumps. While reserve players like Jemarl Baker, Max Hazzard and Ira Lee are critical to the team’s overall success, the real difference between a close game and double-digit Arizona victory will be whether or not Green can break out of his recent scoring slump and Smith can knock down the same perimeter shots he missed at Washington.