Arizona Candy Crushes Washington State

Wildcats Cruise to a 35 Point Victory

Photo Credit:  Arizona Athletics

By Francisco Romero

Tucson, AZ – Defense, defense and more defense was what the Arizona Wildcats employed, almost to perfection, in their 60-25 victory over the Washington State Cougars Thursday night al McKale Center.  

It was the Pac-12 opener and the No. 1 team in the country played as such.  The Cougars played short-handed without their leading scorer DaVonte Lacy who had his appendix removed Saturday.  

“Obviously we feel good about our defensive performance. One thing I wanted to point out is Washington State was clearly playing without two players. Their leading scorer DaVonte Lacy is having a great year. To me, he’s an all Pac‐12 performer,” mentioned the Arizona Wildcats Head Coach Sean Miller during his post-game press conference.  

Arizona took a 28-7 lead into the locker room at halftime.  Washington State was 2 of 20 from the field in the first half, establishing a new record low in points and field goals made at McKale Center during a half.  The previous record was four field goals set by Arizona State in 1991.  

The 25 points the Cougars scored tied their lowest production since 1938 when they scored 25 points against Idaho on January 15 of that year.    

“We wanted to start this Pac‐12 season off right. We liked what we did in the nonconference, but we’re here to prove that we really are the number one team and we want to keep it that way,” mentioned Junior Guard Nick Johnson after the game.   

Event though the Wildcats won by 35 points, their offensive production was limited.  Center Kaleb Tarczewski was the only player on both teams to score in double figures. Tarczewski finished the game with 11 points in 22 minutes of action.  

The leading scorer for the Cougars was Junior Longrus who finished with 6 points.  

Arizona faces the University of Washington Huskies on Saturday at noon. 

OTHER PAC – 12 SCORES FROM (JAN. 2)

Oregon           70

Utah               68

Washington 76

ASU                 65

Cal                  69

Stanford        62

Oregon St.     58

Colorado       64