No. 8 Arizona defeats Northern Colorado 71-55

By Francisco Romero. – The experts said that Arizona would win Monday’s game against the Bears of Northern Colorado University by 31 points. The Cats won, but it was way closer than 31 points; Arizona won 71-55.

The Bears and Wildcats went into halftime with Northern Colorado leading 31 – 30.

Arizona’s head coach Sean Miller was not surprised by the effectiveness of Northern Colorado’s play, “They play a brand of offense that is terrific; their coach is one of the best offensive coaches that I have ever seen”, Miller told members of the press after the game. “It reminds me of the FIBA (international) game where there is a lot of movement and pace, it is very difficult to guard”, added Miller.

The Bears went into McKale Center with not only an offensive plan, but with a defensive blue print that worked well for about 30 minutes.

“They put a zone defense up and it’s the first time, this year’s team has really gone against the zone and that first time you rely on the older guys and unfortunately for us we have a lot of new faces”, Miller explained on how the Bears were able to defend the Cats. “In the first half we were a little bit unsettled, but I liked our execution against their zone in the second half”.

During the second half Arizona was able to pull away, settle and contain the Bears.

Arizona’s Lauri Markkanen finished the game as the leading scorer for the Wildcats with 17 points, while Parker Jackson-Cartwright finished the game with 15 points and 11 assists.

The leading scorer for Northern Colorado was Gerard David with 20 points.

Arizona’s record stands now at 4-0; the Wildcats will travel to Las Vegas to face Santa Clara on Thursday on Thanksgiving night (November 24^th) and will face either Butler or Vanderbilt.