Wildcats set school record for free throws, beat Utah Tech by 27

The Arizona Wildcats set a school record Thursday by hitting all 22 free throws they took, while also using 11 reserve players.

They barely needed any of those things.

In a 104-77 win over Utah Tech on Thursday, the Wildcats’ five starters combined for 92 points to easily outscore the Trailblazers alone while UA theoretically would have beaten them by five points without hitting a single free throw.

But instead, six different Wildcats went to the line and none of them missed. Kerr Kriisa, who had a career-high 24 points, and Pelle Larsson both hit all six free throws they took while center Oumar Ballo hit four, wing Adama Bal hit three, Cedric Henderson hit two and Azuolas Tubelis hit one.

“It’s great,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said. “We value free throws. It’s a big part of what we do and to see those guys step up and make them at that clip is huge.”

The Wildcats have hit all of their free throws multiple times before but never more than the 18 of 18 they hit against Stanford in 2004-05. That Thursday’s 22-for-22 effort was a record appeared to come as a surprise to Kriisa and Tubelis, whom Arizona selected for postgame interviews.

“I didn’t know that,” Kriisa said. “I guess if you take some extra reps, they actually go in more often.”

Talent, size and experience also have something to do with it, of course. Arizona wound up shooting 75.9% from the line over its first three home games, which served as a warmup for its Maui Invitational next week, for what so far ranks No. 73 nationally in free-throw percentage.

Lloyd is optimistic the Wildcats can remain at a high level at the line.

“It’s probably not going to happen every night but I think we can be a really good free-throw shooting team,” Lloyd said. “A big key to that is Oumar. If you have a five-man like that who is that big and can draw that many fouls, it just is a lot for a defense to handle, especially if he can step up and make his free throws.”

While Ballo damaged Utah Tech with 16 points and 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the season and third in his career, Tubelis collected 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting.

But in what was part of a quiet night by the Wildcats’ reserves, freshman 7-footer Henri Veesaar went scoreless and played just 10 minutes because of what Lloyd said was a calf bruise while the Wildcats’ other big man, freshman Dylan Anderson, was also scoreless in five minutes.

Overall, the Wildcats didn’t score a single point off the bench until wing Adama Bal made two free throws with 5:44 left in the game, then collecting the other 10 bench points as Lloyd went with reserves and walk-ons in the final minutes.

“I’m not concerned,” Lloyd said. “There’s a law of averages that applies to the game of basketball. Sometimes they score and sometimes they don’t but usually it ends up balancing out. I’d have to go back and look but maybe our bigs were scoring so easy they didn’t need to score.”

Another factor in the bench’s lack of scoring: Projected sixth man Cedric Henderson was a starter again Thursday because guard Courtney Ramey was sitting out the final game of his NCAA suspension – and Henderson responded his first double-digit scoring game (20 points) as a Wildcat.

Henderson hit 8 of 11 field goals while also pulling down five rebounds.

“I thought Cedric tonight was electric,” Lloyd said. “To see him play with that effort, that’s what I kind of envisioned for him. But it takes time for that to happen.”

Lloyd said he reviewed a transition opportunity from a previous game with Henderson in which wing Pelle Larsson outran him and scored on a layup.

“We showed him, like, `Ced, that’s how you get going in this system,’ “ Lloyd said. “He had some great effort today. I think that resonated with him.”

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Henderson had 10 points already in the first half, while Kriisa had 11 and Tubelis had 15, helping the Wildcats race to a 49-21 halftime lead.

The Trailblazers took an early 4-0 lead and tried to defend the Wildcats with a zone defense but the Wildcats quickly tore through it. Arizona put together two 10-0 runs to take a 20-6 lead just seven minutes into the game.

After Henderson hit a 3-pointer to give UA a 23-8 lead, the Wildcats were shooting 75.0% from the field and had made all five 3-pointers they tried. Arizona actually hit its first six 3s overall while later cruising to a 30-point lead when Kriisa hit two free throws with three seconds left.

But after holding Utah Tech to just 18.9% shooting in the first half, the Wildcats let up early in the second. Utah Tech shot 50% from the field over the first eight minutes of the second half to trail 67-41.

The Trailblazers hit four of their first eight 3-pointers in the second half after hitting just 3 of 16 in the first half, keeping UA from expanding its first-half lead through the first 13 minutes after halftime.

While Lloyd said he’s seen growth in the Wildcats’ defense over their first three regular-season games, the second half was a small step backward.

“It’s hard,” Lloyd said. “In some of these games you get these big leads and your second unit, or your last group comes in there and gives up some threes. It drives a coach crazy because you’re fighting hard to have good numbers.

“But I thought overall in the first half, we were really good. They’re a set-oriented team and an inside-oriented team, and I think we were able to take both of those things away. I thought that kind of got us ignited a little bit.”

Photos: Wildcats defeat Utah Tech, men's basketball

No. 14 Arizona 104, Utah Tech 77

UTAH TECH (1-3)

Leter 4-10 3-4 12, Christensen 1-3 0-0 2, Gonsalves 4-8 2-2 13, Gooden 4-13 2-2 12, Staine 4-7 1-2 12, Pope 2-8 3-4 8, Edmonds 4-7 3-8 11, Allfrey 1-9 0-0 2, Wright 0-4 0-0 0, Nicolds 0-0 0-0 0, A.Anderson 1-2 0-0 2, Snoddy 1-1 1-2 3. Totals 26-72 15-24 77.

ARIZONA (3-0)

A.Tubelis 9-11 1-1 20, Ballo 6-10 4-4 16, Kriisa 6-7 6-6 24, Larsson 3-5 6-6 14, Henderson 8-11 2-2 20, Bal 0-2 3-3 3, Boswell 0-2 0-0 0, Veesaar 0-1 0-0 0, Borovicanin 1-1 0-0 2, D.Anderson 0-2 0-0 0, Mains 1-1 0-0 2, Weitman 0-1 0-0 0, Lang 1-1 0-0 3, Menaugh 0-0 0-0 0, T.Tubelis 0-0 0-0 0, Ackerley 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 35-55 22-22 104.

Halftime: Arizona 49-21. 3-Point Goals: Utah Tech 10-32 (Gonsalves 3-5, Staine 3-5, Gooden 2-5, Pope 1-4, Leter 1-5, A.Anderson 0-1, Christensen 0-1, Allfrey 0-3, Wright 0-3), Arizona 12-22 (Kriisa 6-7, Larsson 2-3, Henderson 2-5, Lang 1-1, A.Tubelis 1-1, Ackerley 0-1, Bal 0-1, Veesaar 0-1, Boswell 0-2). Fouled Out: Pope, Edmonds. Rebounds: Utah Tech 29 (Leter 5), Arizona 38 (Ballo 11). Assists: Utah Tech 13 (Gooden, Staine, Pope 3), Arizona 24 (Larsson 6). Total Fouls: Utah Tech 22, Arizona 20. Attendance: 12,752 (14,644).