LAHAINA, Hawaii – For much of their first Maui Invitational game today, the Arizona Wildcats couldn’t shoot well, struggled with fouls and didn’t outrebound Missouri.
So they turned to their ever-reliable defense for help again, eventually rolling to a 72-53 win over the Tigers in their first-round Maui Invitational game today at the Lahaina Civic Center.
Arizona kept Missouri to 38-percent shooting and had 10 steals. The Tigers turned the ball over a total of 17 times and UA scored 24 points off them, the most dramatic a steal-and-dunk conversion from Stanley Johnson midway through the second half.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Brandon Ashley each had 15 points to lead Arizona while Johnson added 14.
The win moved Arizona to 4-0 and into a Maui Invitational semifinal game against Kansas State today at 5:30 p.m. on ESPN. Missouri dropped to 2-2 with the loss and will face Purdue in the consolation bracket Tuesday at noon.
Earlier today, the Wildcats dropped from No. 2 to No. 3 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll earlier in the day, and to No. 4 in the USA Today coaches Top 25.
After starting slow again in the first half, the Wildcats turned to Rondae Hollis-Jefferson to start in place of Gabe York – and the move paid off immediately. In the first 86 seconds, Hollis-Jefferson hit a jumper and made his first three-pointer of the season in three tries.
The Wildcats went on to lead by up to 14 points early in the second half and appeared to have some startling momentum by the time Stanley Johnson stole the ball from fellow Southern Californian Namon Wright, then threw down an emphatic dunk.
Wright hit a three-pointer on the Tigers’ next possession and Missouri to cut the Wildcats’ lead to just nine points. But Arizona soon after went on a 10-2 run, getting five free throws, a layup by Dusan Ristic and a three-pointer from Gabe York to take a 61-43 lead with 5:35 left and the Wildcats stayed in control the rest of the way.
Kaleb Tarczewski fouled out with 4:14 left but by that point kthe Wildcats held a 63-48 lead.
In the first half, late shooting helped the Wildcats take a 32-25 halftime lead.
Both the Wildcats and Tigers shot under 40 percent for most of the half, and Arizona hit just 2 of 10 three-pointers. But the Wildcats pulled ahead in the final 1:08 when Elliott Pitts made a three-pointer and T.J. McConnell hit a jumper.
Brandon Ashley led UA with 10 points in the first half, helping the Wildcats early with a variety of inside scoring.
The Wildcats struggled with shooting initially, making just three of their first 10 shots – and those makes were two layups and a dunk. But they managed to take leads of up to six points by playing good defense.
Arizona forced eight Missouri turnovers over the first 16 minutes of the game, and scored eight points off of them to keep the game in a 21-21 tie with 3:48 left despite its offensive troubles.
Missouri tied the game at 18 on a layup from Montaque Gill-Caesar and later at 21, when Gill-Caesar rebounded a missed shot from UA’s Stanley Johnson and went downcourt for a layup and drew a foul, then converted the three-point play.
With a three-game, three-day format in the Maui Invitational, UA coach Sean Miller went deeper in his bench than usual. He played 10 players overall, including freshman forward Craig Victor, who did not play at all against UC Irvine on Nov. 19.
