Before the game, Morttinen tweeted: “Vielä terveiset kotimaahan ennen näytösottelua UA vs. Idaho. Lauri Markkaselta odotetaan ainakin 40 pisteen iltaa.”
According to Google Translate, that last part translates to “Markkanen is expected (to have) at least a 40-point night.”
Markkanen didn’t quite do that, but he quickly acquitted himself well in his college debut. Markkanen scored the UA’s first four points and finished — Finnished? —with eight points and 10 rebounds in 27 minutes.
The Wildcats haven’t had a 40-point scorer at McKale Center since Khalid Reeves did it against Michigan in 1993. The last opponent to score 40 at McKale was BYU’s Jimmer Fredette, who dropped 49 on Arizona in 2009.
In the first half, a Markkanen dunk gave Arizona a 24-3 lead. Or, as Matti Morttinen tweeted in Finnish: “donkit.”
