Arizona Wildcats rebuild confidence in 99-49 win over Omaha Mavericks

Nico Mannion posted his second double-double of the season to lead Arizona over Omaha 99-49 in a game Wednesday at McKale Center that, more than anything, might have been about strategic scheduling.

After shooting just 26.7% in a 63-58 loss at Baylor on Saturday – and facing a showdown with sixth-ranked Gonzaga on Saturday — the Wildcats were able to rebuild their confidence just in time against a Summit League team.

The Wildcats shot 57.6% from the field, with 46.3% from 3-point range, while dishing 25 assists for their 39 field goals. UA also scored 21 points off 14 Omaha turnovers.

All those sorts of things were lacking for Arizona at Baylor.

Meanwhile, Mannion had 13 points and 11 assists to record his second double-double of the season after collecting 16 points and 11 assists against Pepperdine on Nov. 28.

Overall, UA had five players score in double figures while freshman 7-footer Christian Koloko grabbed 10 rebounds.

The poster guy for the transition of confidence was guard Dylan Smith, who was 1 for 8 at Baylor but shot 5 of 8 from the field Wednesday and 4 for 6 from 3, scoring all 14 of his points in the first half. Even forward Zeke Nnaji got into the long-range action, hitting his first 3-pointer in five tries this season.

Before the game, when discussing how Pac-12 games will move into December next season, UA coach Sean Miller noted how early season scheduling was a balance.

“Sometimes when you lose a lot of players, you want to make sure you don’t lose your confidence in the nonconference schedule,” he said.

That applied to this year’s team, which was notably set back with poor shooting at Baylor but came through Wednesday to move to 10-1 in the sort of manner Miller had been hoping for.

“It’s a big week for us,” Miller said Tuesday. ”It’s a week that we have to take care of business in two home games and be the best we can be against Omaha, and also on Saturday against Gonzaga.”

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Up by 20 at halftime, Arizona made five of its first six shots, while Mannion recorded an assist on the first three shots to reach a double-double with just under 18 minutes to play.

The Wildcats then went ahead 63-31 by the time Koloko reached up to grab a shot attempt by Marlon Ruffin and gave it to Josh Green, who raced the length of the court for a dunk.

It became even worse for the Mavericks, too. UA went on to expand its lead by up to 42 points, 83-41, when Max Hazzard made a layup with 7:40 left, and two free throws from Chase Jeter made it a 18-2 run that put UA up by 44 with 6:32 left.

In the first half, UA shot 51.4% from the field, with Smith making 4 of 5 3-pointers, to take a 43-23 halftime lead.

Smith made just 1 of 8 shots on Saturday against Baylor but was 5 for 6 overall from the field and totaled 14 points in the first half Wednesday, while Ira Lee and Jeter each had six points inside.

Arizona held Omaha to just 30.3% in the first half and just 26.6% for the game.

Early in the game, the Wildcats’ defense closed off everything except a few feeds to Omaha center Matt Pile, who made the only two shots in the Mavericks’ first 14 attempts.

By the time Pile hit his third, UA was still ahead 15-6 and Jeter made up for it on the other end, scoring inside twice in a row while the Wildcats took a 23-8 lead with 8:54 left in the first half.

Jeter also pulled down an offensive rebound that led to a 3 from Smith, giving UA a 26-8 lead with 8:10 still left before halftime.

Smith later hit his fourth 3 to give UA a 36-13 lead and the Wildcats coasted into halftime.

Meanwhile, UA forward Stone Gettings sat on the team bench while attending his first game since suffering a concussion and facial fracture on Nov. 29 against Penn. Gettings had been kept away from games and practices because of his concussion so his return to the bench was a sign of progress, though he remains questionable to play Saturday against Gonzaga.