Scouting report: No. 9 Arizona Wildcats vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders

Texas A&M Corpus Christi (5-4) vs No. 9 Arizona (8-1) • McKale Center • 6:30 p.m. • Pac-12 Networks • 1290-AM, 107.5-FM

Probable starters

ARIZONA

G Kerr Kriisa (6-3 junior)

G Courtney Ramey (6-3 senior)

F Pelle Larsson (6-5 junior)

F Azuolas Tubelis (6-11 junior)

C Oumar Ballo (7-0 junior)

TEXAS A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI

G Terrion Murdix (6-1 senior)

G Jalen Jackson (5-11 senior)

F Trevian Tennyson (6-4 senior)

F Isaac Mushila (6-5 senior)

C De’Lazarus Keys (6-8 senior)

How they match up

The series: Arizona and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi have never played each other before.

Game agreement: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is making a one-time appearance at McKale Center.

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi overview: The Islanders return all five starters from a team that surprised in coach Steve Lutz’ first season, meshing together 10 transfers and winning the Southland Conference after being picked to finish sixth.

That led to high expectations and a challenging nonconference schedule that so far has seen the Islanders go 5-0 at home, including a win against UTRGV, but lost road games at UTRGV and Mississippi State. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi also went 2-1 in a multi-team event at UTEP, where the Islanders lost to CSU Bakersfield and UTEP but beat Alcorn. They were competitive against Mississippi State, leading the Bulldogs 30-25 at halftime, while losing only 72-67 at UTEP.

The Islanders are aggressive defensively, forcing a turnover on 25.3% of all opponents possession the 14th-best defensive turnover rate in Division I. They record a steal on 13.7% of opponent possessions.

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is led by do-everything forward Isaac Mushila, while it has a solid distributor in point guard in Terrion Murdix, a veteran combo guard in Jalen Jackson and 3-point threats in Ross Williams and Trevian Tennyson.

He said it: “They definitely will try to turn you over. They come up with steals a variety of way -- some of it's from ball pressure, some of it's from getting into passing lane and coming up with it and deflections. They converge on the ball pretty hard. (Their steal percentage) tells you that they've got good, quickness and good athleticism. They do a good job of pressuring the ball and really making it tough for you to move around. They rebound. They try to play an uptempo style so we have to be on point on both ends of the floor.”

Mushila is “averaging four offensive rebounds a game. That alone tells you something about him. He’s their leading scorer, leading rebounder, leads their team in steals. He's the catalyst of their team. He does a lot of things and they depend heavily on him to be productive force.”

Keys “gives them big body inside, posts up pretty hard and gets to the boards. (Murdix) is distributor and scorer and really does a good job of finding people and attacking in transitions. Jackson sometimes is on the ball, sometimes he's off the ball, and Tennyson ... very high frequency of 3-point attempt and off the bench, Williams has an even higher frequency. They've got some guys who can knock down shots from the outside. We have to be very active and have attention to detail." — UA assistant coach Steve Robinson, who scouted the Islanders.

Key players

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Texas A&M-Corpus Christi — Isaac Mushila

The Southland Conference’s Newcomer of the Year last season, Mushila was named to the preseason watch list for the Lou Henson Award that honors the nation’s top mid-major player this season — and he’s been showing why. He excels in offensive rebounding and does a little bit of everything for the Islanders while averaging a double-double (15.9 points, 11.2 rebounds) so far.

Arizona — Pelle Larsson

Coming off his most significant production of the season, scoring 16 points while getting to the line to hit 6 of 6 free throws against Indiana, Larsson may be needed to defend some of the Islanders’ smaller big men as he was at times with opponents last season.

Sidelines

Into the fire

With Arizona’s young reserve core four freshman and sophomore Adama Bal averaging a total of just 12.3 points so far this season, UA coach Tommy Lloyd tried a little off-the-floor coaching before a recent practice.

“We have five young guys that I think are going to be really good players and great Arizona Wildcats and I brought him in my office,” Lloyd said after UA beat Indiana on Saturday. “I told them they need to get better. And they need to stop pouting and feeling sorry for themselves. Because it is hard and I know what they're going through.”

Lloyd followed that up by giving critical minutes to Bal (13), Veesaar (12) and guard Kylan Boswell (three) against the Hoosiers.

Bal responded by hitting all three 3-pointers he took, while Veesaar had five points and three rebounds and helped limit Indiana star center Trayce Jackson-Davis to 11 points. Boswell also played good minutes, Lloyd said.

“Once he played well, I’m gonna roll with him, Lloyd said of Bal. “I'm gonna give all those guys a shot almost every half and and if they get enough moments, they're gonna take advantage of them. Adama did that.”

Wildcats beaten out for Pac-12 honors

Thanks in part to the triple-double Oregon’s Will Richardson put together against Nevada, Arizona wasn’t able parlay its win over 14th-ranked Indiana into a Pac-12 weekly award.

Richardson picked up the Pac-12 Player of the Week award after collecting19 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists in the Ducks’ 78-65 win over Nevada.

Arizona had nominated Azuolas Tubelis, who had 21 points on 9-for-16 shooting in the Wildcats’ 89-75 win over Indiana on Saturday in Las Vegas, along with seven rebounds, two assists and a steal.

Meanwhile, UCLA's Dylan Andrews was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week after he posted season-highs of 11 points and six assists to no turnovers in the Bruins’ 87-64 victory over Denver. UA had nominated Veesaar.

Wildcats move up to No. 9

After beating Indiana on Saturday in Las Vegas, Arizona rose from No. 10 to No. 9 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

The Wildcats (8-1), are No. 15 in the NET and No. 12 in Kenpom.

Tennessee (9-1), which will visit McKale Center for a Top-10 showdown with Arizona on Saturday, moved from seventh to sixth after beating Eastern Kentucky and Maryland last week.

Indiana stayed at No. 14 after beating Nebraska and losing to Arizona. Among other UA opponents this season, UCLA rose from 19th to 16th, and San Diego State dropped out from No. 22 after losing to Saint Mary's. ASU received the 30th most points in voting for the second straight week.

Numbers game

9 — Division I schools that did not have a player enter the transfer portal during or after the 2021-22 season, including Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

15 — Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s national rank in free-throw percentage (79.5)

40 — Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s rank in Kenpom’s “minutes continuity” formula, which measures how many minutes are played by the same players from the previous season.

— Bruce Pascoe