Three days after coach Sean Miller blasted his team’s decision-making in a shoddy win over South Dakota State, it was pretty clear that the Arizona Wildcats received the message.
After shooting 3-for-17 from 3-point range and generally failing to get the ball to the near-perfect Zeke Nnaji in that game, a performance Miller called “poor and inefficient,” the Wildcats clobbered Long Beach State with a combination of smarter 3-point shooting, post feeds, transition baskets and Nico Mannion heroics.
Entering the game with a nation-leading field-goal percentage of 84.1 percent, Nnaji wasn’t quite perfect this time, but he hit 9 of 13 from the field to score 21 points while Mannion led the Wildcats with 22 points and eight assists to only one turnover.
Nico Mannion (22 points, 8 assists) and Max Hazzard (14 points, 4-6 3FG) following Arizona’s 104-67 win over Long Beach State pic.twitter.com/8pMN6qn32T
— The Wildcaster (@TheWildcaster) November 25, 2019
Most notably, perhaps, was that the Wildcats made 12 of 24 3-pointers, including 6 of 8 during a 28-5 run that allowed them to take over the game in the second half.
Leading 38-33 at halftime, Arizona started the run on a 15-2 blitz early in the second half, taking a 55-39 lead with 14:46 left, getting 3-pointers from Mannion, Jemarl Baker and Dylan Smith during the run.
That run then morphed into a 28-5 run that gave UA a 72-44 lead with 10 minutes to go and the Wildcats coasted the rest of the way while experimenting with a rotation that will now permanently exclude sophomore guard Devonaire Doutrive.
After he shot 1 for 6 on Thursday against South Dakota State, when Miller vowed that UA’s decision-making problem would be “corrected first thing tomorrow,” Doutrive was dismissed for reasons Miller did not specify.
Doutrive had also been suspended for UA’s Nov. 1 exhibition game and two regular-season games before playing three games and then being told to leave the team for good.
Whatever the case was with Doutrive, Miller clearly aimed his displeasure at multiple individuals on Thursday, when Nnaji didn’t take a shot in the first half after also not taking one in the second half in UA’s previous game against New Mexico State.
“That's as poor and inefficient, ineffective, not playing to win, not playing smart, 20 minutes (in the first half Thursday) as we've had in a long, long time,” Miller said Thursday, “especially considering the way that our team is constructed.”
But in the second half Thursday, Nnaji was 4 for 5 and he gradually warmed up Sunday. Nnaji was 4 for 8 in the first half and then hit all five shots he took in the second half.
Without Doutrive backing up on the wings, Smith played 21 minutes while Baker logged 20 and Max Hazzard played 17. Hazzard had 14 points while hitting 5 of 7 3-pointers while Baker had 11 points while hitting all three 3s he took.
Max Hazzard on the dismissal of Devonaire Doutrive and what it means minutes-wise for the other guards. pic.twitter.com/UZGwbg1JvH
— The Wildcaster (@TheWildcaster) November 25, 2019
Arizona shot 57.8 percent overall while holding LBSU to 40.7 percent shooting. Arizona also scored 31 points on 22 Beach turnovers.
The win moved 14th-ranked Arizona to 6-0 entering the Wooden Legacy event that begins bracketed play Thursday, when the Wildcats will face Pepperdine and then face either UCF or Penn on Friday. Long Beach State (3-3), which was visiting McKale Center as an add-on game to the event, will open with Providence.
In the first half, Nnaji missed several closely contested shots near the basket and a 12-foot jumper. But he still made 4 of 8 shots overall and had 11 points in the half.
Mannion added another 11 points and five assists in the half, when Arizona shot 48.1 percent against LBSU’s mix of zone, man-to man and full-court presses but turned the ball over eight times in the first half, leaving to 10 Long Beach points. The Wildcats, however, scored 16 points off 11 Beach turnovers.
Sean Miller says this was probably Nico Mannion’s best game as a Wildcat.
— The Wildcaster (@TheWildcaster) November 25, 2019
Long Beach State shot just 37.9 percent in the first half and hit just 2 of 10 3-pointers. But the Beach outrebounded Arizona 18-16 and scored seven second-chance points on five offensive rebounds.
The Beach pulled within 15-14 when Jordan Roberts scored inside with 10:56 to go. UA quickly pulled back ahead by double-digits after Josh Green scored twice, the second time after he stole the ball from LBSU’s Michael Carter while Baker also hit a 3-pointer.
But Long Beach didn’t go away, cutting it to a basket again with 4:13 left when Romelle Mansel made a layup to pull the Beach within 28-28. LBSU then tied the game on a layup from Jordan Roberts through the heart of UA’s defense while Max De Geest hit a 3-pointer that briefly gave LBSU a 31-30 lead.
