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ARIZONA 97, NORTH DAKOTA STATE 45

Wildcats rout North Dakota State, accomplish something not done since 1920-21 season

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  • 5 min to read

Arizona center Christian Koloko (35) jams home a bucket on an alley-oop to set the Wildcats off with a bang in the second half of their game against North Dakota State at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., November 16, 2021.

 Kelly Presnell, Arizona Daily Star

There’s a reason college basketball teams rarely play back-to-back road games in different time zones, but North Dakota State tried to do just that Tuesday at McKale Center after going down to the wire Monday at UNLV.

The Arizona Wildcats took full advantage.

In UA’s 97-45 win over the Bison, which were cramming in the two games as add-ons to this weekend’s Las Vegas Main Event, the Wildcats pounced early to take an 11-0 run. They led by up to 24 in the first half before NDSU’s Willie Guy hit a three-quarter-court shot at the halftime buzzer, then they stomped all over the Bison after halftime.

While there’s no question the Wildcats have been on a roll for a number of reasons during their 3-0 start, holding all their opponents under 30% shooting while sharing the ball and scoring efficiently, even UA coach Tommy Lloyd acknowledged that the Bison were affected by the “tough hop” scheduling.

“I’m sure it was a lot” of a factor, Lloyd said. “I couldn’t give you a number of points it impacted things. But it’s a lot. You know, sometimes programs like them, it’s a tough road in some of these nonconference games, but I guarantee that’s a winning program. That’s a heck of a coach. And he’s gonna say: ‘All right, you know, boys, we’re gonna wash that one down the shower, we’re gonna learn from it and we’re gonna come back,’ and they’re gonna have a chip on their shoulder.”

The Bison, which lost to eventual NCAA Tournament darling Oral Roberts in last season’s Summit League Tournament final, are expected to seriously contend for their conference title again this season. They also proved in a 64-62 loss at UNLV on Monday that they can play higher-level opponents on their own floors.

Just maybe not twice in two days, with a 350-mile commute in between.

The loss was not only potentially deflating for North Dakota State, but also historical for the Wildcats. Combined with UA’s 104-50 win over UTRGV on Friday, Arizona’s 52-point win was the first time it had beaten multiple opponents by 50 points in the same season since 1996-97, when the Wildcats beat Robert Morris by 64 and Oregon State by 51.

And, for what it’s worth, the Wildcats haven’t won by 50 or more in back-to-back games for more than a century. Yep, you have to go all the way back to 1920-21, when Pop McKale’s guys destroyed New Mexico Tech 75-11 and 74-13.

In this one, the Wildcats made their presence known on both sides of the court, early and often. They allowed the Bison to shoot just 26.2% for the game, while NDSU also committed 17 turnovers that led to 21 UA points.

Arizona shot 51.5% from the field and outrebounded NDSU 49-36.

Five players scored in double figures for the Wildcats, led again by center Christian Koloko, who had 16 points, five rebounds and two blocks. Bennedict Mathurin and Azuolas Tubelis each had 15 points, with Mathurin hitting 3 of 5 3-pointers, while Kerr Kriisa hit 4 of 8 3s to score 12 points. Center Oumar Ballo added 10 points and seven rebounds off the bench.

For Mathurin, especially, the production may have come as something of a relief.

Expected to be a major go-to force for the Wildcats this season, Mathurin shot just 6 for 21 over UA’s first two games. But while playing with what he said was more aggressiveness, Mathurin was 5 for 11 overall on Tuesday.

“I don’t think it was really a struggle,” Mathurin said. “I think we have a lot of great players on the team and also I needed to adjust to the new style of play while going against adversity.”

Mathurin played a central role to both of UA’s game-defining runs: He made a layup and dunk early during UA’s 11-0 run to start the game and then returned to hit two of the five 3-pointers UA strung together over four minutes early in the second half, when they took a 66-29 lead with still 13:55 to go.

The Wildcats wound up making 13 of 27 3-pointers overall, but actually didn’t land the most impressive one. That would be Guy’s three-quarter-court heave into the basket that cut the Wildcats’ lead to 44-23 at halftime.

Still, as it turned out, Guy’s shot provided no momentum whatsoever for the Bison. Lloyd said he talked to the Wildcats about taking some ill-advised 3s in the first half, when UA hit just 3 of 10 from beyond the arc, and the Wildcats responded by making 10 of 17 long-range shots after halftime.

During the middle portions of the first half, when UA didn’t extend its lead beyond 16 points, Lloyd found the Wildcats “stagnated” in part because they took bad shots, including two of his best players, Mathurin and Tubelis.

“I love 3s that are (from) good looks,” Lloyd said. “There’s nothing wrong with earning a good 3-point shot, Whether you’re running the floor or you’re exploring things on a ball screen or rotation happens, they rotate off a shooter you hit him, he shoots — that’s great offense. I love those 3s.”

Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd and the Wildcats’ bench celebrate a successful hard play against North Dakota State.

But it’s a fine line, Lloyd said, to ask players to shy away from 3s so much that they could lose confidence.

“The guys are getting comfortable with what I like and what I don’t like, but I’m also going to live with some shots too, because they’re good guys,” Lloyd said. “They’re trying hard, they’re trying to make them and I don’t want them to play tight.”

The Wildcats certainly didn’t look tight early. Just 17 seconds into the game, Dalen Terry set the tone by stealing the ball from the Bisons’ Grant Nelson and converting a layup.

Kerr Kriisa then hit a 3 after a missed NDSU shot, while Mathurin had a layup and dunk on back-to-back possessions. A layup by Tubelis made it 11-0 before Jarius Cook finally put the Bison on the board with a 3-pointer at the 16:55 mark.

Arizona kept building its lead to 21-5 in part thanks to a 3 from Pelle Larsson and then jumped ahead 26-10 on a hook shot from Koloko.

The Wildcats wound up leading by 16 several times the first with 12:42 left, but the Bison didn’t let the margin get any bigger during the middle of the first half. They cut it to 30-18 with 5:08 left on a layup from Maleek Harden-Hayes, before Kriisa hit a 3 and Koloko later hit a hook to put UA up by more than 16 for the first time, 35-18.

Then, during one five-minute stretch early in the second half, Arizona hit five 3-pointers, two from Mathurin, one from Kriisa one from Kim Aiken and another from Justin Kier. Those helped put the Wildcats up 66-29 while Aiken hit another later with 12:49 left to give UA a 73-31 lead.

The Wildcats went ahead 73-31 with 12:49 still to go when Aiken hit another 3, while Lloyd began going deeper into his bench. But the Wildcats still held a 95-42 lead during the final media timeout with 3:23 to go.

They left McKale at 3-0, soon to face competition in Las Vegas that is expected to be tougher, and Lloyd said he wants them to understand the reasons why they are having success so far.

“I want to see them improve… to double down on the reasons we’re having success,” Lloyd said. “That’s the biggest thing — this is how we play and when we play with unselfishness, great energy, great toughness…

“You know, I told them, ‘You can be nice guys and still kick ass.’ That’s the message. That’s what we want to do.”

Arizona 97, North Dakota State 45

N. DAKOTA ST. (2-1)

Kreuser 1-5 0-0 2, Nelson 2-9 0-0 4, Cook 3-9 2-2 10, Eady 1-7 1-2 3, McKinney 1-4 1-2 3, Morgan 2-6 0-1 4, Harden-Hayes 3-8 1-2 8, Skunberg 2-11 0-0 5, Guy 1-4 0-0 3, Kallman 1-2 0-0 3, Haman 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-65 5-9 45.

ARIZONA (2-0)

A.Tubelis 6-11 3-5 15, Koloko 7-10 2-3 16, Kriisa 4-8 0-1 12, Terry 1-4 0-0 2, Mathurin 5-11 2-2 15, Kier 2-6 2-2 7, Larsson 1-3 3-4 6, Aiken 3-5 0-0 9, Ballo 3-4 4-4 10, Nowell 0-0 0-0 0, Bal 1-1 0-0 3, Mains 0-0 0-0 0, T.Tubelis 1-2 0-1 2, Weitman 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 34-66 16-22 97.

Halftime-Arizona 44-23. 3-Point Goals-N. Dakota St. 6-26 (Cook 2-5, Kallman 1-2, Harden-Hayes 1-3, Skunberg 1-3, Guy 1-4, Morgan 0-1, Nelson 0-2, Eady 0-3, Kreuser 0-3), Arizona 13-29 (Kriisa 4-8, Aiken 3-3, Mathurin 3-6, Bal 1-1, Larsson 1-2, Kier 1-4, Koloko 0-1, Terry 0-1, A.Tubelis 0-1, T.Tubelis 0-1). Fouled Out-Kreuser. Rebounds-N. Dakota St. 33 (Morgan 8), Arizona 47 (Mathurin 8). Assists-N. Dakota St. 7 (Eady 3), Arizona 21 (Mathurin 4). Total Fouls-N. Dakota St. 20, Arizona 14.

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