When Arizona and Missouri signed off on a two-year series back in November 2012, the appeal was obvious.
Two power conference teams, each visiting the other’s home. One of them (Missouri) coming off a 30-win season and the other (Arizona) putting together the first of two undefeated nonconference runs.
Three years passed. Then this: Arizona 88, Missouri 52.
It was the Wildcats’ biggest victory margin of the season, one more suited to your everyday onetime low-major opponent, but also a somewhat necessary breather for a team adjusting to a continued string of issues.
While point guard Kadeem Allen was able to return from an ankle sprain suffered last Wednesday against Fresno State, the Wildcats still had three players sitting on the bench in street clothes: Kaleb Tarczewski because of a foot injury, Ray Smith because of a torn ACL and Elliott Pitts because of an unspecified issue.
“We’ll take it,” UA coach Sean Miller said. “All of us as conferences look at our nonconference schedules and use it as bragging rights for the end of the year … We played a team from a respected conference and we were able to pull away from them.”
Moreover, Arizona played probably its most complete, balanced game of the season in doing so. The Wildcats dominated from start to finish, holding the Tigers to just 30.4-percent shooting while UA shot 56.4 percent from the field, and went 19 of 25 from the free-throw line and hit 7 of 17 three-pointers.
The Wildcats were as unselfish as they were efficient, too: They had six players scoring in double figures and dished 20 assists on 31 field goals
They also outrebounded the Tigers 44-27, with freshman Chance Comanche managing to squeeze in a career-high 10 rebounds in just 13 season-high minutes.
“It’s not necessarily who we were playing as much as who we were,” Miller said. “Being unselfish on offense and together and hard-playing on defense — that’s what we’re all trying to do at this time of the year. We were able to do that tonight.”
That said, it was clear that Missouri was not the team Arizona signed up to play. The Tigers finished last in the SEC last season under Kim Anderson, and the rebuilding process is clearly still going on now. The Tigers get nearly 50 percent of their scoring from freshmen.
Not only that, but a long trip to Tucson may have sapped the Tigers even further. Missouri’s charter plane was grounded in Lubbock, Texas, stranding the team for nine hours, and the Tigers didn’t arrive until 12:30 a.m. Sunday, or 1:30 a.m. on their body clocks.
Anderson, however, did not use the trip as any sort of excuse.
“I wouldn’t do Arizona the disservice of saying that had something to do with the game,” he said, according to the Kansas City Star. “No, I mean, we got here at 12:30 (a.m.). We had eight or nine hours of sleep. We had a walk-through today. Would I have liked to have practiced (Saturday)? Sure, but Arizona played too well for me to even approach that. They deserve a lot of credit.”
Whatever the case was, Arizona guard Gabe York sensed they weren’t the Tigers they could have been.
“We’re happy we won this game, but at the same time we knew the type of team Missouri was,” York said. “We wished they would have played a lot harder. But it is what it is.”
It was, if nothing else, a lot of fun for the Wildcats. Not only did all nine available scholarship players get double-digit minutes, with Mark Tollefsen leading the six double-figure scorers with his season-high 17, but the Wildcats also threw down an array of dunks.
Included was a high-flying alley-oop jam in the lane from York and a reverse dunk from Tollefsen.
“Things like that give us energy” Tollefsen said.
The Wildcats had plenty of energy from the start. They held Missouri scoreless for the first 119 seconds, taking a quick 7-0 lead, and never struggled. They built a 12-4 lead when York pulled up for a 25-footer and went ahead 15-4 when Ryan Anderson hit a corner three-pointer.
Arizona went on to build a 14-point lead midway through the half and later went ahead 30-15 after threes from York and freshman forward Allonzo Trier.
The Wildcats led 42-23 at halftime, then kept the heat up. UA built leads of up to 35 points midway through the second half even while going deep into its nine-player bench. The Wildcats continued mowing the Tigers down in the second. They took a 69-34 lead with 7:43 left on a shot from Tollefsen and then coasted.
