His turn: Jaden Bradley excels on both ends in Arizona's NCAA Tournament win over Dayton

SALT LAKE CITY — Already Arizona’s most efficient player on a per-possession basis, Jaden Bradley on Saturday might have been the Wildcats’ most efficient player, period.

In Arizona’s 78-68 win over Dayton in a second-round NCAA Tournament game, he played particularly hard possessions too.

Ones where Bradley had to pick up the ball in the backcourt, see Dayton players in his face right away and try to find a way to dribble or pass his way out of it.

But after 34 games off Arizona’s bench, Bradley has learned to prepare himself before he steps on the floor.

A starter much of last season at Alabama, the Wildcats’ sophomore combo guard accepted a reserve role entering this season and learned to watch the early movements of opponents from the sideline, then attack them.

This time, Bradley used his athleticism and instincts to break through Dayton’s pressure defense, scoring 12 points with two assists in UA’s win over the Flyers at the Delta Center.

“It’s been the same stuff all year,” Bradley said. “It’s just being ready for it. Starting on the bench, I can see the game, see what the (opposing) team likes to do defensively and offensively. I get a head start.”

Bradley’s production helped the Wildcats maintain a lead throughout after the first five minutes, despite Dayton’s success in limiting starter Kylan Boswell to two points and 0-for-3 shooting.

Boswell said it takes pressure off him to know a player so capable can fill in the way Bradley did.

“There’s just days when sometimes things don’t come,” Boswell said. “That’s the game of basketball. But it was coming for J.B. for sure. When that’s going on, you’ve gotta leave him in and let him do his thing.”

Bradley wound up playing 27 minutes off the bench, while Boswell played 18.

Both have said they also like playing together, and they proved particularly effective on Feb. 28 while doing so in UA’s 85-67 win at ASU. But so far in the NCAA Tournament, the guards have pretty much swapped starring duties.

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In UA’s 85-65 win over Long Beach State on Thursday, Boswell had a season-high 20 points on 8-for-19 shooting while Bradley had eight on 2-for-5 shooting.

On Saturday, Bradley was the guy on both offense and defense.

It was the kind of thing freshman KJ Lewis noticed when he joined the Wildcats last summer. Boswell was elevating from reserve point guard behind Kerr Kriisa to starter, while Bradley came over from Alabama in position either to start or come off the bench.

When UA coach Tommy Lloyd “put the team together in the summer, we knew we were going to be deep,” Lewis said. Thursday “was Kylan’s game. Today’s was J.B.’s game. I think it’s just what type of defense the team is gonna play against us. It’s pick your poison. I think we’ve got the best bench in the country. We can exploit differences.”

With Arizona’s defense limiting Dayton’s normally efficient offense for much of the game, the Flyers turned to full-court pressure in an attempt to throw the Wildcats off. Arizona did cough up four turnovers in the final two minutes of the half, when Dayton went on a 10-0 run, and struggled at times against the pressure.

“Me and Kylan were talking to each other” about it, Bradley said. “We saw in the first half, they were kind of pressuring us, trying to make us turn and go behind the back and stuff like that. So we did a great job (adjusting).”

Boswell wound up with two assists and a turnovers while Bradley had no turnovers in his 27 minutes despite also having no room to breathe.

“I thought J.B. was doing a really good job (against) the pressure up top, handling it, not panicking,” Lloyd said. “Even kind of went at ‘em a couple times. Those are high-risk plays when you’re attacking a press like that. But you want to go downhill with the press before they can set their defense.

“I was just proud of the way J.B. responded. Kylan was awesome on Thursday. When you have a great team, it’s different guys’ nights on different nights.”

Photos: Arizona edges Dayton 78-68, NCAA Men's Tournament 2nd Round, Salt Lake City