Northern Arizona Lumberjacks lose in Tucson
The Arizona Wildcats might have not been exactly on point during the non-conference season but they record is what really matters. They took down several quality opponents, dominated overmatched teams and didn’t lose their focus while grinding out victories, even if sometimes things were tough.
Now, the Wildcats are 13-0 and are top ranked in Division I of the NCAA Basketball league with 1,623 points.
On Monday night, the Wildcats played against the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks at the McKale Center in Tucson and showed an incredible performance to finish the match with a significant lead at 77-44.
Nick Johnson got the most points in, finishing the night with 20 to his name, while Rondae Hollis-Jefferson got 14 more on the scoreboard as the top-ranked team in NCAAB rolled over Northern Arizona (3-8) for its second consecutive undefeated slate in the non-conference.
After the game, Johnson said that they are good but they are not perfect. However, the record is all that matters right now and being 13-0 is certainly encouraging as the Wildcats are now getting ready for the conference games. Arizona certainly seems strong going into the season and should continue to have good results as long as they stay focused.
The game on Monday was the second one without center Kaleb Tarczewski, who was injured last week and will be missing for the next few games as well. It didn’t really seem that they needed him actually as the Wildcats quickly took control of the game and were 27-4 in the first half. Johnson was the one to fill in for Tarczewski and he grabbed eight rebounds while running all over the court.
Brandon Ashley and Gabe York also stood out on Monday as they scored 11 and 10 points respectively, to make sure that Arizona continues its undefeated streak and takes the 27th straight win in the non-conference.
With one of the best defensive lineups in the nation, the Wildcats made sure that the Lumberjacks could not get an easy basket, as they had a 36 percent shooting towards the end.
With overwhelming results across the past couple of weeks, Arizona is now quite safe in the No. 1 spot, at least since next year. Its next game is scheduled for January 2nd and it will be against Washington State.
Northern Arizona has become familiar with this trip south and has been playing in Tucson in almost every season, with the only exception being in 2002. However, the results have mostly been bad for the Lumberjacks, who lost to the Wildcats almost every time the two teams met, except for a five-point game three years ago.
This time, things were even tougher for Northern Arizona since the team had to play without its top returning scorer, Dwayne Russell, who was transferred. They managed to keep things close against Fresno State and Southern California but Arizona was at a much higher level and the Lumberjacks could not keep up for long.
Surprising top 10 appearance
While Arizona is currently leading the ranking, Wichita State joined the top 10 list a couple of days ago for the first time since 2006 after beating Alabama and North Carolina Central.
Cracking the top 10 is a huge achievement for the team and despite having less than 1,000 points in The Associated Press college basketball poll, they showed a lot of potential last week.
Last time they were on the list, the Shockers were No. 8 for several weeks towards the end of 2006, but they lost in Las Vegas Classic to Southern California and New Mexico and dropped a few spots to No. 16. Another loss against Northern Iowa saw Wichita State out of the Top 25 list for the rest of the season.
