The Beavers return to Gill Thursday in search of their first home Pac-10 win of the season. They're 1 of their last 10, which happens to be their Pac-10 record.
At the forefront of Arizona's offense is the fast break. In other words, they can run. They get good ball movement, and against Washington we saw them rack up lots of assists as a team. In prior weeks, they were breaking down and playing more of a 1 on 1 style offense, but they didn't do that against the Huskies, and the result was a 30 point win. The key to their success on fast breaks is capitalizing on turnovers. They do this in many ways, one if which is denying the entry pass to the post with their big guys. They did this well against Jon Brockman and the rest of the Huskies.
Marcus Williams
(AP Photo/Wily Low)
Another scary part of Arizona's game is their ability to go on runs. If you take a look at the ESPN game flow from the Arizona/ Washington game, you'll notice that there are 3 or 4 long straight lines that denote a period of no points on Washington's line on the graph. Arizona does a good job of capitalizing on turnovers and the like, that they have a great ability to go on a 10-0 run with no problem. They start converting fast break baskets, our offense breaks down, they keep getting turnovers, and more forced turnovers lead to more fast breaks which leads to more points for the Wildcats. It's simple, really.
Chase Budinger
(AP Photo/John Miller)
The Beavers are going to have to bring it against the Wildcats. They're stacked full of ballers, including point guard Mustafa Shakur. He's the guy that's been playing more of a 1 on 1 style recently, but he can be dangerous if he's looking to the middle and getting assists. Ivan Radenovic is a 6-10 guy that can do it all; put it on the floor, hit the open jump shot, and rack up rebounds. Chase Budinger is a studly freshmen who was knocking down three's left and right against Washington. He ended up with 15 points. 6-9 Jordan Hill is a beastly shot blocker who averages one swat per game, but had five, yes five blocks against the Huskies. Marcus Williams is the leading scorer for Arizona, averaging nearly 17 points per game. The Wildcats also get great support off the bench from guys like Jawann McClellan, Daniel Dilon, Nic Wise, and Bret Brielmaier, to name a few.
Go Beavers!
--JB--