Last nonconference game is Saturday
After turning it over 22 times, several during a late collapse to UCLA, facing another team that loves to take the ball away had the potential for major disaster. Instead it resulted in one of Arizona’s best performances of the season.
Caleb Love had 23 points, 18 in the first half, and Arizona shot 58.2 percent while taking much better care of the ball in a 96-64 win over Samford on Wednesday night at McKale Center.
Anthony Dell’Orso and Trey Townsend had 14 points each, with Dell’Orso doing so in his first UA start, and both Jaden Bradley and KJ Lewis had 11 each for the Wildcats, who got back to .500 at 5-5 with one nonconference game left.
The Wildcats had 14 turnovers against Samford’s press, 10 in the second half, but the Bulldogs (8-3) only managed to 14 points off those giveaways. Arizona turned 12 Samford turnovers into 23 points.
The UA outrebounded the Bulldogs 42-23 and had a 48-20 edge on points in the paint including 37-12 in fast break scoring. Samford made 12 3-pointers but that was on 35 attempts, and for the game shot 36.7 percent.
Arizona led 56-33 at halftime thanks to 60 percent shooting, a plus-15 edge on the boards and only four turnovers. Samford cut it to 60-46 less than four minutes into the second half by making 5 of 7 shots (including a pair of 3s) and keeping Arizona off the glass.
The Bulldogs kept Arizona off the line for the first 6-plus minutes of the second half before starting to go inside and finishing. The Wildcats have five and-ones on the night, the fifth by Lewis getting the lead back to 71-49 with 11:33 to go.
It got sloppy for a while, though, with Arizona turning it over on five straight possessions and six of seven in just over two minutes of game time, yet Samford only scored on two of those takeaways. The Bulldogs got no closer than 17, with a 10-0 run making it 90-61 with 2:12 remaining.
The final points of that run came from freshman Emmanuel Stephen, who made his collegiate debut and went for two points, a rebound and two fouls over the final 2:38.
Samford’s press wasn’t working early, but its perimeter shooting was. The Bulldogs hit 5 of 8 from outside to trail only 16-15 with 13:05 left in the first half, and they didn’t make their first 2-pointer until the 10:32 mark.
Arizona went the first five minutes without turning it over and didn’t give it away in the backcourt for the first six-plus minutes. The ability to break the press led to a lot of easy drives and scores in the paint as well as 18 free throw attempts before halftime.
Love’s pullup 3 in transition put the UA up 39-21 with 5:52 left, and Dell’Orso’s 3 with 1:43 to go before halftime made it 54-29.
Arizona wraps up nonconference play Saturday afternoon against Central Michigan. The Big 12 opener is Dec. 30 at home against TCU.