| |
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Arizona was ripe to become the NCAA
Tournament's first top-seeded team to lose in the first round.
Jackson State wasn't quite the program to do the job.
Michael Wright had 19 points and 13 rebounds, Gilbert Arenas
scored 16 points, and Richard Jefferson added 14 as the Wildcats
beat Jackson State 71-47 on Thursday night in the West Regional.
With injured 7-foot-1 center Loren Woods dressed in a red
T-shirt and a shell necklace as he cheered from the bench, the
Wildcats (27-6) were down to seven scholarship players for their
NCAA run.
|  | | Richard Jefferson, who scored 14 points for Arizona, puts up a shot over Jackson State's Timmy Marks. |
It seemed remotely possible the Tigers (17-16) could win.
Arizona led 28-20 at halftime after shooting 30 percent
(8-of-26), and it might have been closer if not for Jackson State's
11 turnovers and 29 percent (8-of-27) shooting.
"We were really tight," Arizona coach Lute Olson said. "We
played like the three freshmen we had on the court. That was one of
the things we said at halftime. You've just got to loosen up and
play."
Olson was happy to move on to the second round, where the
Wildcats will face Wisconsin. The Wildcats, who were outrebounded
44-43, insisted they weren't thinking before tipoff it would be
easy to dispatch the 16th-seeded Tigers.
"Jackson State was very competitive," Jefferson said. "They
went out there and worked their butts off. They shouldn't have been
intimidated by us."
They weren't. But eventually, Arizona wore them down.
Arenas made 3-pointers on consecutive possessions midway through
the second half and Jefferson added another as the Wildcats buried
gritty but unpolished Jackson State with an 11-2 run.
"I was just trying to hit big shots and come out with a lot of
electricity and get out team hyped up," Arenas said.
Arizona finished it by outscoring the Tigers 26-10 and holding
Jackson State to three field goals in the last 10:48.
"We did a good job defensively the whole game," Olson said.
"Offensively, we had a lot to straighten out at halftime. In the
second half, we were much more efficient."
Vincent Jones, a lanky 6-10 center, was a defensive presence,
altering shots and disrupting Arizona fast breaks. He also was
Jackson State's only consistent offensive threat, scoring 12
points.
"We outrebounded them, but they just hit more shots," Jones
said. "We played as hard as we could."
Marino Walker added 10 points.
The Tigers made a serious run in the second half, cutting into a
45-29 deficit by scoring eight straight points. When Walker's
jumper went through the net with 11:38 to play, it was 45-37 and
the Tigers were pumping their fists.
They were too excited, it turned out.
Jackson State left the Wildcats open on the perimeter, and
Arenas punished them by making his consecutive 3-pointers to push
the lead back to 51-37 with 10:13 on the clock.
"From a physical standpoint, we played even with them,"
Jackson State coach Andy Stoglin said. "But we don't have the
shooters they do."
The Tigers' upset dreams faded when they went the next six
minutes without a field goal.
Still, the fans in Salt Lake had fun embracing Jackson State,
which finished fourth in the Southwestern Athletic Conference
during the regular season but reached the NCAAs by winning the
league's tournament.
Jackson State's band and cheerleaders even drew big cheers when
they arrived with 7:42 remaining before halftime. It turned out the
bus driver was late getting to the hotel to pick them up.
Arizona shot 41 percent (26-63), a number that must improve if
the Willdcats are to go deep into the tournament.
But the bottom line was advancing to the second round, something
Arizona didn't do last season. The Wildcats will have to continue
without Woods, but that's a situation that won't be anything new.
For most of the Pac-10 season, Jefferson was out with a broken
foot. The Wildcats also had a slew of defections, injuries and
other setbacks that left them with their seven scholarship players.
| |
ALSO SEE
Mens College Basketball Scoreboard
Jackson State NCAA Team Report
Arizona NCAA Team Report
Chat: NCAA Tourney
Badgers bounce Tark, Fresno State
Longhorns' balance spoils Sycamores' return to Utah
Beshara shoots LSU past SE Missouri State
|
