We probably have the toughest game of this regular season tomorrow night out in Tucson. Arizona is coming off a huge win over Washington on the road, powered by their two seniors - Hassan Adams and Chris Rogers, who are leading Lute's team in scoring (BTW ... why didn't Lute suspend Adams for this?). BBR as usual has an excellent preview with keys for both teams:
To win, the Bruins will need to play better defense and rebound better than they did against Cal. In addition to shooting over 50%, Cal also shot 60% from 3PT.
Arizona keys their transition game off turnovers they create. The Bruins also like to run and get easy transition baskets, but similar to the Memphis game, its unlikely coach Howland will want to get into a running game with Arizona. However, if an easy transition basket is available to the Bruins, he'll take it.
Instead Howland will most likely stress strong team defense and rebounding - not a surprise. Like the Bruins, Arizona does not have a great half-court offense and have struggled when they haven't been able to create easy scores with fast break opportunities.
Arizona swept the Bruins last year. Last February Arizona beat the Bruins 83 to 73.
By the way Daily News has notes on the team as well - reporting Howland may be rethinking his substitution strategy. Afflalo has been getting some insane minutes under current his rotation. Then again with Jordan limping, Ced hurting, and Shipp recovering he is the only go to guy we have left on this team. Also interesting that all of Arizona's leading scorers are seniors, while our only senior with somewhat of a key role in the rotation is out. Tomorrow night is going to be a tough game. It will be interesting to see how the Bruins come out and fight.
Arizona keys their transition game off turnovers they create. The Bruins also like to run and get easy transition baskets, but similar to the Memphis game, its unlikely coach Howland will want to get into a running game with Arizona. However, if an easy transition basket is available to the Bruins, he'll take it.
Instead Howland will most likely stress strong team defense and rebounding - not a surprise. Like the Bruins, Arizona does not have a great half-court offense and have struggled when they haven't been able to create easy scores with fast break opportunities.
Arizona swept the Bruins last year. Last February Arizona beat the Bruins 83 to 73.