No. 2 Arizona shuts down Missouri in Maui
Arizona guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright, left, ducks under Missouri guard Keith Shamburger, right, and shoots a layup in the first half of Monday’s game at the Maui Invitational.
Arizona forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson takes a shot while being defended by Missouri forward Johnathan Williams III in the second half of Monday’s game at the Maui Invitational.
Slow starts and strong finishes are nothing new to Arizona. The Wildcats did it in three games on the mainland and started the Maui Invitational the same way.
They better get it fixed fast with the competition ramping up over the next two days.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Brandon Ashley each scored 15 points, helping No. 2 Arizona wear down Missouri for a 72-53 victory in the opening round the Maui Invitational on Monday.
“That initial surge out of the gates of playing well at both ends, I don’t know if we’ve really done that,” Arizona coach Sean Miller said. “I can also flip it and make it a positive, because like every team at this time of the year, you’re in search of getting better and improving. Today is another step for our team.”
Arizona (4-0) got off to slow starts in two of its first three games and wasn’t exactly sharp early against the Tigers.
The Wildcats struggled to hit shots from the perimeter and were at times disjointed offensively before a short spurt put them up five a halftime.
They made up for it on defense, holding Missouri (2-2) to 36 percent shooting, including 2 of 13 from 3-point range.
Freshman Stanley Johnson had 14 points for Arizona and T.J. McConnell, a Chartiers Valley graduate, had nine assists to offset a 2-for-11 game from the floor.
“I’m going to take something that coach has said in the past: A great defensive team is never selfish,” Ashley said. “What that means basically is that if somebody gets beat, you’re going to be there to help them out.”
Missouri kept it close in the first half in the first half behind its defense.
The Tigers let the game get away from them because they couldn’t hold onto the ball on offense.
Missouri had 17 turnovers that led to 24 points for Arizona, dooming any hope of keeping up with the Wildcats.
Montaque Gill-Caesar led the Tigers with 13 points.
“We didn’t make the correct passes and (it was) the pressure, so we can’t really blame one thing – it was both,” said Missouri’s Keith Shamburger, who had 11 points.
Arizona pulled away in the second half to beat Mount St. Mary’s and UC Irvine before heading to Maui.
The young Tigers opened the season with a frustrating 69-61 loss to Missouri-Kansas City, but bounced back with victories over Valparaiso and Oral Roberts. Missouri showed off its shooting prowess against Oral Roberts, hitting 8 of 9 3-pointers in second half to pull away from Oral Roberts for a 78-64 win.
Neither team could hit much of anything early in Maui.
Arizona has struggled from the perimeter this season and it continued against the active Tigers. The Wildcats missed their first eight 3-pointers before getting a couple to drop late in the first half to take a 32-25 lead.
No. 12 Villanova 77, No. 14 VCU 53: JayVaughn Pinkston scored 15 points and Darrun Hilliard had 14 to lead No. 12 Villanova past No. 14 Virginia Commonwealth 77-53 on Monday night.
The Wildcats (4-0) used a 16-0 run early in the second half to bust this one open and advance to the Legends Classic final at the Barclays Center.
The Wildcats needed about 2½ minutes to turn a tight one into a rout. Kris Jenkins added 13 points to lead a Villanova bench that outscored VCU’s reserves 36-11.
Melvin Johnson and Briante Weber both scored 13 points for VCU.
The Rams missed 15 of 17 3-pointers and shot only 37 percent overall. VCU opened the second half on a 6-0 run to open a short-lived lead until they totally collapsed and were outhustled for the next 17 next minutes against the attacking Wildcats.
Montrezl Harrell had 15 points and nine rebounds, and No. 6 Louisville jumped to a 29-0 lead over the first 15:58 against Savannah State en route to an 87-26 blowout Monday night.
For a while the Cardinals (4-0) appeared headed toward pitching the NCAA’s first shutout in a half since Duke led North Carolina 7-0 at halftime on Feb. 24, 1979, according to STATS. But Saadiq Muhammad’s free throw with 4:02 remaining before halftime provided the Tigers’ first point and Khalen Pinkett’s jumper with 1:23 left ended their 0-for-23 shooting drought.
Savannah State (2-3) trailed 41-7 at the break behind 2-of-26 shooting (7.7 percent) as Louisville allowed its fewest points in a half since 1972-73. San Francisco (December 2010) and Cincinnati (March 1981) each scored 11 points.
Wayne Blackshear added 13 points, Terry Rozier had 11 and Chinanu Onuaku 10 with nine rebounds for the Cardinals.
Junior guard Jake Jacubec scored a team-high 21 points and California surpassed the 100-point plateau for the first time in more than seven years as the Vulcans defeated Penn State-Greater Allegheny, 108-107, Monday night in a non-conference game.
It was the first time the Vulcans (4-2) reached 100 points since Nov. 20, 2007 when they defeated PS-Greater Allegheny, 120-31, at home.
Jacubec scored 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including five three-pointers. Nick Miller (14 points), Daniel Sapp (13), Khalil Jabbie (11) and Chika Obi (11) also reached double figures for California, which led 45-25 at halftime.
The Vulcans shot 51.2 percent from the field and made 13 three-point shots, and outrebounded PSGA, 57-37. California led by as many as 50 points late in the second half and scored 52 points in the lane. They also had 55 poitns off the bench and limited PSGA to a 32 percent shooting performance from the field.
Penn State-Greater Allegheny was led by Khari Hicks, who scored 21 points.