Arizona overwhelms Akron with 3s and dunks in 93-65 March Madness victory
SEATTLE (AP) — Jaden Bradley, Trey Townsend and Caleb Love hit 3-pointers within the first two minutes, and No. 4 seed Arizona easily dismissed 13th-seeded Akron 93-65 on Friday night in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Bradley finished with 19 points, Townsend had 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting, Carter Bryant scored 12 and Love and KJ Lewis each had 10 for the Wildcats (23-12), who reached the second round of March Madness for the third time in coach Tommy Lloyd’s four seasons.
“Other than being a little loose with the ball in the first half, I thought we were exceptional,” said Lloyd, a longtime Gonzaga assistant who grew up in Kelso, Washington, and invited a big contingent of friends and relatives to the game.
Arizona shot 12 of 25 from 3-point range and threw down nine dunks, getting the lead out to as many as 34 points in the final minutes.
“For us, it’s just trying to stay level,” Bryant said. “Making good play after good play, simple play after simple play. I think when we make the simple plays, we’re one of the best teams.”
The Wildcats will face fifth-seeded Oregon, which routed Liberty, in the East Region on Sunday.
Tavari Johnson and Nate Johnson each scored 13 points for the Zips (28-7), who won 20 of their final 22 games this season.
“It’s a special group of guys,” Akron coach John Groce said. “We’ve got good people in that locker room that really do care about each other that are great teammates.”
Akron responded to Arizona’s early 9-0 burst with an 11-2 run to tie the game, but the Zips never led as Arizona built a 41-31 lead at halftime and pushed ahead by 17 points early in the second half. Midway through the period, the Wildcats went on a 22-7 run in a seven-minute span for a 31-point advantage.
Size advantage
The Arizona starting lineup had a nearly 3-inch height advantage per player — a disparity that became even more stark when 7-foot Henri Veesaar stepped on the floor — and took advantage.
“I challenged our guys before the game, I asked them, ‘Could we outrebound these guys by 15?’” Lloyd said. “I think the answer ended up being yes.”
Indeed. The Wildcats had 53 rebounds to Akron’s 22. Townsend and Tobe Awaka led Arizona with eight boards apiece, while Veesaar and Love each had seven.
“I was concerned about the rebounding going into the game. … Certainly, credit to them, they’re a great rebounding team,” Groce said. “We needed to be better there, though, and control what we could control to dig out a few more than what we did.”
Arizona also outscored the Zips 48-20 in the paint and had nine blocks.
Uncharitable stripe
The referees let the Wildcats and Zips get away with pretty much everything, but when they blew the whistle, Arizona couldn’t take advantage, going into halftime having missed all five free-throw attempts.
The Wildcats, who came into the day ninth nationally in made free throws and 15th in free-throw percentage (78.4%) finished the game at 30% (3-for-10).
“We’re a great free-throw shooting team,” Lloyd said. “But if you would have told me we had to be 12 for 25 from 3 (but) 3 for 10 from the line, I might take that.”
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By JOSH KIRSHENBAUM
Associated Press
