Arizona-Santa Clara game blog
by Javier Morales on Nov. 26, 2010, under SportsLAS VEGAS — Arizona defeats Santa Clara 82-59 controlling the second half behind improved by Derrick Williams, who scored only four points before halftime.
Williams, who had his second foul two minutes into the game, finished with a team-high 22 points and Solomon Hill contributed 20.
The Arizona bench was the difference, however, scoring 25 of the Cats’ 34 first-half points. More on the game to come after interviews …
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Superman just stepped out of the phone booth. Derrick Williams wows them with three-pointers, not dunks this time. He nails consecutive threes to give the Wildcats a 79-53 lead over Santa Clara. Williams has 22 points; Solomon Hill 20. The Broncos’ leading scorer Kevin Foster, averaging 18.5 points per game heading into the game, is held to only 13 at this point. No milk and cookies for him.
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Arizona owns the FT line in this game, shooting 32 times at this point, making 25. Santa Clara is only 6 of 9. Have to surmise that is a result of Arizona’s aggressive play. The refs have no impact on this game whatsoever.
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Taking a break from the game. Arizona is 4-7 against Kansas. The programs have played some significant games against each other. My best memory is Arizona’s Sweet 16 victory over the No. 1 seed Jayhawks in 1997 in Birmingham. Bill Self’s comments on his battles with Arizona dating back to his Illini years.
“Of course, I’ve had some good games with Lute (Olson). In 2001, played them three times. We played some Big 10 teams one time that year and we played Arizona three times. We’ve had some good games with them, and of course Kansas has had some big games with them. If I’m not mistaken in ’03 against they had an unbelievable comeback (from a 20-point deficit). Salim Stoudamire went nuts (with 32 points). They beat us in Allen (Fieldhouse) 91-74 and then we beat them in the Elite Eight (78-75 in Anaheim — the last game for Jason Gardner, Luke Walton and Rick Anderson). It’s a pretty good rivalry.”
Arizona record vs. Kansas (4-7)
12/31/79… L 60-78…. Tucson
12/07/81… L 57-86… Lawrence, Kan.
03/22/96… L 80-83… Denver, Colo.
(1996 NCAA West Regional Semifinal)
03/21/97…W 85-82…. Birmingham, Ala.
(1997 NCAA Southeast Regional Semifinal)
12/02/07… L 87-90… Chicago, Ill.
(Great Eight)
12/01/01… L 97-105… Tucson
01/25/03… W 91-74… Lawrence, Kan.
03/29/03… L 75-78… Anaheim, Calif.
(2003 NCAA West Regional Final)
11/21/05…. W 61-49…. Lahaina, Maui
(EA Sports Maui Invitational)
11/25/07… L 72-76 (ot)… Lawrence, Kan.
12/23/08… W 84-67… Tucson
(Desert Diamond Fiesta Bowl Classic)
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Hill another three-point attempt after fouled by Santa Clara’s Chris Cunningham, who fouls out with 10:04 left and Arizona in command 56-40.
Solomon Hill another aggressive drive on the baseline, taking advantage of his quickness against Marc Trasolini. Arizona leads 51-38. Hill’s line: 12 points, 3 of 4 shooting from field, 6-7 free throws. Kevin Parrom impressive steal and reverse layup puts the Cats ahead 53-38. Parrom’s line: 5 of 7 shooting, including two threes, 12 points.
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Solomon Hill converts three-point dunk play to put Arizona ahead 47-36. The relatively small crowd comes to life a bit. Must be no more than 2,000 fans here in the 7,000-seat arena.
By the way, a horde of NBA scouts here. Plenty of eyes on Derrick Williams, who is starting to break loose, scoring five points in the first three minutes of the second half.
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Brendon Lavender starts in place of Kyle Fogg (0 points, 4 turnovers) in the second half. Jamelle Horne and Derrick Williams start the half nailing three-pointers, giving Arizona a 40-30 lead. Fogg standing and cheering both threes, not sulking.
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Santa Clara ends half with a 9-3 run as the Cats started to play a little of out of control and turned the ball over. At the very least the UA will have Sean Miller’s undivided attention at the half. Derrick Williams subdued at this point with two fouls. He has only four points with no field goals (made 4 of 4 from the free-throw line).
Arizona’s bench making up for a lack of production from Williams, Kyle Fogg and MoMo Jones. Jordin Mayes, Kevin Parrom, Brendon Lavender and Kyryl Natyazhko have combined for 23 of Arizona’s 34 points. Parrom leads the way with 10, including two three-pointers.
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Mental lapse by Kyle Fogg and Solomon Hill allows Santa Clara guard Robert Smith to cut the lead to 34-28 with 2 minutes left. Fogg did not hurry back on defense after losing control of the ball and Hill fouled Smith from behind in the breakaway play for Smith.
Arizona was ahead 30-19 following two three-pointers by Kevin Parrom.
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Arizona ahead now 21-16. Lavender playing a good chunk of minutes as is Mayes and Parrom. The entire UA starting lineup is not on the floor again with 7:10 remaining in the game.
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Break from the game a bit for this quote from Kansas coach Bill Self in regards to former UA signee Jeff Withey facing his old team (although Withey never played for the Wildcats after the Lute Olson leave-of-absence turmoil). When asked about if he will guard against Withey feeling too much pressure to succeed against Arizona, Self said:
“I don’t think that will happen. I may say something to him. It is not a situation where he has to play at such a high level for us to win. We need good minutes from him, but it’s not like he has to get 15 points and 10 rebounds. When you hear about those type of things it’s like Brett Favre going back to Green Bay. You don’t talk about the offensive tackle going back to Green Bay that much. Jeff is one of our rotation guys. He’ll be excited no question about it. But I don’t think that will be a huge factor.”
Withey, a 7-foot sophomore working his way back from a broken foot, leads Kansas with six blocked shots and his 1.5 blocks per game are tied for seventh in the Big 12. He is scoring 3.5 points per game. Withey averages 8.8 minutes per game compared to 3.0 last season.
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Two strong moves to the basket for Lavender. His game has revolved from a timid nature last season while trying to gauge his new teammates and coaches. Arizona up 13-8 with 11:56 left in the first half.
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Some confusion over Derrick Williams’ foul total. Announcer said he has two but box score shows only one. Williams back in the game and comes up short on an alley oop.
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Lavender and Perry enter in place of Horne and Fogg at the 14:20 mark. Entirely different lineup than the starters less than six minutes into the game. Lavender aggressive move to the hoop. Parrom strong offensive rebound and putback off a Mayes missed three-pointer. Arizona up 11-6 after trailing 4-0.
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Could Jamelle Horne take this game over? He might have to with Derrick Williams in foul trouble. Horne just nailed his first three. We shall see.
Jordin Mayes and Kevin Parrom spell Jones and Hill after first media timeout. Refs calling this game way too close. Consecutive player-control fouls on each team.
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Derrick Williams two personal fouls in first two minutes of the game. Sits in favor of Natyazho with UA trailing 4-0. Crowd at Orleans Arena is decidedly smaller than the Kansas-Ohio crowd. It will be similar to a Kansas home game tomorrow if the same amount of Jayhawk (and Arizona) fans show up tomorrow night
Arizona has five personal fouls with 16:30 left in the first half. Miller has word with one ref at the first media timeout with 15:51 left in the first half.
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Just got back from Kansas’ postgame. Talked with Bill Self and Jeff Withey. Quotes upcoming. Arizona starting lineup the same vs. Santa Clara: Fogg, Jones, Horne, Hill and Williams. … Sitting on press row immediately by former KU great Danny Manning and ESPN commentator Jay Bilas.
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I know you’re tuning into the Arizona-Oregon football game, with good reason, but check out my preview of tonight’s game between Arizona and Santa Clara at our partner site WildAboutAZCats.com
This is how I summed it up …
The Santa Clara press release indicates this is the first meeting between the schools. The 1993 UA team (that was upset in the first round of the NCAA tournament by the Broncos) wishes that was the case. Tonight’s game has the feeling of Arizona getting its best test yet, facing a deep team with a quality perimeter player in Foster. Santa Clara is also accustomed to playing in the 7,000-seat Orleans Arena, site of the WCC tournament. In order for Santa Clara to have a chance, Arizona has to shoot poorly and sparkplug guys like Jesse Perry, Jordin Mayes and Brendan Lavender have to struggle. That certainly could happen, but Sean Miller has enough options it seems to fix problems during the course of a game. The Wildcats should win by 13.
Look forward to seeing some comments below. Get that laptop on your lap or on a TV tray and type away while watching the game …
