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Arizona-ASU game blog: Williams’ big day leads Cats to rivalry victory

Herb Sendek (left) and Sean Miller meet for the third time in the state rivalry.
Photos by the Arizona Republic

Arizona ends its three-game home losing streak to Arizona State by dominating the play inside, led by — who else? — Derrick Williams. He has 31 points and 10 rebounds … and the Devils had no answer.

Arizona wins 80-69. The 80 points ties for the most ASU has allowed this season.

Check back later for postgame reaction ….

* * *

Derrick Williams rips down a rebound for his 10th board. Student section chants “double-double.” He hits two free throws, ties career high with 31 points … and he leaves game to standing ovation with one minute left.

* * *

Derrick Williams set his career high with 31 points against Cal last week. He has 27 points and is shooting two free throws with 1:09 to go.

And … he makes the first one … and the second one.

UA up 78-65.

* * *

Tweet from Jeff Goodman of FoxSports.com: Crowd & atmosphere at San Diego St. the other night far better than the one here in Tucson today. Used to be big-time homecourt advantage.

(And today has been pretty good by this season’s standards. Goodman is a UA alum, by the way.)

* * *

Arizona returns the gift as Solomon Hill throws away the inbound pass and Kyle Fogg commits a quick foul. Trent Lockett keeps things interesting with two free throws to cut the lead to 72-63 with 2:24 to go.

* * *

ASU’s Trent Lockett fouls MoMo Jones about 40 feet from the basket with six seconds left on the shot clock. Gift for the Cats. Jones makes both free throws as Arizona leads 72-60 with 2:36 to go.

* * *

Derrick Williams has 27 points and nine rebounds. Arizona leads 70-60 with 3:06 to go.

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Overheard from the press table after Arizona passes the ball to Derrick Williams: “I’d pass the ball to that guy.”

* * *

Wildcats on a 7-0 run as they head into the final media timeout. A 3-point play from Brendan Lavender was a big boost in that run as Arizona leads 68-57 with 3:51 to go.

* * *

Arizona going cold, but Derrick Williams bailing out the Cats with offensive rebounds. His two free throws with 4:47 left pushes the lead to 65-57.

* * *

Jamelle Horne uses a shot fake from the perimeter to drive in for two points and a 63-57 lead with 6:08 left. The drive to the hoop is not his specialty, but he made it work.

* * *

ASU’s fast-break alley-oop dunk — from Ty Abbott to Carrick Felix — pulls ASU within 60-55. Media timeout with 7:31 left.

* * *

Ooh-Aah Man with first appearance of season. McKale tradition. Special moment. Blows a kiss to the crowd.

* * *

Some sloppy play from the Cats. Turnovers piling up. ASU blocking shots. Devils playing hard. Cats’ lead is nine, 60-51, with 9:20 to play.

* * *

Derrick Williams with another hoop-and-harm play, but he misses the free throw. He has 23 points with more than 10 minutes to play.

* * *

Derrick Williams goes to the line to complete the three-point play — and he does — to give Arizona a 58-47 lead with 11:52 to play.

* * *

Just a hunch: ASU’s skinny 7-2 freshman Jordan Bachynski can not guard Derrick Williams. (Although, credit to Bachynski for blocking two recent UA shots).

* * *

The only thing that can undo Arizona in this game is turnovers. And that remains in the realm of possibility.

* * *

The Arizona Republic’s Paola Boivin with a painful football reference on Twitter: ASU needs defensive end James Brooks to block some of Arizona’s shots.

* * *

Arizona State hanging around, so there is plenty of work to do, even though Arizona is still controlling the paint. Derrick Williams — who just powered up a one-handed dunk in traffic — has 18 points. Arizona leads 50-40 with 15:51 left.

* * *

Arizona is now 13 of 18 on two-point shots. Shows good patience and willingness to get the ball down low.

* * *

More of the same to start the second half. Jesse Perry puts in a basket and is fouled (he misses the free throw and is only 1 of 4 for the game).

* * *

Former Arizona hoopster Fendi Onobun — now a St. Louis Rams tight end — is in the building. He warmly greets ex-interim head coach Russ Pennell during halftime.

* * *

Arizona is not known for its interior size, but it does have All-American candidate Derrick Williams and hard-working Jesse Perry up front. ASU, meanwhile, is very deficient inside in size and skill.

The first-half result has been that Arizona has dominated play down low. Williams has 13 points; Perry 11. The Cats lead 43-34 at halftime.

ASU allows 62.4 points per game … so Arizona is well on its way to blowing by that. Arizona’s 43 points is the most the Devils have allowed in a half all season.

* * *

Tweet from Jeff Goodman of FoxSports.com: The Pac-10 may be down in terms of players, but the league is still at or near the top in the cheerleader department – especially ASU.

My take: Oregon and USC still the best.

* * *

Arizona coach Sean Miller talked earlier this week about how it didn’t really matter if Jesse Perry or Jamelle Horne started at power forward; he just wanted both to play well in the same game. When Perry’s been hot, Horne has not. And vice-versa. Same stuff today.

Horne, coming off his best game of the season, has been — predictably — quiet. Putting together solid back-to-back efforts has not been the story of his carreer. But Perry, after two subpar games, has nine points as Arizona leads 37-25 with 3:05 left.

* * *

Arizona with its biggest lead — 34-22 with 3:39 to go in the half — after a 3-pointer by Brendon Lavender.

* * *

Freshman guard Jordin Mayes, who has been quiet in Pac-10 play, hits a 3-pointer to give Arizona a 29-18 lead with 5:42 to go in the half. Mayes hits the shot after a quick pass out of the post from Derrick Williams Good awareness on his part.

* * *

Former UA interim head basketball coach Russ Pennell — one of the good guys — is shown on the videoboard at McKale and gets a nice round of applause. Pennell is now the head coach at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix. Pennell sitting along the baseline in front of the Zona Zoo with former Cat Matt Brase, who is one of Pennell’s coaches at Grand Canyon.

* * *

Arizona leads 26-18 with 7:41 to play … so that’s a 20-6 run. Cats getting good effort and production from Jesse Perry.

* * *

Steve Kerr on the telecast (via Javier Morales on Twitter): Sure fans are hoping Derrick Williams will stick around next year to work on his defense

* * *

That’s twice now that Arizona has found Derrick Williams in space down low with a bounce pass. He muscles up and puts in a basket to give him nine points as UA takes a 20-16 lead.

* * *

Arizona takes the lead on a four-point possession, as Jesse Perry scores down low while being fouled and misses the free throw, which Derrick Williams grabs and puts in for two more.

* * *

Good job by Kryrl Natyakhko to keep his feet in the paint against some shots fakes by 7-footer Ruslan Pateev, who ends up misses a little hook shot. Rebound to Natyazhko, who goes out in favor of Derrick Williams after a timeout.

Arizona State leads 15-14 with 10:56 to go.

Arizona with an 11-5 edge on the boards, which, as mentioned further down in this post, is an area in which the Cats can really exploit against Arizona State.

* * *

Derrick Williams finishes off a 3-point play to bring Arizona within 15-14 with 13:45 to go in the half. He comes out of the game. Arizona now needs something from Kyryl Natyazhko … perhaps some rebounding would be nice.

* * *

Derrick Williams gets his first points with under 15 minutes to go on a dunk after an interior bounce pass. ASU looking to double-team him hard. Williams averaged 17.5 points against ASU last season. He could very well need 20-plus today.

* * *

Arizona heads into the first media timeout with three turnovers, and Arizona State — as Arizona State often does — is hitting 3-pointers. For Arizona, Jamelle Horne missed a wide-open 3-pointer from the corner (which is the same spot from which he was so good in the last game against Stanford).

Devils lead 12-6 with 15:38 to play in the half.

Horne trying to avoid losing four games in McKale to Arizona State.

* * *

First possession: Arizona struggles against ASU’s matchup zone and has to take a running shot from MoMo Jones with two seconds left on the shot clock.

Second possession: Turnover.

ASU leads 5-0 with 90 seconds gone in the game.

* * *

Arizona State is getting healthier, with point guard Jamelle McMillan back in the starting lineup and all its usual starters available. Athletic wing Carrick Felix starting for Rihards Kuksiks, though.

* * *

Steve Kerr on the telecast (via Javier Morales on Twiiter): “From time you walk on campus you’re taught this is the game you want to win”

* * *

Jesse Perry still starting for Arizona.

* * *

Never mind about the technical foul. Officials determined that dunk came before a certain window of time.

* * *

Doug Haller of the Arizona Republic tweets that the game will start with a technical foul on ASU’s Ruslan Pateev for dunking during pregame warmups.

Tweets Haller: “If the officials are on the court, you can’t dunk while warming up. Something Ruslan should’ve known.”

Did you?

* * *

I see Arizona is favored by 11 to 13 points, depending on where you look. Sounds like too much to me, but if Arizona controls the boards as it is capable of, the Wildcats could definitely win by double digits. On the other hand, if ASU’s matchup zone foils Arizona’s point guards …

* * *

11:43 a.m.: Tweet from Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne: Just spoke to our football recruits….good looking group of kids….on my way to Wildcat Club reception.

* * *

I don’t typically Tweet during basketball games because I’m busy with this blog, but we’ll be monitoring several folks on Twitter.

From our TucsonCitizen.com Sports Network:

Javier Morales, WildAboutAZCats.com

Scott Terrell, UASports.net

Brad Allis, Wildcat Sports Report

Also:

Doug Haller, ASU beat writer for the Arizona Republic

Paola Boivin, columnist for the Arizona Republic

Jeff Goodman, senior basketball writer, FoxSports.com

Jack Magruder, FoxSportsArizona.com

* * *

The students are back on campus for the spring semester, and with about 80 minutes before game time, they easily had filled more than half of the student section.

Students arrive early for today's game.

* * *

It’s a 12:30 p.m. start for the Arizona-Arizona State game today as McKale Center — which was the focus of the nation Wednesday night in remembrance of those killed in Tucson last week — gets back to basketball.

“It’s such an incredible place to live, and when something like this happens, it really brings you to your knees,” Arizona coach Sean Miller said Thursday.

“The fact that McKale was where (Wednesday) night’s ceremony was was special for a lot of reasons. It’s a reminder of how important the University of Arizona is to our community and to Tucson, and how it’s almost like the center of so much that goes on. …

“Just to be a part of our university and knowing that this is an important time, what can we do to help? Probably play very well and give our fans and everyone a sense of fulfillment when they watch us play.”

* * *

Miller split two games last season against ASU, coached by one of his mentors, Herb Sendek.

“I respect him a great deal as a coach,” Miller said. “He does a really good job with his team and has done a great job with that program. It’s a big, big game for us.”

* * *

This will be the place for our in-game analysis and commentary, so hit refresh a lot during the commercial breaks and such … and express your thoughts in the comments section.

More from TucsonCitizen.com:

Shooting for perfection: ASU’s Abbott tries to go 4-0 in Tucson

Javier Morales breaks down the Arizona-Arizona State matchups

Sean Miller: ‘We need Jamelle to play well’

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