Winners of 15 straight games (9-5-1 ATS), the Wildcats are beating opponents with ease, as they have an average winning margin of 15.1 points during that span. In the victory Thursday night, they dominated the Beavers, 71-54, despite shooting mediocre from the field (44 percent) and Allonzo Trier and Dusan Ristic being the only guys to reach double digit points.
Against the Ducks, though, Arizona should know that such struggles can be dangerous. Everyone must try to be more aggressive if they want to keep one of the nation’s hottest streak alive, particularly their main option on offense, Lauri Markannen (16.8 PPG, 7.6 RPG), who was only 1-of-6 last night. Markannen and his teammates simply appear to be lethargic, and Trier was the sole Wildcat to attempt more than nine shots.
The apparent hesitance was quite uncharacteristic of the ‘Cats, who are 16th overall in offensive efficiency and have six players tallying double digit points per game this season.
Moving over to the defensive side of the ball, Arizona is doing a good enough job all in all. Along with being 21st in steals and 45th in blocks, they are also keeping opponents from getting into a rhythm, with 12 of the 23 teams they have faced shooting below 40 percent for the game.
The Ducks had their 17-game winning streak snapped by Colorado this past Saturday, and were in serious danger of losing back-to-back contests last night, with the Sun Devils giving them a heck of a scare.
Dillon Brooks willed his team to a close 71-70 victory, courtesy of a game-high 27 points, including Oregon’s last 12 for the game.
Oregon may also want to thank the basketball gods for allowing them to hit threes at the right time. After only going 1-for-10 from downtown in the first half, they still came out firing from three in the second half, and suddenly went 7-for-13.
As they look to piece together another long streak, the Ducks should be able to continue getting solid contribution from everyone in the rotation. We can expect Brooks (14.1 PPG) to still headline the scoring duties, and for Chris Boucher and Jordan Bell to anchor the interior defense.
Those two intimidating bigs are powering the Ducks to rank first in the nation in blocks (7.3 BPG) and 13th in defensive efficiency and allowed field goal percentage (38.8 percent).
