Not much – at least on the national level – had been said of York or the Cats – relative to the previous two seasons when the thoughts of national title contenders were constant.
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Five Broncos record double-digit point totals as Boise State beat Northern Arizona 101-81 in the team’s home opener.
Thursday night, York & Co., proved there are slowly but surely getting ready for what’s ahead.
Arizona head coach Sean Miller reacts to a call during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Boise State, Thursday, November 19, 2015, in Tucson, Ariz.
“You’re working hard every day in practice, and you have to give everyone an opportunity”, York said.
“We have 10 guys – there’s not a drop-off at any position”. Quite frankly, I think this is something the Wildcat faithful should be proud of. “I was just able to knock down shots”. Allen got another steal nearly immediately, and had a smooth bounce pass to Trier for the break away dunk.
Actually, that was the case for everyone even though the contributions varied throughout Arizona’s line up. A team that likes to shoot 3-pointers, Arizona was slow to force their shooters off of the arc. He finished with a career-high 23 points, which were a team high.
“He made big shots”, Miller said.
Andrew Chrabascz also scored 18 for the Bulldogs (2-0), who flirted with cracking the 100-point mark for the second time to open the season. This is a time when Arizona need to put the nail in the coffin, but Boise State just would not go away. Each meeting has come since the Broncos joined the Mountain West, and each Boise State victory has come at Albertsons Stadium – 37-26 in 2011 and 42-20 in 2013. Anderson added eight points and a team-high 15 rebounds.
“We talked about this in the fall: The strength of our team is our depth and versatility, and there is not a big drop-off between our second- or third-best player and our ninth”, Miller said.
The Boise State Broncos average 86.5 points per game, ranking 66th in the nation.
Miller went on to say he felt it was Jackson-Cartwright’s best game as a Wildcat in his one-plus years. Trier, Allen, York, and Anderson came together and pushed Arizona to take a 10 point lead, and never looked back.
Sophomore Parker Jackson-Cartwright played a key role in keeping Arizona’s offense flowing by exploiting space in the half-court and running fast-break transitions.
Facing a zone defense from Boise State, Arizona resorted to the perimeter early on.
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So did, freshman guard Allonzo Trier, who finished with 13 points but had seven consecutive points in a stretch that helped Arizona maintain an important lead midway through the second half.
