No. 10 Arizona basketball defeats Old Dominion, 102-44, in a massive 58-point rout.
The Wildcats keep on rolling as they win their second regular-season game of the year, after winning their first two by an average of 44.
Arizona’s dominance was apparent, posting massive leads well past the 50-point mark over the Monarchs. From a fluid offense to a strong defense, the Wildcats held their own against Old Dominion. Their biggest lead of 100-40 with roughly three minutes in the second half was but a mere reminder of the Wildcat’s strength.
Despite any clear shakiness in their outing against the Canisius Golden Griffins, the Wildcats were able to keep the Monarchs pressured with them having a 31.6% shooting percentage and outplaying in the board game with 59 rebounds compared to Old Dominion’s 28. This was also seen in the passing game, Arizona would finish with 21 assists well over Old Dominion’s 2.
Takeaway #1: Big men dominance
After a guard-focused performance against Canisius, Arizona’s big men were the ones to step up and lead this team. The four key bigs of Tobe Awaka, Motiejus Krivas, Henri Veesaar, and Trey Townshend.
The four big men in total posted 43 points, 42% of the total scored. Of course, the largest total came from Awaka’s 18.
This was also seen in the rebound contest with these four grabbing 33 out of Arizona’s 59 total boards. Again the best performer was Awaka with 15 boards.
“I want more,” said coach Tommy Lloyd in terms of the defensive presence of the Wildcats now in and previous years. “I think we have a very, very good defensive team, that we can hang our hat on that side of the floor.”
Takeaway #2: Arizona’s well-oiled machine back?
After what appeared like a sloppier Wildcat outing against Canisius, Arizona was able to tighten up their game and execute on both sides of the court.
Some growing pains still plague the Wildcats with slower performances from Caleb Love and Carter Bryant, however, by the second half these two would shake off the rust and play effective basketball. Bryant would go from a silent first half to having two big slams and two massive 3-pointers.
Arizona proved to just be an absolute scoring menace for the Monarchs. Every player for Arizona just seemed unstoppable, even when Arizona put in their bench players.
Take away #3: Who but Tobe Awaka?
After a slow opener against Canisius, who could have seen Tobe Awake grabbing Arizona’s first double-double of the season with 18 points and 15 assists. Awaka was nearly perfect from the court putting up 8-10 leading the Wildcats in points scored. While Awaka saw some struggle shooting free throws, his paint dominance was here to stay.
Arizona’s offense and defense in the paint ran through Awaka, even with the massive rebounding outing, Awaka still with two blocks and one steal.
“His defense is like a Swiss army knife, he can guard one to five,” said teammate Henri Veesaar who had nothing but praise for Awaka’s performance. “He’s so strong, he might be one of the strongest guys I’ve ever played with.”
Awake would tie his career record for points scored and break his rebounds in a game. His previous highest of 18 came during his time in Tennessee against Mizzou in Feb. 2024, and his rebounding personal of 12 came at Tennessee against NC State in Dec. 2023.
“I’ll give him credit because everything hasn’t been easy for him,” said Lloyd. “We’re continuing to push him but watching him hang with it, it’s been really inspirational”
Tobe Awaka received a standing ovation after his substitution late in the second half.
Next up for Arizona (2-0): at Wisconsin (2-0) – Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. MST
Next up for Old Dominion (0-2): at Radford (1-1) – Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. EST