The Arizona Wildcats put on an offensive show in their 2nd round NCAA Tournament as they defeated Texas Southern by a score of 93-72 at the MODA Center in Portland, Oregon. Head coach Sean Miller was not happy with his team’s defensive effort, however, as they allowed over 70 points to a team from the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
"I think the point is that we have to get back to being an excellent defensive team, which takes a lot of effort and concentration. We certainly can do it. But whoever we play in the next round we know is going to be a formidable opponent. We want to make sure when that game ends we feel good about what we did, especially on defense," Arizona head coach Sean Miller said after the game.
Let’s not take any credit away from the Tigers, though. Madarious Gibbs made everything happen for TSU on the offensive side of the ball. Gibbs was superb from the field making 6 of his 11 from the field and finishing the game with a team-high 15 points. He also tried to get good looks for his teammates with his crisp passing; including a terrific pass to a trailer in the second half as he was going up for a lay-in.
But often times, Texas Southern ran into brick walls thanks to the length and size of the Arizona Wildcats. Since the Tigers were not able to drive to the rack as often as they would have liked, they settled for three point shots often. In 12 attempts from beyond the arc, TSU made just five of them with Tonnie Collier leading the way with more than one made shot from deep.
On the other hand, Arizona got anything they wanted on the offensive end as the Wildcats finished with 60% shooting from the field, going 32-53 overall. Stanley Johnson, although he wasn’t completely when defending, he finished one point behind Rondae Hollis-Jefferson ending the game with 22 points. The freshman was effective when driving the lane and shooting from deep as he missed just one attempt from that range. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson secured a double-double, the game’s only, as he finished with a game high 23 points, making nine out of 10 shots from the charity stripe.
When Arizona gets everyone involved on offense they are going to be one of the most difficult teams to stop in the later rounds of the NCAA Tournament. The only thing that will have to get better is their defense, and Sean Miller will make sure that the Cats are geared in on that end of the floor.
The Arizona Wildcats will await the winner of the VCU/Ohio State matchup and will play the 3rd round on Saturday in Portland, Oregon. Texas Southern should be very pleased with the way their season went as they won both their conference’s regular season championship and tournament championship and will hope to build on their experience for next season.