|
RECAP
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Arizona's answer for Butler's
disciplined style of play was defense. All over the floor, all the
time. On the inside and on the perimeter.
|
 |
|
|
Sunday, March 18
Arizona had too much of everything for Butler on Sunday. Too much balance, too much size on the interior and the great play of Gilbert Arenas, who has become as good as any two-guard in America. Loren Woods played solid on the inside, Michael Wright was physical in the low blocks and they got great play from point guard Jason Gardner.
Arizona is heating up at the right time and overwhelmed Butler. It was a gutsy effort for a while but the Bulldogs succumbed to Arizona's physical, multiple attack. The Wildcats were phenomenal from the free-throw line, hitting 17 of 18. They also dominated the glass, ripping down 39 boards to Butler's 20.
More ...
|
|
|
"Defensively we're a talented team. People look at our scores
and talk about our offense, 80 and 90 points, but we hold teams to
low shooting percentages," Arizona center Loren Woods said.
"We knew we had to bury this team after they hung around for 20
or 25 minutes."
And in the second half, the Wildcats' talent was too much for
the tenacious Bulldogs.
Arizona got balanced scoring, strong rebounding and the tough
defense it needed and pulled away for a 73-52 victory in the
Midwest Regional.
The second-seeded Wildcats (25-7) won for the 17th time in 19
games and advanced to San Antonio for their fourth trip to the
regional semifinals in the last six years.
"We have a shot if we keep our mind on our business and play
the way we're capable of playing. We have a shot against anybody,"
Arizona coach Lute Olson said.
"We've just played some great defense the last month and a
half."
Arizona shut off Butler's perimeter game that had been so
effective in the Bulldogs' first-round rout of Wake Forest.
Butler had a seven-point lead late in the first half but Arizona
erased that with an 11-2 spurt to close the half and then took over
with a 15-0 second-half run.
Butler's 3-point shooters couldn't get the shots they wanted and
the Bulldogs went scoreless for nearly seven minutes during the
second-half Arizona run.
|  | | Arizona's Michael Wright grabs a rebound in front of Butler's LaVall Jordan and Joel Cornette, right. |
After making 8-of-15 from the 3-point line in the victory over
Wake, the Bulldogs managed just 6-for-26, including 2-for-16 in the
second half.
"To shoot a good percentage you have to get good looks and in
the second half Arizona just took away all our good looks. We wore
down and our shots were short," said Butler's Brandon Miller, who
had just four points after scoring 18 in the first round.
"That's definitely one of the best college basketball teams
I've seen in a long time," Butler coach Thad Matta said. "They
just took away everything we wanted to do."
Gilbert Arenas scored 15 points, Michael Wright had 14 and Jason
Gardner and the 7-foot-1 Woods 12 each for Arizona.
Getting a big lift off the bench from Luke Walton, who had 10
rebounds, the Wildcats dominated the boards 39-20. They also had a
big advantage at the foul line, hitting 17-of-18 to just 4-of-5 for
Butler.
"We knew how good they were going to be," Walton said of
Butler, which lost to Arizona for the second time this season.
"We knew just being Arizona wasn't going to matter to them.
They were a good disciplined team and therefore defense was a
focus. And that was right up there as one of our best defensive
performances of the season."
LaVall Jordan led 10th-seeded Butler (24-8) with 17 points, but
had only five in the second half.
"We knew they would come at us on the inside," Jordan said.
"We had some emotion in the first half but we died out some in the
second half and we knew they would pound us on the inside."
After taking a four-point lead at the half, the Wildcats'
quickness began to take over in the second.
Gardner beat the shot clock with a 3-pointer off a one-on-one
move and after Arenas took an alley oop pass from Richard Jefferson
for a basket, Gardner made a steal and drove for a layup.
That gave the Wildcats a 43-34 lead with just over 15 minutes to
go.
Leading by seven, the Wildcats then went on their 15-0 run as
Butler became unglued.
Woods had a short jumper and later hit two free throws after an
intentional foul call on Butler's Scott Robisch. The final nine
points of the run came at the line and Arizona had a 58-36 lead
with 7:13 to go.
The Wildcats beat Butler 72-60 in Tucson in December, although
it was a four-point game with 90 seconds left.
 Send this story to a friend
|
|
ALSO SEE
Men's College Basketball Scoreboard
Butler Clubhouse
Arizona Clubhouse
|
