No. 16 Arizona rolls over Texas Southern 85-63
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - Lauri Markkanen dropped a bounce pass to Dusan Ristic, setting up his fellow big man for an easy basket to open the game. The 7-footer from Finland scored his first points on a dunk , then stepped out and swished a 3-pointer.
In a season of fabulous freshmen, Markkanen is already making a name for himself.
Markkanen hit five 3-pointers while scoring 19 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished out five assists, helping No. 16 Arizona bounce back from its first loss of the season with an 85-63 rout of Texas Southern on Wednesday night.
"If he's hitting the outside shot like that, there's not much you can do about it," Texas Southern coach Mike Davis said.
Arizona (6-1) had no letdown after losing to Butler last week, jumping on the Tigers (4-3) from the opening tip. The Wildcats built a 13-point lead in the opening 5 minutes and were up 19 by halftime, cruising to the 37th straight non-conference win at McKale Center.
Kobi Simmons had 15 points and Kadeem Allen finished with 14 points and seven assists for Arizona.
The only bad news for the Wildcats was that starting point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright did not return after spraining his right ankle in the first half. Arizona coach Sean Miller said Cartwright could be out "a considerable amount of time," a big blow to a team already struggling with injuries.
"Someone could get hurt tomorrow, again," Miller said. "That's just the way it is."
Zach Lofton led Texas Southern with 19 points and Jalan McCloud added 14.
The Wildcats and Tigers met once, a 93-72 win by Arizona in the second round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament.
Arizona raced to a 15-2 lead in that game and did the exact same thing to the Tigers in the rematch.
"We just got overwhelmed early," Davis said. "It was the best team and biggest crowd we've seen this season and we played pretty tight, and they played really well."
Scoring in transition , on 3-pointers and passes inside by their big men, the Wildcats made 20 of 35 shots in the first half and led 45-26. Markkanen was on the mark, hitting all three of his 3-point attempts to score 11 points by halftime.
Arizona rolled from there, never letting the lead dip under 16 points.
BIG PICTURE
Texas Southern stood little chance of hanging with the long, athletic Wildcats, but the experience could help them once the SWAC season starts.
Arizona responded nicely to its loss to Butler last week, shooting 62 percent and hitting 8 of 14 from 3-point range to roll over an opponent it was supposed to beat.
CARTWRIGHT'S INJURY
Cartwright was injured with 12:27 left in the first half after getting tangled on a screen. He was called for a foul and limped off to the bench.
Arizona twice turned to walk-on Tyler Trillo with Jackson-Cartwright out.
A prolonged injury could be bad news for the already-short-handed Wildcats. Guard Allonzo Trier has yet to play this season due to unspecified reasons and forward Ray Smith ended his career after suffering a third torn ACL during an exhibition game.
TIGER OF A SCHEDULE
Texas Southern has one of the most difficult schedules for a non-power program in the country, a move designed to improve its RPI coming out of the SWAC.
The Tigers open the season with 16 straight road games and in addition to Arizona, will face No. 14 Louisville, No. 9 Baylor, Cincinnati, LSU and TCU before starting conference play on Jan. 2.
"We just want to get better every game," Davis said. "Now they see the level that you have to be at, how hard you have to work."
ALLEY-OOP TRADE
Allen and Simmons took turns feeding each other with alley-oop pases in Arizona's highlight-reel-filled first half.
Simmons found Allen first, then it was Allen's turn to hit his teammate , both bringing the McKale Center crowd to their feet.
UP NEXT
Texas Southern plays at Southern Illinois on Saturday.
Arizona plays at No. 9 Gonzaga on Saturday.
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