Seniors deliver as Arizona takes Wooden Legacy title in 73-66 win over Wake Forest
The attention turned away from Arizona’s outstanding freshmen trio on Sunday as seniors Chase Jeter and Dylan Smith combined for 37 points in the Wooden Legacy championship game. The pair led the Wildcats past Wake Forest, 73-66, in a contest where both teams struggled to find any semblance of rhythm on the offensive end of the floor.
Smith led the Wildcats with 20 points on 4-of-6 shooting from behind the arc. Jeter was an equally efficient 7-for-10 from the floor to finish with 17 points and nine rebounds.
Nico Mannion, Arizona’s star freshmen point guard, was named the tournament’s most valuable player, while both Smith and Jeter were named to the all-tournament team.
Mannion, who hit the game winner against Pepperdine and scored a career-high 24 points in the win over Penn, led Arizona with seven assists in Sunday’s tournament final. Fellow freshman Josh Green scored eight points against Wake Forest, while pulling down a career-best 12 rebounds.
After shining on offense and struggling on defense in their first two games away from home this season, it was Arizona’s defense that propelled the team to victory against the Demon Deacons.
Wake Forest was just 19-for-59 (32.2%) shooting from the field, and only made five, 3-Point tries in 16 attempts. The Demon Deacons were led by Olivier Sarr and Brandon Childress, who scored 21 and 20 points, respectively.
Where was Stone Gettings on Sunday?
The graduate transfer is recovering from a concussion. According to post-game reports from The Arizona Daily Star’s Bruce Pascoe, Gettings remained at the team hotel with family. His right eye had remained shut and the concussion prevented him from attending the game.
Where was Zeke Nnaji?
The freshmen big man played out of sorts all night against Wake Forest. Nnaji did pull down eight rebounds, but seemed a step slow throughout the course of the game. Not only did Nnaji foul out of the game, but he only finished with five points on 1-of-5 shooting. On two occasions, a dish down to Nnaji hit the big man in the chest, resulting in two of his five turnovers. Nnaji, like everyone else is not immune to a rough outing and to his credit, it was the first time in nine starts where his all-around game was slightly off.
Smith Rising
Dylan Smith had an outstanding tournament. With so much focus given to the three contributing freshmen, Smith got hot when Arizona needed him most. In Arizona’s 93-91 win over Pepperdine, it was Smith hitting on three, second half 3-Pointers to keep things close for the Wildcats. Against Penn, Smith remained steady with 10 points on 6-of-7 free throw shooting. In the title game, Smith had 13 of his team-high 20 points in the first half when the likes of Mannion, Nnaji and Green were struggling from the field.
Jeter Assertive on Offense
Prior to the start of the tournament, Arizona Sports Illustrated wrote that Jeter had to become more assertive on the offensive end of the floor. The defensive dynamo had to start finding ways to contribute on both ends. He’s too good not to. Well, this week in California, Jeter found his offensive game and the time could not have been better. With Gettings out and Nnaji underperforming against his averages, Jeter stepped up and gave the Wildcats much needed offensive presence inside the paint. The senior had 17 points, nine rebounds, and only committed three fouls.
The Freshmen Still Found Ways to Contribute
Mannion, Green and Nnaji were a combined 6-for-24 shooting against Wake Forest. However, that did not deter any of the three from contributing in other ways. First, Arizona’s overall defense was better. Second, Green led the team with 12 rebounds. Mannion led all Wildcats with seven assists. Nnaji added five rebounds. Green was a perfect 4-for-4 from the foul line. Combined, the trio tallied a total of 22 points, 19 rebounds, and 11 assists. Sean Miller and Arizona will take that on a night when the shots simply weren’t falling.
Hazzard the “X” Factor
A player like Max Hazzard could be the difference between winning the Pac-12 regular season championship or not. There is little doubt conference coaches are watching every ounce of game film right now on Mannion, Green and Nnaji. They’ll even spend time figuring out ways to contain Smith and Jeter. What they won’t be doing is finding ways to stop players like Hazzard, Baker and Gettings. On Sunday, Hazzard scored eight points in just 14 minutes of action. After being pulled for some early defensive breakdowns, Hazzard was excellent in fully closing out on jump shooters. His contributions may have been subtle, but steadier play as the season unfolds could be a difference maker that prevents opponents for running double teams at whomever is getting hot from the field for Arizona.
Up Next:
Arizona travels to Waco, Texas to face No. 16 Baylor. It will be Arizona's first true road game of the season. Tip time is scheduled for 10 a.m. MST. The game will be televised on ESPNU.