Arizona rolls over Cal State Bakersfield, moves to 4-0
Dec 9, 2020, 7:37 PM | Updated: Dec 10, 2020, 8:46 pm
Arizona Wildcats guard James Akinjo (13) talks with Arizona Wildcats head coach Sean Miller during a college basketball game between the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks and the Arizona Wildcats on December 07, 2020, at McKale Center in Tucson, AZ. (Getty Images)
(Getty Images)
TUCSON, Ariz. — Terrell Brown Jr. had 16 points, Jemarl Baker Jr. added 15 and Arizona dominated Cal State Bakersfield 85-60 on Wednesday night.
The Wildcats (4-0) beat Northern Arizona in a rout on Monday behind Baker’s 33 points and jumped on the Roadrunners (1-2) with a dominating first half.
Arizona made seven 3-pointers to lead by 20 at halftime and went 12 of 28 overall from the arc. The Wildcats had another free-flowing game of sharing the ball, finishing with 21 assists on 27 field goals.
Brown, a transfer from Seattle University, went 4 for 8 from 3-point range.
Bakersfield struggled with Arizona’s length on offense and gave the Wildcats too many open looks from the perimeter to stand much of a chance.
Cameron Smith had 11 points and De’Monte Buckingham 10 to lead the Roadrunners, who shot 4 of 17 from 3.
The new-look Wildcats had a different leading scorer in each of its first three games. Jordan Brown had 19 points and (15) rebounds in the opener against Grambling State and James Akinjo had 15 against Eastern Washington. Baker scored the most points by a player under coach Sean Miller with his 33 against Northern Arizona, hitting 7 of 9 from the 3-point arc.
Travis Henson had s similar type of game in Bakersfield’s home win over Bethesda on Monday, hitting seven 3-pointers and for 21 points in 13 minutes.
Baker hit a 3-pointer in the first two minutes, added another and mixed in a pair of jumpers during a 14-2 run that put Arizona up 33-19. Terrell Brown found the range as well, hitting three 3-pointers, and the Wildcats were 7 for 13 from the arc to lead 46-26 at halftime.
Arizona opened the second half with a 6-0 run, then Terrell Brown and Baker hit consecutive 3s to push the lead to 74-49.
BIG PICTURE
Bakersfield was able to hang with Arizona early, but had no answer when the Wildcats started to pull away in the first half.
Arizona had had trouble shooting from the perimeter in past seasons, but that doesn’t appear to be a problem this year after the Wildcats made a combined 25 3-pointers the past two games.
UP NEXT
Bakersfield hosts Idaho on Saturday.
Arizona hosts UTEP on Saturday.
