Ticketed for a new conference and striving to make a big impression, No. 10 Arizona hosts Old Dominion in Tucson, Ariz., on Saturday with a long list of objectives.
The 10th-ranked Wildcats (1-0) have a tall task, playing their first season in the Big 12 Conference, which is loaded with traditional college basketball heavyweights.
The Monarchs (0-1) are attempting to bounce back after a tough 83-82 opening night home loss to Buffalo in Mike Jones’ first game as Old Dominion’s coach.
As ODU tries to rebound, Arizona rolls out NBA-caliber talent in Tucson while building toward a shift into a stacked November schedule. Up next comes a stretch against Wisconsin (in Madison on Nov. 15) and Duke on back-to-back Fridays. The No. 7 Blue Devils come to McKale Center for the return game in a home-and-home that began with the Wildcats’ 78-73 win at Cameron Indoor Stadium last November.
Caleb Love made Arizona fans happy when he decided to forego the draft in June and return to play for the Wildcats.
In Arizona’s 93-64 win over Canisius, Love delivered one of the most efficient performances of his career to get that fifth season and Arizona’s fourth under coach Tommy Lloyd started on a high note.
Love scored a team-high 17 points, but was even more efficient as a distributor as he totaled six assists without a turnover for only the second time in his career.
Jaden Bradley was a catalyst at both ends of the floor with four rebounds, four steals to go along with 15 points and four assists, and showed the potential once again for the tandem of he and Love to be explosive this season.
“Anytime you’re at a program like Arizona and have a group of guards that have played together one year and come back the next year, it’s pretty rare in this day and age,” Lloyd said. “They’re veteran players and they’ve really grown together as players and really support each other so that’s good to see.”
Arizona imposed its will in the paint with its distinct height advantage.
The Wildcats outscored Canisius 48-12 in the paint and collected 18 more rebounds including a 17-5 edge in offensive rebounds.
Regardless of the outcome Saturday, it will be important for the Monarchs to start games better than they did against Buffalo.
Old Dominion missed 11 of its first 12 shots and trailed through most of the game until erasing a 12-point deficit late in the second half. But Buffalo’s Tyson Dunn nailed a three-pointer with 1.3 seconds left to sink the Monarch’s hopes of a win.
For a team that went 7-25 last season and returned only five players including two walk-ons, Jones was encouraged with the effort on opening night.
Robert Davis Jr. led the Monarchs with 25 points while Stephaun Walker finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds, and Devin Ceaser had 13 points. All three are expected to be building blocks Jones is counting on to turn things around.
“A one-point loss, frankly it sucks,” said Jones, an Old Dominion alum. “But I’ll be proud of the fact that we didn’t give up. I’ll be proud of the fact that we were down 12 in the second half and fought all the way back to take the lead. I’ll be proud of those things with the eye on everything we need to do to get better, and there’s a lot we have to do to get better.”