No. 3 Arizona crushes Michigan
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Tucson, AZ (SportsNetwork.com) - Last season, Arizona traveled to Ann Arbor and won a two-point thriller.
It was much easier this time around for the third-ranked Wildcats, who dominated Michigan in every facet of the game in front of their home crowd and embarrassed the Wolverines, 80-53.
Freshman phenom Stanley Johnson led a balanced scoring attack with 17 points for Arizona (10-0), which shot 58.2 percent from the floor while limiting the Wolverines to just 35.2 percent.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Today was our best performance of the season," said Arizona coach Sean Miller. "It was the combination of very good defense, which we've shown to this point, but also better offense. Improved offense."
Kaleb Tarczewski and Gabe York had 15 points apiece while Brandon Ashley and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson both went for 10. T.J. McConnell didn't score but handed out a game-high seven assists.
Arizona improved to 31-0 with Ashley in the lineup since the start of last season.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Zak Irvin had 14 points to lead the Wolverines (6-4), who were coming off consecutive home losses to NJIT and Eastern Michigan.
"We have to learn from this game," Michigan guard Caris LeVert said. "They played a great game. They have a lot of experienced players and we have to take this, grow from it and use it later in the season."
Arizona led by two at the first media timeout, then ran off nine straight out of the huddle to open a 20-9 lead. Johnson scored five points during the flurry, which Derrick Walton Jr. finally ended with a difficult layup in traffic.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Late in the first half, Johnson picked off a Ricky Doyle pass and took it coast-to-coast for a two-handed jam. Then out of a timeout, York fed Johnson for an emphatic alley-oop that nearly brought the roof off the McKale Center.
The Wildcats rode their hot shooting to a 36-25 halftime lead.
Arizona scored the first 12 points of the second half before running the young Wolverines out of the gym.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Irvin slipped and turned the ball over at 11:24, leading to a ferocious dunk by Hollis-Jefferson. York hit a pair of 3s during the next segment around layups by Tarczewski and Johnson, and it was 72-40 with 7 1/2 minutes remaining.
Arizona emptied the bench for the final few minutes.
Game Notes
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Arizona won the rebounding margin, 40-26. Tarczewski, Ashley, Johnson and Hollis-Jefferson all had seven boards while no one on Michigan had more than four ... Arizona has won 28 straight at home ... Arizona outscored Michigan 42-16 in the paint ... Michigan's three-game losing streak is its first since dropping six in a row in January, 2011.