Previewing the Matchup Versus the Wildcats

The Huskies, fresh off of a poorly played victory against Arizona St., travel to Tucson, Arizona to take on a Wildcat team that is coming off of a strong effort against the Washington St. Cougars. Arizona hit 15 of 26 threes in the game. That is a staggering percentage.

If the Huskies hope to come out of the McKale Center with a win they will have to avoid the slow starts that have plagued them all season long. If there is ever a game to snap out of it, this would be it. The Wildcats are 5-3 in Pac-12 play, and 14-7 overall. Sean Miller is a good coach whom I have previously stated and will stand by my prediction that he will have the Wildcats NCAA Tournament mainstays.

Arizona is a solid team that can get its scoring from a variety of sources, with three players averaging double digits, and four averaging over nine per contest. The leading scorer for the WIldcats however, is Kyle Fogg, averaging over 12 per game. He is their starting off-guard and will most likely draw the unenviable assignment of guarding Tony Wroten. This will be a good test for Wroten however, as Fogg is one of the better perimeter defenders in the Pac, and could very well force Wroten to rely more on floaters and runners than easily reaching the rim and using the glass to his advantage.

Josiah Turner and Nick Johnson are typically the two point guards for this offense. Turner, a Freshman, has come on stronger as of late, while Johnson has moved into a role more as an outside three-point threat.

This team can light up the scoreboard from outside the arc. The biggest threats are typically Kyle Fogg and Nick Johnson, but they have other pieces with decent shooting ability who can knock down the occasional open three. If the Dawgs do now something they have struggled with most of the season, which is make quick defensive rotations, if they can do that then the Wildcats will have quite a bit of their offense cut off. This is a jump-shooting team.

The best rebounder for the WIldcats is 6-6 Junior forward Solomon Hill. He leads the team with over eight rebounds per game. Also he leads the team with 2.9 assists per game and also is second in scoring with 11.9 per game. This will be the duty of SImmons/Seferian-Jenkins/Kemp Jr. when each of them are out on the floor. The defensive effort on Hill will have a large impact on how this game turns out. How well will he be boxed out? Can Seferian-Jenkins guard an inside threat who also has the ability to fill it up from outside? This may lead to increased minutes for SImmons, as he would be much more comfortable on the perimeter than Seferian-Jenkins..

The final major minute-getter on this WIldcat team is Senior forward Jesse Perry. Perry is the second-leading rebounder at 7.3 per game, and also is the third player in double-digit scoring for this squad; Perry averages 11.5 points per game. He has been playing out of position and typically draws the assignment of the biggest player on the court, which means that he will be assigned to Aziz N'Daiye for this game.

Here's hoping to a game that is prettier than the last, which has an ugliness factor about on par with this picture of the Devil in Manchild form.

Stats provided via www.statsheet.com