Trash talk sparks Arizona pressure

With 2:23 left in the first half and the Wildcats resting on a 47-21 lead, Morgan State forward Rasheed Sparks dunked the ball over senior forward Michael Dickerson. Dickerson fouled Sparks on the play, and Sparks had a few choice words for Dickerson. That didn't sit too well with Arizona.

"We got frustrated in the first half," sophomore forward Gene Edgerson said. "The guy dunked on Mike D. and he started yelling and stuff. That made us mad, and we wanted to show them that, yeah, you might dunk or whatever, but we are going to beat you bad.

"We didn't try to be cocky or anything. They just did some things that we didn't agree with."

Press them bad is more like it, as they used their "Cat-Astrophe" pressure to open the second half, which led to a 31-5 run.

Edgerson led all players with 17 points and 12 rebounds, both career highs.

To the Wildcat players, the trash talk seemed to say something about Morgan State.

"They are talking trash and they are down by thirty," senior guard Miles Simon said. "It's obvious that they do not care about winning."

Although they led 53-23 at the half, the Wildcats seemed a little shaky with the press, as they were only able to force 14 turnovers to their 13 in the first 20 minutes. The dunk may have lit a fire, as did some adjustments during halftime.

"First half we were a little unorganized (with the press)," junior center A.J. Bramlett said. "Second half we concentrated more and felt really comfortable with the press."

"We got our press down in the second half," Simon said. "We established what we wanted to do by getting a lot of steals. We got our intensity up."

The press, however, may have also taken a toll on Arizona. On a breakaway near the end of the first half, the crowd braced itself for a nasty Edgerson dunk. Edgerson, with a smile on his face, laid the ball in.

"I didn't dunk because of all the pressure defense we were running," Edgerson said. "We played hard the entire game."