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Men's Basketball Notes

Photo
CHRIS CODUKO/Arizona Daily Wildcat
Senior Rick Anderson (right) and freshman Hassan Adams (left) hit the offensive glass in Arizona's 33-point win over Saint Louis. Olson criticized his team's rebounding effort despite out-rebouding SLU.
By Maxx Wolfson
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Thursday December 5, 2002

Olson unhappy with effort

Despite Arizona's 33-point beating of Saint Louis Tuesday night, head coach Lute Olson couldn't stop harping over his team's poor rebounding effort.

The Wildcats allowed 20 offensive rebounds, seven of which were grabbed by SLU forward Kenny Brown.

"I am disappointed in our lack of effort on the defensive boards," Olson said. "We need to do a better job of rebounding the ball, and we have to be more efficient in that part of the game."

Last season's leading rebounder, Rick Anderson, was also upset with his and others' efforts on the glass against the Billikens.

"It was very hard to get to the glass," Anderson said. "It's was very frustrating to think as a rebounder like myself and Hassan (Adams), because they went after us and pinpointed us and we couldn't get rebounds."

The Wildcats still out-rebounded SLU overall, but Olson said it should have never been that close.

"The problem is that we have guys standing around and waiting for others to get the defensive rebounds," he said. "If we have guys with major minutes and a few rebounds, that's a problem, and we are going to have to solve that. We'll get to the bottom of this. If you're not going to rebound, we'll get people in there who will."

Olson did say that freshman Andre Iguodala did a nice job attacking the glass in the second half. Iguodala finished with six offensive rebounds and 10 total, a team high.

"We need to have that kind of rebounding from everyone out there," Olson said.

Make some noise

The Wildcats will play their first game on the road Saturday night against San Diego State in what really is the team's first road trip since the Australian tour in May.

Sophomore guard Salim Stoudamire said the change of scenery might be what the team needs to reignite the fire that seemed to missing last night.

"I think it will be good," he said. "We need a hostile environment."

But the game against San Diego State might not be all that hostile. Judging by the way ticket sales have been going in San Diego, many of the fans in attendance on Saturday might be pro-Wildcat fans because of the short distance between the two schools.

Either way, it will still be loud. It will be the first-ever sellout in Cox Arena's six-year history, as the final tickets for the game were sold Monday.

More than 12,400 will be in attendance to see only the second time the Aztecs have ever hosted a No. 1 team.

"Probably the biggest crowd I've ever played in front of was in the state semi-finals in Minnesota in front of about 7,000 people," SDSU freshman guard Steve Sir said.

Still recovering

Stoudamire didn't have to ice his ankle after the game Tuesday night, even though he did tweak it a couple of times in his 13 minutes of play.

Trainer Justin Kokoskie said that it's normal for him to continue tweaking the ankle for at least the next couple of weeks.

Stoudamire, who was out for over a month, was clearly limping after the game, but that is a normal sign of recovery from a high-ankle sprain.

"Whenever you take a month off, it takes awhile to get back," said Stoudamire, who shot 2-of-7 from the field.

Papa Walton

Saturday's game will be aired live on ESPN at 7 p.m. in Tucson. Bill Walton and Mike Tirico will be calling the game.

"It will be exciting to get a chance to go back home and have the whole family be there," Walton said.

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