The 500th win of Lute Olson's UA career was also probably one of the easiest.
The Wildcats jumped out to an early lead against Northern Arizona last night in McKale Center and went on to rout the Lumberjacks 107-73 to kick off Arizona basketball's centennial season.
"It was great to get my 500th win at Arizona," Olson said after his team's romp. "There have been a lot of games and a lot of memories for me and this program."
The Wildcats stumbled out of the gate, turning the ball over on each of their first two possessions. Northern Arizona struck first on a Ruben Boykin, Jr. field goal to put the Lumberjacks up 2-0 to start the game. The next five minutes belonged to the Wildcats, however, who rattled off 13 straight points, eventually extending their lead to 16-3 on the first bucket of freshman Mustafa Shakur's collegiate career, a long-distance trey. The Philadelphia native posted 14 points in his Wildcat debut.
Hassan Adams tallied the first basket of the season for the Wildcats on a post up from Channing Frye. The duo of Adams and Frye was the story for the Wildcats in the opening frame, combining for 19 of Arizona's 53 first-half points. The second-year guard Adams was all over the court, grabbing seven boards, swiping two steals and blocking three NAU shots despite 3-of-12 shooting from the floor.
Adams finished the night with as many points as he had rebounds with nine, while Frye finished with a team-high 20 points.
Frye connected on 6 of 9 shots for 12 first-half points to narrowly edge Andre Iguodala by one point for the team high.
Olson went to the full-court press early in the game and knocked Northern Arizona off its game. The Lumberjacks, who rely on their long-range shooting, shot a uncharacteristically poor 4 of 20 from beyond the arc.
The highlight of the evening came courtesy of Iguodala. With the Wildcats up 11-2, the sophomore broke free on a steal, took the ball the length of the court and, to the delight of the capacity crowd, threw down a thunderous reverse-windmill dunk.
Isaiah Fox saw his first action of the season and despite looking rusty at times, still managed to pour in 15 points to go along with his team-leading 11 rebounds.
"I want to get a double-double every game, and I almost didn't have it," the junior Fox said. "Then coach (Olson) put me back in and I got some easy boards."
Arizona didn't relent in the second half, capitalizing on a 22-point halftime lead.
Salim Stoudamire got the second frame's scoring under way with his first 3-pointer of the year. The junior struggled from downtown all night, going 0 of 7 in the first half and finishing a dismal 1 of 9 from 3-point land.
Despite looking sharp at times, the Wildcats were sloppy at others, misfiring on passes and turning the ball over.
"Defensively, we just gave up too many second-chance shots," Olson said. "Overall, we did not communicate well enough on the defensive side. It is not difficult to do, but everyone has to be involved in order for us to play our best defense."
Monday night's win marked several firsts for the young Wildcat squad. En route to a lead that got as high as 39 points, newcomers Kirk Walters, Beau Muhlbach and Shakur all tallied the first points of their Arizona careers. The debut of Matt Brase is sure to be one that the transfer will cherish forever. Fittingly, Brase's lay-up in the opening game of Arizona's 100th season was the 100th point of the game for the Wildcats, coming in his grandfather's 500th coaching victory as head coach.
The Wildcats can't afford to rest after the win. Arizona resumes its season on Friday in the Mass Mutual Classic against a tough Florida squad.
"Florida is a great team," Iguodala said. According to the sophomore, the game against the Lumberjacks was an early season reminder of what is to come.
"This game showed us that we need to come out and play hard each time out."