7-footers Ristic, Markannen lead No. 18 Wildcats rout of Stanford
STANFORD, Calif. -- Arizona coach Sean Miller delivered an obvious reminder to his team before its game Sunday against Stanford.
"Coach told us ahead of time don't forget we have the size advantage," said 6-foot-11 sophomore backup Chance Comanche. "It started to wear and tear on them and eventually it overpowered them."
The No. 18 Wildcats (13-2, 2-0 Pac-12) were simply too big for the Cardinal, winning 91-52 to complete a weekend road sweep to open Pac-12 Conference play.
The Wildcats' three big men made 15 of their first 17 shots and combined to score 44 points as Arizona beat the Cardinal for the 14th straight time.
"The game plan was feed the bigs. They shot 80 percent from the field, so that was amazing," said freshman guard Rawle Alkins, who scored 19 points.
Junior center Dusan Ristic of Serbia scored 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting and fellow 7-footer Lauri Markannen, a freshman from Finland, scored 15 points, including 3-for-3 from the 3-point arc.
Comanche made his first five attempts and wound up with 13 points and 10 rebounds as the Arizona three big men shot 16 for 20 from the field.
"The production we're getting from that group on offense, defense and rebounding gives us a lot of firepower," Miller said of his big men. "I think we can play a lot of different styles."
Arizona shot 62.5 percent for the game, which left Stanford coach Jarod Haase frustrated. The Cardinal (8-6, 0-2) gave up 189 points in two games to open the conference schedule.
"We're struggling in a lot of ways. Against Arizona it was exposed even more, because they do throw the basketball inside," Haase said. "The post defense, we tried to double early on, and they scored eight quick points off of that. Our interior play and interior defense should be a strength of our team, and today it was not."
Stanford shot 34 percent, including 23 percent in the second half. Reid Travis, the Cardinal's 6-8
power forward, was held to 11 points -- seven under his season average -- before fouling out.
"There's a lot that went wrong in this game," Travis said. ""Ultimately, it wasn't our offense that lost this game. It was our D."
BIG PICTURE
Arizona point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright, in just his second game back after missing six with a high ankle sprain he suffered Nov. 30 against Texas Southern, shot 0-for-4 but dished a game-high six assists in 22 minutes off the bench. He gives Arizona one more weapon on offense, especially as a facilitator for the team's big men.
FROSH TRIO
Arizona freshmen Alkins (19 points), Kobi Simmons (15) and Markannen (15) each maintained their double-digit scoring averages. The Wildcats and Auburn are the only two Division I teams in the country whose three leading scorers are freshmen, all averaging at least 10 points.
VISITOR CHANT
Several times Sunday a vocal Arizona fan contingent at Maples Pavilion delivered loud chants of "U of A!" The home crowd never effectively answered. "It's tough," Stanford guard Dorian Pickens said. "When we're able to get things going on our side, and start putting some wins up, that won't happen."
UP NEXT
Arizona returns home for a Thursday matchup against Utah. The Wildcats lost a road game to the Utes in their only matchup a year ago, snapping a 12-game win streak in the series. Utah (10-3) opened Pac-12 play Sunday with a 76-60 win over Colorado.
