Arizona Wildcats drub LIU Sharks 92-58 in first-round NCAA Tournament game

The Wildcats were never challenged in their 92-58 win over LIU at Viejas Arena, shooting 53.7%, holding the Sharks to just 30.2% shooting and outrebounding them 50-28, among other things.

Brayden Burries led UA in scoring with 22 points while Ivan Kharchenkov had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Tobe Awaka added 11 points and eight rebounds off the bench.

The win moved Arizona (33-2) into an NCAA Tournament second-round game against the winner of a later Friday game between Villanova and Utah State. LIU, champion of the Northeast Conference, ended its season at 24-11.

Up 53-29 at haltime, the Wildcats kept LIU scoreless for over three mintues at the start of the second half while scoring the first eight points of the half.

The Sharks rallied over the middle of the second half, drawing cheers when Mason Porter-Brown dunked to cut UA’s lead to 67-45, but the Wildcats kept control of the game throughout the half.

With 6:46 left, UA coach Tommy Lloyd put in lightly used reserve forward Sidi Gueye, who picked up a foul but blocked a shot during his first two minutes in the game. Lloyd also turned to reserve senior guard Evan Nelson with 4:29 left. He later played his walk-ons, also.

In the first half, Burries had 14 points while hitting four 3-pointers for a 53-29 halftime lead.

The Wildcats shot 57.6% from the field while holding the Sharks of the Northeast Conference to just 35.3%. Arizona also outrebounded LIU 27-23, scoring 16 second-chance points off 10 offensive rebounds.

While Burries scored his 14 points on 5-for-8 shooting, including 4 from 5 from 3-point range and a dunk, forwards Koa Peat and Awaka each scored nine points.

Arizona point guard Jaden Bradley added five points, three rebounds and three assists while playing his first full game with a wrap on his left wrist and index finger. He has said he jammed the index finger in the second half of the Big 12 Tournament last Saturday against Houston.

While Bradley said it felt a little different when he returned with the wrap after that game, he showed no issues early Friday. Bradley made an early layup, assisted Burries on a 3-pointer that gave Arizona a 9-2 lead, then blocked LIU’s Malachi Davis — and put in a 3 of his own on that ensuing UA possession.

Arizona led 12-2 after three minutes and 15-4 when Burries hit another three with 16:04 left, before the first media timeout.

Arizona wasted no time jumping on the Sharks right away. While LIU missed its first three field goals, the Wildcats went ahead 6-0 on scores from Peat, Ivan Kharchenkov and Bradley.

Arizona took its first double-digit lead for good after Peat made a layup with 14:32 to go, and continued rolling from there. The Sharks didn’t help themselves when Xinyi Li threw an elbow at the back of UA center Motiejus Krivas in transition, drawing a flagrant foul that allowed Krivas to shoot two free throws, one of which he made, and giving UA the ball for what eventually became a rebound basket by Awaka.

Arizona also won a coach’s challenge later in the first half when it successfully protested that Peat did not touch the ball before it went out of bounds, saving UA a possession.