SAN DIEGO (AP) — Brayden Burries hit four 3-pointers while scoring 18 points, Koa Peat added 15 points and top-seeded Arizona opened its NCAA Tournament run with a 92-58 victory over Long Island on Friday.
Ivan Kharchenkov had 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Big 12 regular-season and tournament champion Wildcats (33-2), who quickly showed why they’re the tournament’s second overall seed behind Duke.
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Pushing the pace on offense and stifling the Sharks with defense, Arizona went up by double digits in the opening minutes and led the Sharks by 27 in the first half while delighting the thousands of fans who filled Viejas Arena with red.
Arizona will return Sunday to face the winner of Villanova’s meeting with Utah State in the West Region bracket.
Mason Porter-Brown scored 15 points and Greg Gordon had 12 for the Sharks (24-11), who finished their fourth season under coach Rod Strickland. Long Island has surged from a three-win season in Strickland’s debut to win the NEC regular-season and tournament titles this spring while building a national profile for the Brooklyn school.
The Sharks just didn’t have enough to hang with the deep, talented Wildcats, who clearly have a shot to win the first title for any team from the Western U.S. since Arizona won its only national crown in 1997.
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Even on a quiet seven-point night for star Jaden Bradley, the Wildcats’ famed offensive balance was in perfect tune, with six players scoring at least eight points. Burries needed just 10 shots to be the scoring leader for Arizona, which hit 57% of its shots in the first half and maintained that success rate until the final minutes.
Even 11 missed free throws didn’t slow the Wildcats’ roll.
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness