After losing by nine points to UCLA on opening night of the season, Arizona Basketball has since coasted to wins over Cal Poly and Northern Arizona. Those results were expected, with the Big 12 preseason favorites taking on another high-major program.
Auburn is 2-0 to open the year, beating Southeastern Louisiana and Appalachian State in easy fashion. This will be the Tigers first real test of the year as well, with this being a Quad 1 opportunity for both sides. What does Arizona need to do to get the road win? Here’s a look at the keys to the game.
1. Two-way impact from Derek Dixon
One obvious key for the Wildcats is the team’s “Big 3” (Ivan Kharchenkov, Motiejus Krivas, and Caleb Holt) having a big night. But the other double-digit scorer on the team is Dixon, putting up 13 ppg on 41% FG shooting. He’s scored 9+ points in each game and will need to continue with that, along with likely guarding Auburn’s star guard, Tahaad Pettiford, on the other end.
2. Motiejus Krivas against the trio of Auburn bigs
While Krivas is putting up 18 ppg and 8.0 rpg through three games, he only had eight points in the season opening loss to UCLA. The key with him is whether he can produce at a high level against high-major frontcourts. He’ll go against some big bodies at Auburn in Narcisse Ngoy and Bukky Oboye, who famously gave up 26 rebounds in an exhibition game versus FSU freshman Marcis Ponder. Could Krivas do something similar on Friday night?
3. 10+ points from JJ Mandaquit and Cameron Holmes
Going back to the depth issue, Arizona doesn’t have many options that can put the ball in the basket. Two rotation pieces they’ll look for is freshman Holmes and sophomore ball-handler, Mandaquit. In the loss to UCLA, they combined for just four points on 1/8 FG shooting off the bench. Any bench production on the road would be helpful for Arizona Basketball, taking the load off its star players.
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