Southern Miss 55 (6-2, 2-2 away) (8) Arizona 63 (6-0, 5-0 home)

[chompalot]

Didn't realize that Arizona was ranked so high. They had 27 turnovers last night against a tough zone.

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=323390012

Struggling against Southern Miss' zone, Arizona (6-0) spent most of the night throwing passes that had no hope of being completed, bumbling away others, giving the ball back seconds after forcing a turnover on defense.

"Both defenses were going after the ball, both teams were playing hard," Southern Miss coach Donnie Tyndall said. "You have to credit the defense; they were forcing turnovers. I thought few of ours were unforced, though."

This game was strength vs. strength: Arizona's offense against Southern Miss' defense.

"We felt like we had the game in our hands and within our grasp, but coming into the second half we started getting loose," Watson said. "Arizona has a tight defense. They're No. 8 and in the second half, they showed us why they are No. 8."

[kygator]

Arizona has played a pretty weak schedule so far. I would have preferred that we were the first tough zone defense that they faced.

[chompalot]

They have a trio of freshman C Kaleb Tarczewsk 7' 0" (#4, ESPN 100), PFs Grant Jerrett 6'10" (# 9, ESPN 100), and Brandon Ashley 6'8" (# 16, ESPN 100). Looks like Jerrett isn't getting many minutes, yet.

A PG transfer from Xavier in Mark Lyons (15.1 ppg).

They also have swingman Kevin Parron who teamed up with Derrick Williams in 2010-11 to reach the Elite Eight. His offensive efficiency was as good as Williams that year, then he got hurt and is finally back this year.

But the leading scorer of the game was soph SG Nick Johnson. He's not even written about in the ESPN and SI magazines.

They play a gap-defense (whatever that is) so, according to ESPN magazine, perimeter players must be shot-ready for kickout 3s. They are activ, so be strong with the baall and patient in running your sets. Attak Tarcaewski and Jerratt with drag ball screens and in transition, both are difficult for young post players to adjust to.

Looks like they couldn't handle Southern Miss' zone.

Zona has a lot of length, but I think the Gators should be able to turn them over some. Gators will win the game if we hit our threes.

[AzCatFan]

The pack line D is strictly man-to-man and we never play zone. I think it is part of the reason Arizona struggles early against zone teams, as we don't see it in practice that often. Arizona's D will switch a lot on ball screens and the big men will hedge. Parrom and Sol Hill are both 6' 6"/7" but are quick enough to guard most guards on a switch. Lyons is also a good perimeter defender, and "Zues" adds interior size.

Florida should get some open 3's, but we are also quick on close outs. On offense, S. Miss frusterated us wity quick hands, but we also had an off shooting night. Lyons missed open looks and didn't hit anything from the field, and we shot 58% from the FT line in the first half (72%) on the season. Might have to do with S. Miss being a trap game before our twi biggest non-conference games at Clemson and then Florida coming up next. Bottom line was it was an ugly game last night, but Arizona gutted it out and still won by 8.

[chompalot]

Zona averages 81.5 PPG, so it should be interesting to see how effective the Gators' D will be.