During a media bash earlier this week, Alabama coach Nate Oats noted that he warned his team that Arizona’s Brayden Burries was “a guy who could go away for 30 at any time,” according to the newspaper. Emilee Smarr of Tuscaloosa News.
Oh, how prescient that turned out to be.
The five-star freshman erupted for a career-high 28 points and helped No. 1 Arizona run away and hide from No. 12 Alabama in the second half of Saturday’s 96-75 loss in Birmingham.
It’s Arizona’s fifth win over a ranked team in its first nine games, and a real “I’m here” moment for Burries, who struggled to find his footing in early November but is on rock solid ground a month later.
The 6-4, 205-pound guard destroyed Alabama’s smaller backcourt with bouldering drives, feathered 3s and one pinpoint lob to Tobe Awaka that nearly resulted in the basket being uprooted from the upright. He packs a scoring punch into a squad with a lot of physicality and raw power.
Who knows where this win will ultimately end up in the grand scheme of things, but Arizona’s blowout of the Tide showed just how devastating the top-ranked Wildcats can be when shotmaking comes with the typical avalanche of paint buckets.
The numbers tell the whole story.
Arizona (9-0) defeated Alabama (7-3) inside the arc with a 44-20 edge in paint points. It outscored the Tide 52-32, including 21 offensive rebounds in the first 29 minutes of regulation. Arizona’s five-man platoon of Motiejus Krivas and Tobe Awaka collected 16 offensive rebounds alone. Alabama got eight total rebounds from its three centers.
Arizona made 84 shots, compared to just 56 for Alabama. It turns out that it’s a lot easier to win basketball games when you take 32 more shots.
Oh, and for all the excitement about Alabama potentially tipping the balance with a barrage of three-pointers, it was Arizona that had more triples on its resume until garbage time, when the game was well out of reach.
Burries (5-of-10 from 3-point range) provided that extra splash of hot sauce that fueled the Wildcats’ 28-6 run in the second half to show that the country is currently in a much different zip code as a national title contender than Alabama. It did it all while enduring an off night from Koa Peat, who managed just six points, a full 10 below his season average.
Arizona is now the third team to overwhelm Alabama on the net, joining Purdue and Gonzaga. If Oats’ team leaves early in March, the recurring follies could be their Achilles heel.
Meanwhile, it’s full steam ahead for undefeated Arizona, which should remain at No. 1 in the polls on Monday and head back to Tucson with its fourth Quad 1 win and a real belief that Burries has broken through for good.
With the freshman wall in the rearview mirror, the possibilities are endless for Burries and this club.
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