Arizona 81, St. John's 72

[recap] [box score]

I've decided to severely limit anything I write about St. John's until they stop playing that zone, or start playing it better or something. Otherwise, I'm just going to end up pointing out the same thing over and over again. Arizona hit 14-of-29 three-pointers in this one. If you want a difference in this game, you don't have to look any further than the Wildcats' 33-point advantage in that category.

Nurideen Lindsey, quickly gaining recognition as one of the best one-on-one and transition players in the college game, nearly won this game on his own, thrilling the Madison Square Garden with his spectacular moves and keeping his team in front for most of the second half. He picked up his fourth foul with maybe six or seven minutes left and St. John's clinging to a lead, and Arizona quickly went on top. Steve Lavin had no choice to bring him back, and Lindsey then made a mistake that is probably attributable to his inexperience -- he immediately committed his fifth and disqualifying foul on the offensive end, pushing off as he tried to create a lane to the basket.

Without Lindsey, it was all over but for the celebrating.


St. John's notes: God'sgift Achiuwa missed a team bus and was benched for the start of this one, though he entered the game about two minutes in ... Foul trouble was a big problem for the Red Storm all night, as Lindsey, D'Angelo Harrison, and Sir'Dominic Pointer each picked up three in the first half -- as did Nick Johnson and Jordin Mayes for Arizona.

Arizona notes:I don't understand why Archie Miller continues to start, or play, for that matter, Kyryl Natyzhko. Particularly with Achiuwa out of the starting lineup, Natyahzko was useless in the early going. He's not an offensive option, so you can't go to his size matchup on that end to counter his quickness deficiency on the other end ... Miller quickly brought in Kevin Parrom for Natyahzko, which was a good substitution, although it came after Achiuwa had entered the game ... Josiah Turner is slowly coming along. He took advantage of an opportunity to play due to Mayes' foul problems and caught the eye of his coach, who mentioned him (and Johnson) specifically by name in post-game interviews. Turner had a couple of nice steals by shooting passing lanes that led to layups.