Arizona in Spain: Wildcats rout Mataro All-Stars in second exhibition

The Arizona Wildcats aren’t experiencing much resistance in Spain.

After beating Combinado Valenciano by 69 points on Sunday, Arizona defeated the Mataro All-Stars 99-74 on Wednesday in its second Spain exhibition.

Allonzo Trier led the Wildcats with 21 points, along with eight assists, five rebounds, and four steals.

DeAndre Ayton had 18 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Dusan Ristic had 14 points and five rebounds.

Rawle Alkins missed the game with a strained left shoulder.

The All-Stars kept the game close for much of the first half, cutting UA’s lead to 37-33 with just under five minutes left in the second quarter, but the Wildcats pulled away from there.

Arizona led 55-39 at halftime, and 84-54 at the end of the third quarter. However, Mataro had an 11-0 run in the fourth and outscored Arizona 20-15 in the period.

Arizona shot 60 percent from the field, 8-17 from 3, and 7-9 from the free throw line.

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Box score

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Notes and observations

— Brandon Randolph got the start in place of Alkins and scored the first basket of the game, but didn’t top his 21-point effort from Sunday’s scrimmage. Randolph finished with nine points on 12 shots. His shooting and defense are his most noteworthy skills, but he again showed off his passing ability with five assists, including a lob to Ayton on a pick-and-roll (highlight can be found below).

— Trier did a little bit of everything in this game, and his passing was especially impressive, as he tallied eight assists. He even posterized a guy, too.

— Dylan Smith continued to shoot the ball well, sinking a buzzer-beating 3 from the corner to end the first half. He also had a nice bounce pass to Ayton for a slam. Smith had 10 points and shot 3-6 from 3.

— Ayton scoring at the rim was a theme of this game, as all but one of his baskets (which was a jumper from the elbow) were scored in the paint. Ayton displayed a spin move on the low block, which resulted in a score. His size and strength was noticeable against the small Mataro team. Ayton had 10 points and five rebounds at halftime.

— Ristic had another excellent game, taking advantage of an obvious size advantage.

— Emmanuel Akot did not play in the second half (not sure what the injury was, but he was icing his knee), giving Alex Barcello more minutes at point guard. Barcello hit a spot-up 3 and a pull-up jumper. He seems to have pretty good court vision when Arizona gets in transition. Barcello played with the starters in the fourth quarter in place of Parker Jackson-Cartwright. Barcello had eight points on 3-4 shooting (2-2 from 3).

— Sean Miller went on the court after Randolph was called for a travel on a fast break dunk. The refs, who made a number of questionable calls throughout the day, said Randolph didn’t put the ball on the floor before the slam.

— Ira Lee showed a penchant for rim-protection with a block that led to a buzzer-beating dunk by Randolph at the end of the third quarter. Lee had another block, too, but it was called a goaltend, even though it looked like he swatted the shot away before it hit the glass. Lee appears to be a so-called “energy player.”

— Arizona didn’t get to the free throw line until 4:45 left in the second quarter when Trier hit both free throws. UA only shot nine free throws on the day.

— The Wildcats had trouble defending the 3 at times, especially from Mataro’s frontcourt players. The All-Stars shot 10-27 from deep. The Wildcats’ transition defense was problematic at times, too.

— Arizona’s offense continues to look a bit more uptempo than in previous years, but it’s fair to wonder if that’s simply because of the huge athletic advantage it’s had in these two exhibitions. The Wildcats also were a bit sloppy with the ball, committing 22 turnovers to 29 assists.

— Arizona’s walk-ons checked in with 1:07 left, and unfortunately it wasn’t long after that when Kory Jones suffered a left leg injury and had to be helped off the court.

— Talbott Denny did not play for the second straight game.

— This game was played in small gym that had shutters on its windows, so that was weird. The fans were seated on the same side as the camera, so it’s hard to tell how many were in attendance.

— Mataro’s coach was wearing jean shorts.

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Highlights

Up next

Arizona wraps up its Spain exhibition tour Friday when it will take on Mataro Parc Boet in Barcelona. Tip-off is set for 10 a.m. MST and it will be live streamed on FloSports.com.

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Follow Ryan Kelapire on Twitter at @RKelapire