TUCSON, Ariz.—Arizona is 3-0 for the first time since the 2002-03 season, to the surprise of Derrick Williams.
“It surprises me a lot,” said Williams, who scored 15 points to lead the Wildcats past Northern Colorado 93-70 on Sunday.
“They’ve had a lot of great players (recently). Jerryd Bayless was here a couple of years ago.”
But you have to go back eight seasons to the days of Luke Walton and Jason Gardner for an Arizona team that won its first three. That team started 5-0 on the way to an Elite Eight berth.
Williams was there last season when the Wildcats won two of their first three.
“Last year we didn’t know how good we were or how good we could be,” said Williams, who also had eight rebounds on Sunday. “This year I think we’re confident we could be a great team.”
Arizona continues in the iBN Sports Las Vegas Invitational on Tuesday with a home game against Bethune-Cookman. Then it’s off to Las Vegas for weekend games against Santa Clara and No. 7 Kansas.
“Not looking past anybody but everyone is looking at the schedule, everybody wants to play Kansas,” said Williams, who has scored in double figures in 12 consecutive games.
Sean Miller, in his second year as Arizona’s coach, said he wasn’t surprised the Wildcats hadn’t gone 3-0 in some time, in part because the school has often played what he called a “merciless” early schedule.
“One of the things we’ve done is play everybody everywhere,” Miller said of the program’s history. “Our nonconference schedule will grow as the team grows. But we have to be smart in developing our program in (getting) confidence and giving young players an opportunity (to play). I like that we are 3-0 and I like the fact that a lot of different players have had a chance to play.”
Kyle Fogg and Solomon Hill, who like Williams are sophomores, scored 11 points apiece and MoMo Jones added 10 points for Arizona. Chris Kaba led the Bears (2-1) with 15 points and Emmanuel Addo scored 14.
The Wildcats opened up a 74-39 lead with 12:15 to play, even as Miller used his reserves extensively. Kyryl Natyazhko scored nine points and made his second 3-pointer of the season—one more than he had all of last season.
“The best way I can describe this game is that we got out-manned and out-muscled at every position,” Northern Colorado coach B.J. Hill said. “We have to get stronger and tougher if we want to compete with a team at this level.”
