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Brandon Ashley scores career-high 21 points in No. 2 Arizona’s season-opening victory

Mount St Marys v Arizona

TUCSON, AZ - NOVEMBER 14: Brandon Ashley #21 of the Arizona Wildcats defends against Kristijan Krajina #13 of the Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers at McKale Center on November 14, 2014 in Tucson, Arizona. (Photo by Jacob Funk/J and L Photography/Getty Images )

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It’s been said many times that junior forward Brandon Ashley was the missing piece for Arizona last season, with the versatile forward suffering a foot injury in early February that resulted in a premature end to his sophomore campaign. Friday night Ashley played in his first regular season game since the injury, and he put together a very good performance in leading the second-ranked Wildcats to a 78-55 win over Mount St. Mary’s.

Ashley scored a game-high 21 points, shooting 9-for-10 from the field, while also grabbing six rebounds to lead the way for Sean Miller’s squad. Ashley was one of three Wildcats to score in double figures, with Rondae Hollis-Jefferson scoring 15 off the bench and junior center Kaleb Tarczewski adding ten points to go along with ten rebounds.

Ashley scored 12 of his 21 points in the first half, making all six of his field goal attempts as the Mountaineers struggled to find an answer for him despite starting 6-foot-11 forward Kristijan Kranija and 7-foot center Taylor Danaher in an attempt to counter the Wildcats’ front court size.

As a team Arizona made 66.7% of its two-point attempts in the first half, and their ability to find looks around the basket carried over into the second stanza as well (76.5% 2PT).

If there’s anything to take note of from an improvement standpoint it would be Arizona’s shooting from the perimeter and the foul, as the Wildcats made just four of their sixteen three-point attempts and shot 12-for-25 from the foul line. Those areas were both issues Arizona had to deal with last season, and they’re areas that will have to be addressed this season as well.

Also of note is the fact that six players played between 21 (Hollis-Jefferson) and 28 (Ashley, Tarczewski, T.J. McConnell and Gabe York) minutes, with Elliott Pitts playing 17 and Parker Jackson-Cartwright 11. Miller discussed his team’s depth last week, stating that the Wildcats aren’t as deep as many forecasted them being before practices began.

How Miller manages the rotation will be something to watch as Arizona gets deeper into the season, with the Maui Invitational less than two weeks away. The most important takeaway from Friday’s win is that Ashley looked ready to go, not missing a beat as he scored a career-high 21 points.

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