TUCSON, Ariz. -- Chase Jeter scored a career-high 21 points and Arizona bounced back from its first nonconference home loss in seven years with a 61-42 victory over Montana on Wednesday night.
Arizona had its 52-game home nonconference winning streak end on Saturday, when Baylor crushed the Wildcats on the glass in a 58-49 victory. The Wildcats (8-4) bounced back with a stellar defensive performance, holding the Grizzlies (6-4) to 27 percent shooting in Arizona coach Sean Miller's 500th career game.
Outrebounded 51-19 against Baylor, Arizona had a much better effort inside against Montana, grabbing 10 more rebounds while outscoring the Grizzlies 42-16 in the paint. Brandon Randolph added 15 points for the Wildcats.
Montana played without leading rebounder Jamar Akoh due to a wrist injury and had two long field goal-less stretches to prevent any chance of an upset at McKale Center.
Ahmaad Rorie had 19 points to lead the Grizzlies, who shot 5 for 23 from the 3-point arc.
Both teams went through long stretches of offensive ineptitude in a defensive-dominated first half.
The Grizzlies struggled offensively early, going more than five minutes without a field goal as Arizona built an 11-point lead by repeatedly getting the ball down low to Jeter. Montana made up for it on the defensive end, holding the Wildcats without a field goal for more than 10 1/2 minutes, including a 6 1/2-minute scoreless streak.
Arizona took another defensive stand to close the first half, holding the Grizzlies to one field goal over the final 7:51 to lead 22-15. The Grizzlies went through another offensive funk early in the second half, going scoreless for nearly 6 minutes as Arizona pushed the lead to 40-26.
Arizona kept up the defensive pressure from there to stymie any thought of a comeback.
Notes
- Sean Miller coached his 500th career game Wednesday night and improved to 375-125 in his 15-year coaching career. Among active coaches, only Roy Williams, Mark Few and Jim Boeheim had a better record in their first 500 games coached.
- Arizona allowed just 42 points to the Grizzlies, marking the 13th time in the Sean Miller era that Arizona has held an opponent to 45 points or less. The Wildcats hadn't held an opponent under 45 since beating NAU 92-37 on Dec. 16, 2016.
- Redshirt junior Chase Jeter scored a career-high 21 points Wednesday. Jeter's previous high was 19 set earlier this year at Alabama. Jeter also added six rebounds in Wednesday's win.
- Sophomore guard Brandon Randolph scored 15 points Wednesday. Randolph has scored in double figures in all 12 games this season and is one of just four Pac-12 players to score in double figures in each of his team's games this season.
- Sophomore forward Emmanuel Akot had a career-high six rebounds in Wednesday's win. Akot made his sixth consecutive start.
- Montana shot 26.9 percent from the floor Wednesday, marking the first time an Arizona opponent has shot less than 30 percent from the floor since New Mexico on Dec. 12, 2016 when the Lobos shot 26.2 percent.
- Arizona is 88-4 at home since the start of the 2013-14 season.
Quotes
"The one thing you try to have a gauge on is how hard your guys play. Our guys gave it everything they have tonight. Montana didn't have a bad night. They are a very good basketball team, but we worked really hard defensively and made it tough. They earned their points. Coming off the Baylor game you don't really know what to expect. We were connected and a lot of guys did a great job." – Sean Miller.
"Dylan Smith is starting to really settle into his role. He didn't have a great game statistically, but he is becoming that Kadeem Allen type of defensive player. You don't see too many people play harder than him on the defensive end. When you do that on the perimeter, it's contagious. He has been on track to be that type of player on this team." – Sean Miller.
"The main thing was to just keep positive and not let two losses define the rest of our season. I think Montana was a good team and it was a big win for us tonight." – Chase Jeter.
