NCAAB Game Preview - Pepperdine at Arizona

Thu Nov 28, 2019 11:02 PM EST

After winning six in a row at home to open the season, No. 14 Arizona goes on the road for three games in four days at the Wooden Legacy in Anaheim, Calif.

The Wildcats (6-0) will open Thursday night against Pepperdine (3-3), with a trio of freshmen leading Arizona in scoring -- power forward Zeke Nnaji (19.5 points per game), point guard Nico Mannion (14.8 points, 5.0 assists) and wing Josh Green, who is averaging 11.8 points.

"It will be a challenge for our freshmen for sure, but every team is kind of facing the same thing," Arizona head coach Sean Miller said of taking his team away from McKale Center for the first time.

"We have some older guys that, even though they are new faces, have been in these type of tournaments before and away from home," Miller continued. "We're relying on them, and also we have great confidence in our freshmen. These are guys who have played in big, big games before they ever came to Arizona. They have played everywhere in the world, not just the country."

Arizona's top six scorers are freshmen or transfers, so it's not as if the coach on the opposing bench -- Lorenzo Romar -- will have a lot of inside knowledge, even though he was Arizona's associate head coach during the 2017-18 season.

The former Washington head coach (2002-2017) is in his second season of his second stint with the Waves.

"I wish we weren't playing them," Miller said. "I consider Lorenzo a great friend."

And Miller probably isn't keen on seeing Pepperdine junior point guard Colbey Ross, one of the nation's most productive players, who will test an Arizona defense allowing just 57.3 points per game and 36.5 percent shooting.

Ross poured in 38 points in a 91-84 loss at Southern California on Nov. 19. He is averaging 20.7 points and 7.0 assists, while making 30 of 33 free throw attempts. He can score from every level and last season was fifth nationally with 279 attempts from the foul line (8.2 per game).

"He just has a real command of the offense out there on the floor. He's a serious competitor," Romar told NCAA.com. "His attitude out there I think is infectious with his teammates.

"You don't just stumble across that kind of productivity. He's a very, very good basketball player."

The Edwards brothers -- senior forward Kameron and sophomore forward Kessler -- are also dangerous. Kameron is averaging 17.5 points, while Kessler is at 13.7 points and 8.2 rebounds per game.

Arizona is the only ranked team in the eight-team tournament, which continues Friday and concludes Sunday.

The Wildcats are coming off a 104-67 win over Long Beach State on Sunday, fueled by a 66-point second half. Miller wants to keep feeding Nnaji in the low post -- he's made 46 of 57 shots (80.7 percent) -- but long-range shooting is a feature of this team that was absent in recent editions.

Arizona was 12 of 24 from 3-point distance against the Beach and is at 41.2 percent for the season.

"We have more firepower from behind the 3-point line," Miller said. "We have a number of different players who can really shoot it. I think it's that balance that might give us the edge in some other things, but like some of the other teams we've had it's hard to judge us in November. We have a long way to go."

--Field Level Media