Dylan Smith busts shooting slump, as Arizona blows out Cal Poly

Burdened by a lengthy shooting slump spanning back to last season, Dylan Smith felt it was only a matter of time before his shots started falling.

“I just have to regain my confidence on the floor,” he said Friday. “I’ve been shooting it well in practice so I feel it coming.”

It finally did Sunday.

The UA guard scored 12 points and buried four 3s, as the Arizona Wildcats overcame some early shooting woes to beat the Cal Poly Mustangs 82-61 in McKale Center.

Smith had missed 13 consecutive treys dating back to last season and missed his first one Sunday, before drilling two in the first half to snap that streak. He then sank two more in the second half for good measure.

Smith nearly banked in a deep, off-balanced 3 at the end of the first half, too, but his shot rimmed out at the buzzer.

Even when Smith was slumping he was impacting the game in other areas, and that continued Sunday. The UNC Asheville logged seven boards and two assists, while playing menacing defense, drawing a charge and forcing a timeout with suffocating ball pressure.

That effort seemed to be contagious, as Arizona held the Mustangs to 38 percent shooting. The Wildcats, who struggled to control the glass in their season-opener, also outrebounded Cal Poly 44-32, allowing just five offensive boards.

Arizona missed 11 of its first 15 shots, but wound up shooting 46 overall and 9 for 23 from 3. The Wildcats led 41-34 at halftime and boatraced the Mustangs in the second half, outscoring them 41-27, leading by as many as 32 points.

Ryan Luther led the way with 17 points and five rebounds. His frontcourt mate Chase Jeter had a career-high 16 points to go along with six boards. Ira Lee, who returned from a one-game suspension, had six points and eight rebounds in 13 minutes.

Brandon Randolph and Brandon Williams were uncharacteristically quiet in the scoring column, dropping 10 and nine points, respectively. Williams had eight assists and two steals, and has yet to commit a turnover this season.

The first half, although played at a brisk pace with only 14 fouls called, started as an offensive struggle for both sides. The Wildcats missed 8 of 9 shots during one stretch, allowing Cal Poly to keep it tied at 12-12 midway through the period.

But after a timeout, Randolph hit a pull-up, then Luther made a corner 3 before throwing down a breakaway dunk to make it 19-12.

Earlier in the half, Justin Coleman dropped off a pass to Luther in transition, where he drilled a triple from the top of the arc to make it 10-7. Luther had a team-high 10 first-half points.

Smith drained a pair of 3s to extend the lead to 30-22 and the Wildcats were 6 for 14 from distance in the period.

Luther had two quick buckets out of the locker room to make it a 10-point game with 17 minutes to play. Cal Poly was never able to cut the deficit to single digits after that.

Smith uncorked two more 3s in transition to extend the lead to 61-39 with 12:08 left, capping an 18-0 run for the Wildcats.

Arizona returns to action Wednesday when it hosts UTEP in its final tuneup before the vaunted Maui Invitational.

This story will be updated.

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