TUCSON, Ariz. – Arizona will open a stretch of four games in a week beginning with the Sacred Heart Pioneers on Friday night inside McKale Center. The Wildcats are coming off a 78-66 win over CSU Bakersfield in their home opener earlier this week. Friday's match-up with SHU is the first of two non-bracketed home games of the 2016 Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational.

No. 10/9 Arizona vs. Sacred Heart
Friday, November 18 at 8:00 p.m. (MST)
TV: Pac-12 Network (Daron Sutton & Steve Lavin)
Radio: Arizona IMG Radio Network (Brian Jeffries & Ryan Hansen)
Stats: www.arizonalivestats.com
Twitter: @APlayersProgram
#BearDown
 

• Friday night's game versus Sacred Heart comes on the heels of Tuesday's 78-66 win over CSU Bakersfield in McKale Center. The short-handed Wildcats played with only seven scholarship players and were led by Lauri Markkanen with 26 points and eight rebounds. UA opened the game shooting five of eight (.625) from beyond the arc, which propelled the Cats to a 44-26 halftime lead. Arizona withstood a Roadrunner fury of three-pointers in the second half that cut the UA lead to four points with nine minutes remaining.

• The Wildcats will look to push their non-conference home court winning streak to 35 games on Friday night. UA's last loss at home outside of Pac-12 play came to Bucknell on the 2012 NIT. Arizona has won 56 of its last 57 overall games in Tucson with a mark of 109-12 (.901) inside McKale Center under head coach Sean Miller.

• The Arizona offense has attacked the paint with success to the tune of a +32 advantage in free throw attempts in games versus Michigan State and CSU Bakersfield. The team's efficiency at the charity stripe has been led by big men Lauri Markkanen, Dusan Ristic and Chance Comanche. The trio of 7-footers are shooting a combined 20 of 24 (.833) at the free throw line this season.

• The visiting Pioneers of Sacred Heart University represent the farthest traveling team to visit McKale Center this season. It's 2,485 miles from SHU's campus in Fairfield, Conn. to Tucson. The Pioneers' trip to McKale Center is the longest a UA opponent has traveled for a game since the University of Rhode Island played in Tucson on Nov. 19, 2013 (2,583 miles).

• Rawle Alkins had a breakout game offensively in his team's win on Tuesday night. The freshman scored 15 points on four of six shooting (.667) from three-point range. Counting the McDonald's Red-Blue Game, a pair of home exhibitions and the Michigan State game, Alkins entered the Bakersfield game shooting one of nine (.111) from deep.

• Chance Comanche has scored eight points and grabbed four rebounds in the first two games of his sophomore season. By contrast, the center recorded a total of 17 points and 11 rebounds in his final eight appearances of 2015-16.

• Friday is the first-ever meeting between the Wildcats and Pioneers. It's the 22^nd initial meeting between Arizona and an opponent during the Sean Miller era (2009 to present). UA is 20-1 in those games with an average margin of victory of 20.4 points.