DeAndre Ayton is 19 years old, a freshman, and doing things that have never been done in the history of basketball at Arizona. It helps that there’s never really been a player like him at Arizona before.
He’s 7-foot-1, 250 pounds with a 7-foot-5 wingspan, starts at power forward, and was declared a likely top-5 NBA Draft pick before he even stepped foot on a college court.
Ayton has so far lived up to the hype. Statistically, to this point in a career, there’s never been anybody like him.
Before Wednesday’s game, he was already the first player in UA history to record double-doubles in five consecutive games. After managing 13 points and nine rebounds against Long Beach State in a 91-56 win, he fell one rebound short of his sixth double-double of the season.
The Arizona freshman record for double-doubles in a season is 12, held by Al Fleming, who played for the Wildcats in the 1970s, and Michael Wright, who was a freshman in 1998-99.
Perspective: It took Aaron Gordon 20 games to amass his sixth double-double; it took Lauri Markkanen 36 games. It took Kaleb Tarczewski, a four-year starter, 116 games to record his sixth double double.
Wednesday was Ayton’s seventh game with the Wildcats.
“Not a lot of people have ever seen a guy like that walk in the door,†UA coach Sean Miller said. “He’s a freshman.â€
