SEATTLE — Despite the new-look play-style , Akron couldn’t catch any rhythm offensively in Friday’s NCAA Tournament first-round game, and the result remained the same from a season ago as Arizona rolled to the victory, 93-65.

The Zips’ quest for their first tournament victory will have to potentially wait until next season.

This was the Zips’ seventh appearance in the Division I NCAA Tournament, and third in the last four seasons. None of the previous appearances came with a win. The last time the Zips won a NCAA Tournament game was at the Division II level in 1975 when they advanced to the Elite Eight.

“I would say it was just more in the first half, I mean, like coach said, we had some questionable [attempts] going to the basket and not getting two feet set and shot-faking,” redshirt junior guard Nate Johnson said. “Some of the shots that we had were looks that we would take, and they just weren’t falling, so that’s really it.”

The fourth-seeded Wildcats (22-12, 14-6 Big 12) opened up the game with three straight 3-pointers, jumping out to a quick 9-0 advantage.

The 13th-seeded Zips (28-6, 17-1 MAC) were able to weather the quick storm and found themselves down just three points at the midway point of the first half. The Wildcats, however, ballooned the lead to 11 with four minutes to go and cruised into the second half up by 10 points at the break, 41-31.

Akron had no problem getting shots on the rim, but every Zip struggled to find the bottom of the net in the first half. Akron shot just 32.4% in the half despite taking four more attempts from field than Arizona.

“It was the rim decisions, [Arizona’s] shot-blocking and size at the rim that I thought we could have made some better decisions, and maybe [would’ve] had a few more quality possessions,” Zips head coach John Groce said. “Especially in the first half, when I actually thought we played fairly well.”

Arizona shot the ball effectively in the first half, but self-inflicted wounds kept Akron alive. The Wildcats had 12 turnovers, which turned into eight Akron points on the other end.

“I thought other than the nine to nothing start in the first half, and the rim decisions, we played pretty well, I was pretty pleased with how we played,” Groce said.

The second half started in similar fashion for Arizona, junior guard Anthony Dell’Orso started the half off with a three-point play for the Wildcats en route to a quick 9-2 run, increasing the lead to 17-points early in the frame.

“In the second half we obviously didn’t play as well as we did in the first half, and I thought [Arizona] played really well in the second half, rebounded it really well,” Groce said. “I thought our defense wasn’t tight enough. You saw them get some open dunks and plays in and around the rim.”

From there, Arizona cruised the rest of the way, reaching a game-high lead of 34 points.

Arizona’s hot shooting in the first half carried over into the second, this time, without the turnovers accompanying it. The Wildcats finished the game shooting a staggering 58.3% from field-goal range and 53.8% from 3-point range.

Junior guard Jaden Bradley led all-scorers with 19 points while Tavari Johnson and redshirt junior guard Nate Johnson both scored 13 for Akron. Nate Johnson, Akron’s leader all season, was held in check all night on 1 of 9 shooting.

The size of the Wildcats also proved to be too much to handle for the Zips. Arizona dominated the glass securing 53 rebounds to Akron’s 22. Points in the paint were dominated by the Wildcats as well, ending the night with 48 compared to just 20 points for Akron.

“Obviously in 33 chances to get a defensive rebound, we got 18 of them back, so we probably needed to get about another six of those, and we didn’t,” Groce said. “Give [Arizona] credit, they have size and they’re hard to block out.”

With the win, Arizona matches up against Maryland in the second round on Sunday, March 23 after it dismantled Grand Canyon, 81-49.