ESPN.com - Mark Lyons' sudden emergence

ESPN.com: College Basketball Rumors

Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Mark Lyons' sudden emergence

By Joe Kaiser

Arizona has recovered nicely with two consecutive road wins since dropping its first game of the season at Oregon two weeks ago, and senior point guard Mark Lyons deserves much of the credit.

Lyons struggled to mesh with Nick Johnson in the Wildcats' backcourt for much of non-conference play, but things have started to click for the Xavier transfer since the start of Pac-12 play.

Bruce Pascoe of the Arizona Daily Star writes:

"In five Pac-12 games so far, Lyons has emerged as a clear scoring leader for UA with an average of 19.4 points a game, and 20.3 in UA's past three games. He also had 18 assists to 14 turnovers in conference play."

The play of Lyons is absolutely key going forward, and here's why: As talented as Arizona is this season, and as much as this looks like a team that could be a No. 1 or 2 seed come March, it's also a very young squad. Other than fellow seniors Solomon Hill and Kevin Parrom, this is a group that lacks experience and it will need Lyons to play his absolute best to make a serious run in the NCAA tournament.