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Brandon Ashley, Arizona’s leading scorer?

Long Beach State v Arizona

TUCSON, AZ - NOVEMBER 19: Brandon Ashley #21 of the Arizona Wildcats in action during the college basketball game against the Long Beach State 49ers at McKale Center on November 19, 2012 in Tucson, Arizona. The Wildcats defeated the 49ers 94-72. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

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All anyone wanted to talk about with Arizona heading into the season was the addition of Xavier transfer Mark Lyons.

And to be perfectly fair, Lyons is a huge x-factor for this team. He’s the point guard that Sean Miller was missing, even if he’s not exactly a prototypical point guard.

But one of the most under-discussed aspects of this group was the assumption that Arizona’s freshmen big men weren’t going to play like freshmen. Three games into the season, that assumption has proven true for one of those three.

Brandon Ashley.

He was terrific on Monday night against Long Beach State, finishing with 20 points and 10 boards. He’s not the Wildcat’s leading scorer and rebounder, and while it’s only three games into the season, it’s silly to think that Ashley will get worse as he get more experience.

Kaleb Tarczewski and Grant Jerrett have combined to averaged just 11.3 points and 9.7 boards thus far in the season, and those are numbers that Miller likely hopes will improve. But as long as Ashley is anchoring the front line, Arizona will be just fine this season.

Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @robdauster.