No. 2 Arizona Battles UC Irvine for a 71-54 Win

Courtesy: Associated Press
Release: 11/19/2014

Courtesy: Arizona Athletics

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - Rondae Hollis-Jefferson scored 19 points and No. 2 Arizona used a stifling defense in a decisive second-half run to give the Wildcats a 71-54 victory over Cal-Irvine on Wednesday night.

The Wildcats (3-0) trailed from late in the first half until their defense intensified in a 15-0 run midway through the second half. The Anteaters (2-1) went six minutes without a point and committed five turnovers during the outburst.

Arizona's best offense was at the foul line, where the Wildcats made 29 of 34, 11 of 13 by Hollis-Jefferson. Cal-Irvine was 9 of 13 at the line.

T.J. McConnell scored 12 points and Brandon Ashley 11 for the Wildcats. Freshman Stanley Johnson had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Luke Nelson and Travis Souza scored 11 apiece for UC-Irvine.

Mamadou Ndiaye, the Anteaters' 7-foot-6 center, scored nine and was a formidable obstacle in the middle of the team's zone defense. Hollis-Jefferson had an emphatic dunk over the Anteaters' big man.

Arizona outscored UC-Irvine 30-8 in the last 10 1/2 minutes.

Mike Best scored on a layup and the Anteaters led 46-41 with 10:30 to play.

Then came the run the big, loud McKale Center crowd had anticipated all night.

The first seven points of the run came from the foul line, four by Hollis-Jefferson, who also missed a pair. His two free throws with 7:53 to play gave Arizona a 47-46 lead, its first since Ndiaye's inside basket put UC-Irvine up 26-24 with 2:40 left in the first half.

The Anteaters finished the first half with a 7-2 spurt to lead 29-26 at the break.

UC-Irvine, with four starters back from last season's Big West Conference regular-season championship team, used a 10-0 run to go up 19-14 on Alex Young's 3-pointer with 6:33 to play.

T.J. McConnell sank a 3-pointer to ignite a 10-2 Arizona spurt and the Wildcats were back on top, 24-22, after Hollis-Jefferson's bank shot from inside the lane with 4:05 left in the half.

But that was Arizona's last field goal of the half.

TIP-INS

UC-Irvine: Lost its 10th straight to a ranked team. ... Arizona is the highest-ranked opponent the Anteaters have played since 1991 when they lost at No. 1 UNLV 114-86. ... UC-Irvine has met Arizona once, losing in Tucson 93-70 in December, 1998. ... The Anteaters' 23 wins last season matched the second-most wins in school history.

Arizona: Played its third game in six days. ... Wildcats have won 30 consecutive nonconference games. ... Arizona has won 24 straight at home. ... The Wildcats last played in the Maui Invitational in 2009, Sean Miller's first season at Arizona.