In their last time out, the Arizona Wildcats saw their six game winning streak come to an abrupt end, thanks to their instate rivals. The Wildcats went on the road to take on the Arizona State Sun Devils, and came away with an 81 – 78 loss. The loss was not how they wanted to kick off a three-game road swing.
Their counterparts on Friday night, the Washington Huskies, entered the game on a losing streak of their own. The Huskies’ losing streak was much more significant than the one-game streak that Arizona found themselves on, as Washington entered Friday riding a five-game losing streak in Pac-12 play. After an 11 – 1 non-conference slate, the Huskies found themselves in a downward tailspin out of control, and were hoping a good performance on Friday would lead to a win.
Arizona came out with a vengeance as they looked to bounce back after their loss to Arizona State, and Washington was no match for the Wildcats.
Arizona took a 19-point lead into the break, and never looked back, as they cruised to the 86 – 62 win on Friday night inside the Alaska Airlines Arena.
The game started out well for the Huskies, as they held Arizona to just three points over the first four and a half minutes of action. Unfortunately for Washington, they were only able to score five points themselves, allowing Arizona to quickly take over the fame.
Gabe York made a three-pointer at the 15:10 mark to give the Wildcats their first lead of the game, then back-to-back layups from T.J. McConnell stretched the lead to three.
After McConnell’s second layup, the score was 12 – 9 for Arizona. That layup ignited a lengthy run for Arizona, as they took complete control of the game. Arizona went on a 21 – 4 run over the next several minutes to stretch the lead to 34 – 13 with 6:48 to play in the opening half.
Over the remainder of the first half, Washington was able to trim the deficit to 17 points, but that’s as close as they would get. McConnell would record another layup to restore a 19-point lead for the Wildcats as the first half came to a close.
After the first 20 minutes, Arizona held a commanding 43 – 24 lead over the Huskies.
In the opening three minutes of the second half, Washington came out fighting. Three pointers from both Nigel Williams-Goss and Donaven Dorsey trimmed the deficit to 15. The 15-point deficit was short-lived, as Stanley Johnson and Gabe York quickly restored the 19-point cushion.
As the second half wore on, the Huskies would continue to fight and chip away at Arizona’s lead. Andrew Andrews made back-to-back three pointers for Washington, with the second coming at the 8:21 mark, to bring Washington to within 11 points.
That was as close as Washington would get for the rest of the game.
Arizona began to flex their muscle as they pulled away from the Huskies for good. Johnson and Elliott Pitts helped Arizona extend their lead back up to 19 points, and two dunks from Rondae Hollis-Jefferson pushed the lead to 25 points with four minutes to play in the game.
The outcome of the game was never in question. Credit Washington for putting up a fight to start the second half, but they were simply overmatched by the high-powered offense of the Wildcats.
Arizona scored a convincing 86 – 62 win over Washington on Friday night.
A balanced scoring attack helped propel the Wildcats to victory, as five different players scored in double-figures in the win. Freshman sensation Stanley Johnson poured in a game-high 20 points and 8 rebounds to carry Arizona to victory. T.J. McConnell recorded a double-double of 10 points and 10 assists in a winning effort.
Gabe York came off the bench and added 13 points and 6 rebounds for the Wildcats.
On the Huskies’ side, Andrew Andrews filled the stat sheet with 18 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 assists while playing all 40 minutes in the loss.
Nigel Williams-Goss was held in check the entire game. He recorded 7 points on 1-of-10 shooting from the floor.
The Arizona Wildcats (21 – 3, 9 – 2) are widely considered a national title contender, and they showed exactly why on Friday night. They close out their three-game road trip with a date with Washington State on Sunday night.
The Washington Huskies (14 – 10, 3 – 9) saw their losing streak reach six games on Friday night, and are left searching for answers. They will look to put an end to their troubles on Sunday night when they welcome the Arizona State Sun Devils to town.