Williams, Randolph pace Wildcats’ rout

TUCSON, Ariz. – Brandon Williams and Brandon Randolph scored 21 points apiece and the Arizona Wildcats tuned up for their upcoming trip to Maui with a 79-46 rout of UTEP on Wednesday night.

The freshman Williams scored 15 in the first half as Arizona took a 34-23 lead at the break. Randolph, a sophomore, scored 14 in the second half, when the Wildcats blew open a 35-point lead.

Chase Jeter, a transfer from Duke who sat out last season, added 15 points for the Wildcats (3-0).

Paul Thomas scored 14 and Efe Odigie 11 for the Miners (1-2).

Arizona committed just six turnovers to UTEP’s 22.

The Wildcats never trailed, scoring the first eight points of the game, and were up 21-11 after Ira Lee’s dunk with 10:32 left in the half.

The Miners followed with a 7-2 spurt to cut it to 23-18 on Kobe Magee’s 3pointer with 4:13 to play before the break. But Williams responded with a 3pointer and the lead was 26-18. Paul Thomas scored to UTEP to make it 2620 but Williams sank another 3 and it was 29-20 3:18 before halftime.

The rest of the half was sloppy, with both teams missing free throws, but Arizona’s 34-23 lead at the break was its largest of the half.

The Wildcats scored three points to UTEP’s one the final 2:39 of the half.

UTEP scored the first five points of the second half, cutting the Arizona advantage to 34-28 when Thomas sank a 3. But the Wildcats responded with seven unanswered points to go up 41-28 on Williams’ 15-footer with 17:43.

A 9-0 run ballooned the lead to 22 points. Capping the spurt, Jeter blocked Evan Gilyard’s shot, resulting in Randolph’s layup that put the Wildcats ahead 57-35 with 9:38 to play. It just got more one-sided from there.

Big picture

UTEP is in a transition season under first-year coach Rodney Terry, who moved to El Paso from Fresno State, with four transfers sitting out this season. So the Miners could be just treading water in Conference USA until next year.

Coach Sean Miller has a host of new players to integrate into his system at Arizona in what is predicted to be a relatively down year from the accustomed nationally ranked status of the Wildcats. Arizona will find out a lot about itself when it faces the extremely difficult competition at next week’s Maui Invitational.

Up next

UTEP hosts Eastern New Mexico on Monday night.

Arizona heads to the islands to face Iowa State in the Maui Invitational.