San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
WILDCATS KEEP HUSKIES ON A LEASH
That looked a little more how No. 6 Arizona wants to play with the combo of Azuolas Tubelis and Oumar Ballo dominating on the interior and Kerr Kriisa knocking down shots from the perimeter.
Tubelis had 25 points and 10 rebounds, Ballo added 21 points and 12 rebounds, and Arizona used a big secondhalf run to pull away for a 9572 win at Washington on Saturday.
The Wildcats (19-3, 8-3 Pac-12) won their fourth straight and picked up their first road sweep in conference play this season. Arizona also won for the eighth time in its last nine trips to Seattle, each of the past three victories by 20 points or more.
“We haven’t had many games like this this year, so it felt good to come out and do it,” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said. “But Washington as a team, I have a ton of respect for. I was expecting this game to go down to the last four minutes, but fortunately, we kind of made a little run and threw some haymakers
Arizona 95, Washington 72
at them and kind of staggered them a little bit.”
Tubelis topped 20 points for the first time in five games and his rebound putback while being fouled with 4:29 remaining gave the Wildcats a 78-63 lead and sent Washington fans headed for the exits.
Kriisa added 18 points, hitting six 3-pointers, and Courtney Ramey scored 14. And for at least one day, the Wildcats showed flashes of their potent offensive punch from earlier in the season.
Arizona topped 80 points in 11 of its first 13 games, but had reached that mark just twice since starting the bulk of conference play around the first of the year.
“It shows that we can win in different ways and it shows our team, I don’t know if (it’s) grittiness, but it kind of shows we can throw us some kind of game and we have to find our way how to win,” Kriisa said.
Keion Brooks Jr. led Washington with 25 points and Keyon Menifield added 21. But the Huskies (13-10, 5-7) suffered from too many scoring droughts and didn’t have an answer for Arizona’s 19-1 run in the early stages of the second half.
Oregon 68, Utah 56: Jermaine Couisnard scored 18 points and Oregon beat Utah for its 11th straight win in the series. Will Richardson added 12 points and seven assists for Oregon (13-9, 7-4 Pac-12). Couisnard and Richardson combined for 21 points on 8-of-17 shooting and had three 3s in the second half for the Ducks. Lazar Stefanovic scored 14 points for Utah (15-8, 8-4), which had its three-game win streak end. Branden Carlson, the Utes’ leading scorer, had 13 points.
Washington State 75, Arizona 58: Andrej Jakimovski scored a career-high 22 points, Justin Powell added a season-high 20 and Mouhamed Gueye had his second consecutive doubledouble to help host Washington
State Washington State (10-13, 5-7) beat Arizona State to snap a threegame skid. Arizona State (16-6, 6-5) has lost four games in a row.
Stanford 75, Cal 46: The Cardinal took revenge for an earlier loss to the visiting Bears, holding their Bay Area rivals to 20 points in the first half of the Pac-12 rout. Maxine Reynaud led Stanford (9-12, 3-7 Pac-12) with 15 points. Sam Alajiki had 13 off the bench to lead Cal (3-18, 2-8).
Oregon State 60, Colorado 52: Glenn Taylor Jr. had 14 points and 12 rebounds while Jordan Pope scored a team-high 19 for host Oregon State (9-13, 3-8 Pac-12) in the Beavers’ victory. Tristan da Silva scored a game-high 22 for Colorado (12-11, 4-8).
Utah State 70, Fresno State 53: Dan Akin led Utah State past host Fresno State with 23 points off the bench. Akin added eight rebounds and three blocks for the Aggies (17-5, 6-3 Mountain West). Isaih Moore led the Bulldogs (7-13, 3-6) in scoring, finishing with 11 points and eight rebounds.
Boise State 80, Colorado State 59: Tyson Degenhart scored 22 points as Boise State beat visiting Colorado State. Degenhart went 10 of 11 from the field for the Broncos (17-5, 7-2 MW). Chibuzo Agbo added 17 points while finishing 4 of 9 from 3-point range and 5 for 5 from the line, and he also had six rebounds and seven assists. The Rams (10-12, 2-7) were led by Isaiah Stevens, who posted 19 points, five assists and two steals.
UNLV 68, Nevada 62: The Rebels took the intrastate rivalry game over the Wolf Pack, holding off Nevada for a home victory. EJ Harkless led UNLV (14-7, 3-6 MW) with 18 points and nine rebounds. Jarod Lucas was one of three players in double figures for Nevada (16-6, 6-3).
Pacific 95, Santa Clara 89: Keylan Boone’s 27 points helped Pacific defeat host Santa Clara. Boone shot 10 for 14, including 6 for 9 from beyond the arc for the Tigers (11-12, 4-4 West Coast Conference). Brandin Podziemski led the way for the Broncos (16-7, 4-4) with 38 points and nine rebounds.