No. 8 Arizona Basketball shakes off rust, outlasts Washington

TUCSON, AZ – Playing their first game in nearly two weeks, No. 8 Arizona Basketball (12-1, 2-0) shakes off the rust in their 95-79 win over Washington. 

Led behind the big performances from Benn Mathurin (27 points), Christian Koloko (22 points), and Kerr Kriisa (21 points), No. 8 Arizona Basketball overcame sloppy play and nearly a two-week break to come away with the 95-79 win.

Coming in, the Wildcats would have to shake off a bit of rust here as the team finally returned to action against Washington to resume Pac-12 play.

On a day where the defense looked apathetic and largely disinterested, luckily, it was the Wildcats’ prolific offense that stepped up to help deliver the win in this one.

Facing off against former Wildcat Terrell Brown, Jr., the Seattle native would keep the Huskies competitive in this one, scoring 19 of his teams’ 41 first-half points to keep Washington within striking distance.

Leading 49-41 at the half, No. 8 Arizona Basketball would use a late second-half surge to come away with the 16-point victory.

Arizona would open the second half on a 9-4 run as they expanded their lead to 58-45 with 16:11 to play; however, with every surge that the Wildcats had, the Huskies had a response, keeping things close through much of the second half.

Washington would eventually cut Arizona’s lead down to as little as five after Emmitt Matthews, Jr. connected on a three-pointer to make it 72-67 with 7:48 to play.

Luckily, the Wildcats would come alive late in the second half, finishing the game by outscoring the Huskies 23-12 to come away with the 16-point win.

Arizona would finish their day shooting 33-60 (55.0 percent) from the field including 12-25 (48.0 percent from three). However, the Wildcats would commit 21 turnovers, gave up 40 points in the paint, and allowed Washington to score 16 second-chance points.

What’s next for Arizona Basketball?

With the win, the Wildcats improve to 12-1 (2-0) on the year and will have a little break before they return to action against rival ASU on Saturday in Tempe. Tip-off is currently set for 2:00 P.M. with the game being televised on FS1.

Here are highlights from the Wildcats’ win over Washington!