No. 3 Arizona Basketball throttles Cal to finish Bay Area sweep

BERKELEY, CA – Playing without Azuolas Tubelis, No. 3 Arizona Basketball (16-1, 6-0) had no problem as they throttled Cal (9-10, 2-6) by a 96-71 final. 

Oumar Ballo had another stellar game, finishing his day with 14 points and three rebounds off the bench while Christian Koloko had a huge game following his tough night at Stanford. Koloko led all scorers with 19 points while grabbing 13 rebounds to help deliver the 25-point win for Arizona Basketball.

Coming in, the Wildcats were without their star forward Azuolas Tubelis, who left Thursday’s game early due to an ankle injury, and luckily, his availability was not a necessity for Arizona as the Wildcats throttled the Golden Bears.

Unfortunately, Tubelis’ status for Tuesday against No. 9 UCLA is still unknown at this point.

On Sunday, in front of a sparse crowd in Berkeley, Arizona came ready to play as they jumped out to a 17-3 lead after the first six minutes of play.

Led behind stellar shooting and a great defensive effort, the Wildcats would control the first half, ending the half by outscoring the Bears 31-24 to take a 48-27 lead at the break.

Using their deep bench and superior athleticism, Arizona Basketball would route Cal to remain perfect in Pac-12 play.

Leading by 21 to start the second half, Cal would play a more competitive half of basketball in the second half, but unfortunately for them, Wildcats were just too good in this one, using their talent and depth to outpace the Bears.

Arizona would start the half by outscoring Cal 19-13, growing their lead to 27 after the first seven minutes of play.

The Wildcats would lead by as many as 29 in this one after Kerr Kriisa drilled a three with 9:03 to play to make it 78-49 in favor of the Cats.

Cal would end the game by outscoring Arizona 22-18, but it was not nearly enough as the Wildcats came away with the 96-71 win.

Where does Arizona Basketball go from here?

With the win, the Wildcats improve to 16-1 (6-0) on the season and will have a day off before returning to action on Tuesday evening for a premier matchup against the No. 9 UCLA Bruins (13-2, 5-1).

Listen to Arizona following their beatdown of Cal.