No. 3 Arizona Basketball outlasts the Devils in ‘Desert Duel’

TUCSON, AZ – Taking on rival ASU in their annual ‘Duel in the Desert’, No. 3 Arizona Basketball (17-2, 7-1) outlasted the Sun Devils 67-56.

It wasn’t the prettiest game for Arizona Basketball, but a win is still a win, so long as you finish the game with more points than the other team!

Led behind Bennedict Mathurin’s 14 points and three rebounds, as well as Oumar Ballo’s 14 points and five rebounds off the bench, the Wildcats outlasted the Devils 67-56 in their annual Desert Duel.

Hoping to shake off the rust from their Tuesday night debacle, unfortunately, Arizona’s shooting woes continued on Saturday afternoon, as the Wildcats finished their day shooting 19-59 (32.2 percent) from the field, including 3-23 (13.0 percent) from three.

Starting the game ice cold, ASU would jump out to a 15-8 lead after the first seven minutes of play, before the Wildcats would finally respond with a 12-5 run of their own to tie the game at 20-20.

Unfortunately, the Sun Devils would then proceed to go on an 8-0 run to make it 28-20 with 4:10 to play in the half.

Luckily for the Wildcats, despite their shooting woes, they would find a way to claw back into this one, outscoring ASU 12-4 to close out the half and tie the game at 32-32.

Still unable to find the bottom of the bucket with any consistency in the second half, Arizona Basketball would eventually grind out the 11-point win.

Exchanging buckets early in the second half, ASU would pull ahead 44-43 with 12:31 to play. Luckily, the Wildcats would regain the lead at 45-44, not looking back from that point on as they outscored ASU 17-5 over the next nine minutes of play to give them a 13-point lead, their largest of the game.

Kerr Kriisa would finally find the bottom of the net in the second half, hitting a three that ended his 0-16 shooting slump. Just as he kissed the ‘A logo’ in the middle of the court, symbolically, the Wildcats also kissed the Devils goodbye in this one, eventually cruising to the 67-56 win to improve to 17-2 (7-1) on the season.

Where does Arizona Basketball go from here?

Following their win over rival ASU, the Wildcats will get some much-needed rest before returning to action on Thursday evening for yet another marquee showdown against UCLA. They will then return to action on Saturday afternoon against No. 15 USC.

Listen to head coach Tommy Lloyd following Arizona’s win over ASU!