No. 4 Arizona Basketball overcomes ASU surge, sweeps the Devils

TEMPE, AZ – Playing in their third game in the past five days, No. 4 Arizona Basketball (20-2, 10-1) overcame the opening surge by ASU (7-14, 3-8), winning 91-79. 

Arizona Basketball and six players finish in double-figures and weathered an opening surge by ASU in which the Devils outscored the Wildcats 14-1, coming away with the regular-season sweep.

Azuolas Tubelis would lead all scorers in this one, ending his night by scoring 19 points, while grabbing 11 rebounds as he recorded his second-straight double-double.

Benn Mathurin would add with 18 points and five rebounds, and Dalen Terry would have another productive day, finishing with 12 points, six rebounds, and four steals.

Meanwhile, the bench got involved as Pelle Larsson and Oumar Ballo combined for 27 points and 12 rebounds to help the Wildcats come away with the 12-point win.

However, ASU was energized and ready from the start. Emboldened, following their triple-overtime win over UCLA just days prior, the Devils would start the game 3-3 on three-pointers, building a 16-3 lead with 15:49 to play in the first half.

Luckily, the Wildcats would finally respond, using a 16-3 run of their own to tie the game at 19 just over four minutes later.

However, a largely sloppy first half by the Wildcats would keep things competitive. Despite falling behind 14-1 early on, Arizona would outscore ASU 39-22 to end the half, leading the Devils 40-36 at the break.

Unfortunately for ASU, a dominant second half by Arizona Basketball would put this one out of reach, as the Wildcats cruised to the 91-79 victory.

Turning things up offensively and defensively in the second half, Arizona would open the half with a 19-4 run after the first 4:56 to play, leading ASU 59-40.

The Devils would climb back into this one a little bit, cutting Arizona’s lead down to 13; however, the Wildcats were just too deep and too talented here, eventually pushing their lead to 26 at 84-58, their largest of the game.

ASU would close out the last five-plus minutes of the game by outscoring Arizona 19-7, making this one appear a bit closer than it actually was. However, as we all saw, it was all Arizona in the second half, as the Wildcats came away with the 91-79 victory.

Where does Arizona Basketball go from here?

With the win, Arizona improves to 20-2 (10-1) on the season and will have a few days off before returning to action on Thursday when they take on a talented opponent in Washington State (14-7, 7-3) in Pullman.

Here are highlights from the Wildcats’ 12-point win over ASU!