No. 3 Arizona Basketball overcomes sluggish start, beats OSU

TUCSON, AZ – Despite a sluggish start, No. 3 Arizona Basketball (23-2, 13-1), used a strong second half, en route to beating Oregon State (3-21, 1-13), 83-69. 

With a marquee game against Oregon looming on Saturday evening, No. 3 Arizona Basketball got out to yet another sluggish start, overcoming a lackadaisical effort against Oregon State, en route to a convincing, 83-69.

Sophomore wing Benn Mathurin was electric once again, finishing his day with 20 points on 6-14 shooting, meanwhile, Azuolas Tubelis ended his day with 22 points and seven rebounds as the Wildcats secured another double-digit win in conference play.

However, it wasn’t all pretty. Perhaps overlooking the Beavers a bit with a Saturday showdown looming, Arizona did stumble out of the gates, scoring just 17 points after the first, nine-plus minutes of basketball action.

Luckily, the offense would finally come alive in this one, finishing with 44 points in the first half; however, Oregon State wouldn’t go quietly in this one, keeping pace with the Wildcats.

Arizona would finish the first half shooting 16-31 (51.6 percent) from the field, including 25.0 percent from three.

A strong second half by Arizona Basketball would make this one a convincing win as the Wildcats beat the Beavers.

Just as we saw against Washington last weekend, Arizona is far too deep and too talented of a team to stay quiet for long.

Arizona would get things rolling early in the second half, opening up the half on a 19-7 run to take a 63-49 lead with 14:29 to play.

Shortly after, the Wildcats would respond with another big run, outscoring the Beavers 12-4 to extend their lead to 22, their largest of the game.

Arizona would close out the game by holding Washington to just 69 points in total, cruising to the 14-point win, and building an even bigger lead in the Pac-12 Conference standings.

Where does Arizona Basketball go from here?

With the win, the Wildcats improve to 23-2 (13-1) on the year and sit comfortably atop the Pac-12 standings. Arizona will return to action on Saturday when they welcome the Oregon Ducks to town. Arizona will of course host ESPN’s College Gameday on Saturday morning.

Here are highlights following the Wildcats’ big win over the Beavers!