No. 2 Arizona Basketball stays perfect in McKale, routs Cal

TUCSON, AZ – Wrapping up the regular season, No. 2 Arizona Basketball (28-3, 18-2), delivered a tremendous send-off to McKale, routing Cal (12-19, 5-15), 89-61. 

Starting Justin Kier in place of Kerr Kriisa on senior day, the senior transfer did not disappoint, scoring 13 points on 3-5 shooting while also grabbing five rebounds and dishing three assists as Arizona Basketball dominated the visiting Golden Bears 89-61.

Overall, it was just a dominant day for the Wildcats as Arizona shot 62.5 percent from the field, including 37.5 percent from three.

However, the bigger story of the day was Oumar Ballo, who continues to dazzle and delight fans as he provides a tremendous spark off the bench.

In front of an electric crowd in McKale, the former Gonzaga transfer also had a hell of a day, scoring a game-high 16 points while shooting a perfect 7-7 from the field. Ballo would also grab five rebounds.

Despite playing a fairly competitive first half, No. 2 Arizona Basketball would dominate Cal in the second half, running away with the 28-point victory.

Arizona would start the game hot, outscoring Cal 30-12 over the first 12-plus minutes of play, and the Wildcats’ 18-point lead would be their largest lead of the first half.

Unfortunately for the Wildcats, the Golden Bears wouldn’t go quietly in this one. Trailing by nearly 20, Cal would end the half on a 19-10 run, cutting Arizona’s leads to just nine points at the half.

However, a dominant second half by Arizona would put this one away for good.

Opening the second half on a 10-4 run, the Wildcats would push their lead to as many as 15 with 16:09 to play, and luckily, the dominant play didn’t stop there as Arizona would extend their lead to 23 with 7:01 left in the game.

Cal would pull within 20 at the 6:16 mark, but fortunately for us, that is the closest that they would get from then on as Arizona closed out the game by outscoring Cal 17-9 to come away with the 89-61 victory.

Where does Arizona Basketball go from here?

With the win, Arizona closes out the regular season with a 28-3 (18-2) record and they end the year with the regular-season Pac-12 Championship and the most conference wins in Pac-12 history.

The Wildcats will return to action next week in Vegas when they take on the winner of Stanford and Arizona State in the conference tournament.

Watch the Wildcats as the team celebrates their Pac-12 Championship as well as closing out the regular season with a perfect record at home!