The Arizona Wildcats have a 40-36 lead over the Oakland University Golden Grizzlies at the half.

Unlike many games this season, the Wildcats offense started quickly in their game against the Grizzlies opening a 10-2 lead early.

Oakland fought to get back in the game on a 7-0 run that closed the Wildcats’ lead to just one with less than 15 minutes remaining in the half.

The rest of the half was much closer with the Grizzlies and Wildcats trading leads throughout the period.

The Wildcats began to pull away when Solomon Hill hit back-to-back baskets to widen the gap. Kyle Fogg hit a three-pointer to increase the lead to 27-19 at the eight-minute mark.

Unlike last game against Gonzaga, Hill’s presence was noticeable early on. The junior cleaned up two missed three-point shots by Jordin Mayes for two easy put backs. Hill was Arizona’s leading scorer at the half with 11 points.

The biggest change so far this game was the pace of the Wildcats’ offense, which sparked quick breakouts plays off Oakland mistakes. Arizona scored 11 points off of turnovers, but the Grizzlies had 12 second-chance points.

The Wildcats ended the half shooting 47 percent from the floor, compared to Oakland’s 39 percent. Arizona also found its groove from beyond the arc, shooting 45 percent.

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At the 10:33 mark of the first half, senior Kyle Fogg hit two free throws to become the 46th player to score at least 1,000 career points