After a lackluster first half, Arizona snuck by Ball State 73-63 to move to 3-0 on the season.
Arizona trailed for the majority of the game and found itself down 44-34 with 16:47 to go in the game.
Until that point, the Wildcats looked lifeless, committing turnover after turnover while Ball State got hot from beyond the arc and held all of the momentum.
Arizona hadn’t held a lead since they led 6-3 with 18:12 left in the first half and went into the locker room down 38-29. But after they got down 10 with just over 16 minutes to play, Arizona finally woke up.
Fuled by defensive intensity and a passion that’s been missing all season, the Wildcats went on a 22-11 run to take their first lead in over 30 minutes of game time as Nick Johnson hit two free throws to put Arizona up 56-55 with 6:07 remaining.
Kyle Fogg and Kevin Parrom hit big shots, Johnson applied constant ball pressure and the Wildcats showed flashes of defensive greatness.
Arizona’s stellar defense continued for the remainder of the game and the Wildcats survived Jarrod Jones’ 25 points and nine rebounds to defeat the Cardinals in McKale Center.
After committing only one first-half turnover, the Wildcats forced Ball State into eight second-half turnovers. Arizona, on the other hand, committed only three turnovers in the second half after turning the ball over 10 times in the first half.
Arizona shot only 39.5 percent from the field, but its lights-out defense, eight three-pointers and 31 made free throws proved to be enough to defeat the Mid-American Conference opponent.
Fogg stole the show for the Wildcats, leading the team with 21 points while playing with constant energy on the defensive end. Solomon Hill, who struggled through the first two games of the season, recorded his first double-double of the season as he finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
Parrom, in his first game of the season, infused the Wildcats with energy as hit a huge three-pointer and finished with six points, four rebounds and two assists.
Johnson, who finished with nine points and three rebounds, split time at point guard with Jordin Mayes, who scored two points and grabbed three rebounds.
Freshman point guard Josiah Turner, who started the Wildcats’ first game but was pulled from the lineup after being late to shootaround against Duquesne, didn’t see the floor on Sunday.
While the Wildcats weren’t anything special offensively, their defensive intensity and energy allowed them to come back from an 11-point deficit and remain undefeated on the season. Arizona heads to Madison Square Garden on Thursday where it will take on St. Johns.
