The Arizona men’s basketball team is all too familiar with experiencing highs and lows – and winter break served as no exception.

No. 4 Gonzaga

Dec. 14

PHOENIX – The Wildcats began winter break with a résumé-defining win over the then-No. 4 team in the nation. Arizona showed a superb game defensively over the ‘Zags, withstanding a hard-fought second half in the U.S. Airways Center. UA forward Jordan Hill scored a team-high 22 points, including two free throw shots to give Arizona a 64-62 lead with 1:17 left in the game.

Quotable: “”What is one word to describe this game? I said, ‘Composure.’ Make sure we keep our composure.”” – Nic Wise

UNLV

Dec. 20

LAS VEGAS – In the nation’s premiere city of glamorous entertainment and bright lights, the Wildcats were anything but flashy in a blowout loss to University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Poor perimeter defense crippled the Wildcats. UNLV guard Wink Adams scored a game-high 25 points while sinking a scorching 7-of-12 shots from beyond the arc.

Quotable: “”They came out, they switched everything on us. They switched on-ball screens, even just running past each other – they even switched those. And I think that really confused us in the beginning.”” – Chase Budinger

Kansas

Won 84-67, UA record: 8-3

Dec. 23

Arizona’s role players came through in a big rebound win aginast Kansas back at home in McKale Center. Jamelle Horne, the MVP of the Fiesta Bowl Classic, scored a career-high 19 points and pulled down a career-high 13 rebounds.

Quotable: “”Coach P. had told me before the game he felt I wasn’t playing hard enough, which was understandable, and obviously I responded in a great way.”” – Horne

Weber State

Dec. 29

Despite the absence of Jordan Hill, who sat out with a lower leg muscle strain, the Wildcats managed to handle Weber State in McKale Center. Wise stepped up and netted a career-high 23 points to go with five rebounds.

Quotable: “”I just tried to be more assertive. It was kind of weird. It was our first time playing without Jordan. He’s our finisher. He’s the guy that finishes off plays for us. We didn’t have him, and everybody had to step up – me and Chase included.”” – Wise

California

Jan. 2

The Wildcats opened conference play against the Pac-10’s biggest surprise thus far, California. The Bears, currently 4-0 in the Pac-10 after two weekends, used hot 3-point shooting and Patrick Christopher’s game-high 23 points.

Quotable: “”We’re not trying to be a second-half team, but we’re just not starting off the way that we’d like to. But in most of our games we haven’t been down too much going into halftime, and that gives us a lot of confidence. And then once we get into halftime, we make our adjustments.”” – Budinger

Stanford

Jan. 4

The Wildcats suffered back-to-back double-digit losses to open conference play with a disheartening road loss at Stanford. Budinger’s shooting slump hit its peak, as the captain went 12-of-50 from the field and 2-of-17 from beyond the arc over the past four games. Arizona shot a dismal 0-for-9 from 3-point land.

Quotable: “”We feel like we failed this weekend so we’re just looking forward to these (next) two home games to get us on track.”” – Wise

Oregon

Jan. 8

Budinger broke out of his shooting slump, leading all scorers with 20 points on 8-for-15 shooting in 36 minutes of play en route to Arizona’s first conference win of the season.

Quotable: “”It feels great. The last couple days we’ve been practicing real, real hard, just being real focused, working on the things that we haven’t been doing; really picking up our effort and our energy, and it showed out there tonight. It doesn’t feel good to go on the road and lose two games. It never feels good.”” – Budinger

Oregon State

Jan. 10

The Wildcats took advantage of a late ejection to secure a home sweep of the Oregon schools. Beavers coach Craig Robinson received a double technical with 2:14 remaining; at the time, his team was trailing by just 8 points after being down by as much as 18.

Quotable: “”The game’s never over. You’ve got to play through until the horn sounds. That’s what our coaches have been telling us: anyone can go on a 7-0, 8-0 run.”” – Budinger