The Arizona men’s basketball team defeated Washington State 72-60. This win moves the Wildcats to 21-2 on the season and 11-1 in Pac-12 play. 

The opening 10 minutes of this game were not good for either team. Arizona looked out of sync on offense with six turnovers, but Washington State was not able to take advantage of these turnovers on the other end as they only shot 25% from the field. 

The Arizona offense began to find their flow late in the half as they were able to stretch their lead out to 13 points. The Wildcats’ biggest flaw this season has been their free throw shooting as they came in shooting 72.4% (No. 5 in the Pac-12) and in the first half they shot a perfect five for five. 

Arizona’s defense has continued to stay aggressive all season and that continued in the first half as Washington State shot 26% from the field and 0-12 from 3-point range. They were also able to force six total turnovers with three steals and three blocked shots in the first half.

The second half started much like the first did for the Wildcats as they looked unorganized on the offensive end, which resulted in early turnovers, but the Cougars were able to hit their shots this time as they were able to cut Arizona’s 13-point first-half lead to 6. 

Eventually, the Wildcats did find their flow again in the second half, as they were able to push their lead out to as large as 22 points. Bennedict Mathurin led the way offensively for Arizona with 20 points on 7-12 shooting. Azuolas Tubelis with 15 and Oumar Ballo added 10 points off the bench. They joined Mathurin as the only Wildcats who tallied double-digit points in the game.

The Wildcats will be back in action on Saturday, Feb. 12 against the University of Washington in Seattle at 4 p.m. MST. 

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