Arizona Wildcats use monster first half to cruise past Washington State: By the Numbers

If the Arizona Wildcats are still upset about last weekend’s loss at Arizona State, they should find a way to bottle up that anger for another six weeks.

After their blowout victory at the Washington Huskies on Friday, a dominating first-half performance propelled the No. 7 Wildcats to a convincing 86-59 romp at the Washington State Cougars on Sunday.

The Wildcat football team put up 59 points in a victory at Washington State in October. Its basketball team nearly matched that output in the first half Sunday, taking a 53-19 advantage into the break. UA out-rebounded the Cougars 30-9 in the first 20 minutes, including 8-1 on the offensive glass.

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson scored 12 points on a perfect 6-for-6 shooting from the floor in the first half. The sophomore forward had 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting for the game, and he added a game-high 10 rebounds.

Four players scored in double figures for Arizona (22-3, 10-2 Pac-12), which beat the Cougars (11-14, 5-8) for the eighth straight time.

Here’s a closer look at how the Wildcats capped off a sweep of the Washington schools, by the numbers:

2

Hollis-Jefferson atoned for his slip-up (literally) in Friday’s win at Washington by scoring two of his 17 points via a vicious one-handed slam over Washington State’s Josh Hawkinson midway through the second half.

Something to keep an eye on, however: Hollis-Jefferson left the game and walked gingerly to the locker room with under three minutes to play.

8

UA senior point guard T.J. McConnell nearly nothced a second consecutive double-double. He followed up his 10-point, 10-assist performance Friday against the Huskies with 14 points and eight assists Sunday. McConnell added five rebounds and four steals.

8:29

The Wildcats built their lead by holding the Cougars without a field goal for an eight-minute, 29-second stretch in the first half as part of a 22-2 run.

17

After scoring just 16 combined points in his previous three games, Kaleb Tarczewski turned it up a notch in Pullman. The junior center scored 17 points on 6-of-6 shooting from the field and 5-of-7 shooting from the free-throw line. Zeus played some extra minutes in the absence of freshman center Dusan Ristic, who did not make the trip to Washington due to a bacterial infection in his throat.

43

With their 53-point first half, the Wildcats scored at least 43 points in three consecutive halves — all on the road.

44

Arizona limited Washington State to just 25 points in their last meeting on Jan. 2, 2014 in Tucson, meaning UA scored more points in the first 20 minutes of Sunday’s game (53) than the Cougars scored in 60 consecutive minutes against the Wildcats (44).