No. 3 Arizona avoids upset bid from in-state rival ASU
Jan 29, 2022, 2:44 PM | Updated: 2:52 pm
The No. 3 Arizona Wildcats found themselves back in the win column Saturday, holding on to beat in-state rival Arizona State 67-56 from the McKale Center in Tucson.
The Sun Devils made a game of things with a strong first half, which saw the rivals tied at 32 apiece at the break. ASU led by as many as eight points in the first half, but the Wildcats were able to overcome a cold first half offensively.
Arizona was once again led by guard Bennedict Mathurin, who had an off-day shooting but scored 14 points, including a windmill dunk that may find itself on SportsCenter Saturday night.
Benn Mathurin was feeling himself after this dunk pic.twitter.com/tnAbF7hr4V
— BetterThanVegas (@btvbets) January 29, 2022
Christian Koloko (12 points) and Oumar Ballo (14) joined Mathurin as the other Wildcats in double figures.
After a poor shooting performance in Tuesday night’s loss to UCLA, Arizona still had their troubles from the field on Saturday. The Wildcats shot 32% for the game and struggled mightily from beyond the arc, going 3-for-23 on 3’s.
ASU was led by guard D.J. Horne who scored 17 points on a stellar shooting performance, knocking down five 3’s.
The Sun Devils were productive from beyond the arc, shooting 36%, but struggled elsewhere only going 32% from the field and 53% from the charity stripe.
It was a sloppy game for Bobby Hurley’s squad, as ASU finished the game with 17 turnovers.
The Wildcats are back in action on Thursday, looking to avenge their lone loss in Pac-12 play against No. 7 UCLA.
As for ASU, the Sun Devils host No. 15 USC on Thursday.
