Arizona cools off Utah in top-10 showdown
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Tucson, AZ (SportsNetwork.com) - Arizona's home winning streak remained intact and the Wildcats regained their standing as the Pac-12 front-runners with a convincing victory over another top-10 opponent on Saturday.
T.J. McConnell was nearly perfect from the floor and finished with 16 points and six assists as No. 10 Arizona bested No. 8 Utah 69-51 at McKale Center.
McConnell connected on all but two of his 10 shots and made sure the Wildcats (16-2, 4-1 Pac-12) stayed competitive early.
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Arizona's big men, namely Stanley Johnson, took over after the break.
Johnson scored all 18 of his points in the second half and pulled down nine rebounds for a frontcourt that owned a staggering 40-19 edge on the glass and a 34-14 advantage in the paint.
Brandon Ashley chipped in with 14 points and eight rebounds as the Wildcats ran their home winning streak to 32 games.
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Brandon Taylor shot 4-of-7 from behind the arc and totaled 12 points for Utah (14-3, 4-1), which won their previous seven games by an average of 23 points.
The Utes jumped out to a 10-2 lead when Delon Wright banked in a 3-pointer and Taylor hit one from roughly 10 feet behind the arc. They were shooting 5-for-7 from the field over the first seven minutes, but went 11-of-34 (32.4 percent) the rest of the way.
Conversely, the Wildcats missed six of their first seven shots before McConnell going them going with back-to-back jumpers.
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Ashley's strong post move gave Arizona its first lead with under six minutes left in the first half, and McConnell, usually a pass-first guard, capped his 12-point half with a late jumper that sent the hosts into the locker room with a 31-26 advantage.
A three-point contest turned into a rout thanks to Arizona's 17-3 flurry in the early stages of the second half. Johnson scored the first nine points in a variety of ways -- a 3-pointer, a tip-in of his own miss, a dunk and two free throws -- and two more free throws from Johnson made it a 52-35 game with under 12 minutes to play.
Jordan Loveridge made three 3-pointers over the next five minutes to pull Utah within 57-47, but Arizona answered with the next 11 points to end any chance of a comeback. Six of those points resulted from offensive rebounds, and Ashley highlighted the late surge with a emphatic two-handed dunk.
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Game Notes
Arizona had nearly as many offensive boards (17) as Utah did total rebounds ... The Wildcats managed 18 second-chance points to Utah's three ... The last time Utah was involved in a regular season matchup of top-10 teams was on Dec. 31, 1996 against Wake Forest ... These teams meet again in Utah on Feb. 28.