Final score:Β Arizona 77, Arizona State 58
Location:Β Wells Fargo Arena, TempeΒ
What went down:Β Arizona guard Kyle Fogg posted a game-high 21 points (5-10 FGs, 9-11 FTs), four rebounds and four assists while forward Derrick Williams dropped 20 points (7-10 FGs, 6-7 FTs) and grabbed six rebounds to end the Wildcats' five-game losing streak to ASU.Β
Miller's record against ASU:Β 1-0Β
Bruce Pascoe's game story:
TEMPE β That rugged nonconference schedule may have finally started to pay off Saturday for the Arizona Wildcats.
Playing their 10th game away from McKale Center, the Wildcats struggled early before rolling to a 77-58 win over ASU.
The victory broke a five-game losing streak to the Sun Devils, while improving UA's record to 10-9 overall and 4-3 in the Pac-10. The Wildcats will now get a crack at first place if they can sweep Stanford and California at home next week.
Their style wasn't pretty in the first half, when the Wildcats shot just 24 percent from the field, but they had a gritty, resilient style that UA coach Sean Miller has been looking for.
They also broke the Sun Devils' zone down with relative ease in the second half, creating many baskets in transition and shooting 75 percent after halftime.
"When you play 10 games away from home, it starts to work in your favor," Miller said. "Some of our younger guys are clearly more comfortable now playing on the road than they were."
Arizona was rattled early in the hostile Wells Fargo Arena atmosphere, but returned in the second half to show a thicker skin.
Not only did Kevin Parrom deliver a hard foul on ASU guard Ty Abbott that sent Parrom to the bench with technical and personal fouls that gave him five for the game, but forward Jamelle Horne also rebounded from an ineffective first half to score 11 in the second. He was talked to both by Miller at halftime and, on the bench during the second half, by assistant coach Book Richardson.
"I tried to tell him anything I could" to inspire him, Miller said.
Down 27-25 at halftime, the Wildcats went on a 13-0 run early in the second half and coasted after a tense period in the middle of the second half, when Parrom committed his hard foul and ASU coach Herb Sendek was assessed a technical foul.
Following several minutes of review and discussion by game officials, Parrom left with 8:35 to go after he tried to block Abbott from behind, reached over his head and pulled his forehead back.
Abbott made 1 of 2 ensuing free throws.
Three minutes later, Sendek was whistled for a technical foul when he argued with officials, and Nic Wise hit both free throws to give UA a 60-44 lead.
The Wildcats went on to take a 20-point lead, 67-47, when Horne made his third three-pointer.
"You can always say that" Parrom's foul inspired the team, Horne said. "But it definitely did help us. We don't want to hurt anybody but you can't give up easy baskets."
Parrom was not available for comment after the game.
Miller started Solomon Hill ahead of Horne in the second half. Horne went out of the game early while limping on his right foot, then returned.
Once he did get in, however, Horne warmed up. He hit a three-pointer to put UA up 34-29 with 14:25 left and later hit another to give the Wildcats a 52-39 lead with 7:40 left.
Horne finished with 11 points, while Kyle Fogg led all scorers with 21 points and Derrick Williams had 20 points and six rebounds. Wise, the only Wildcat to have beaten ASU before Saturday night, had 16 points and six assists.
Rihards Kuksiks led ASU with 15 points.
In the first half, Fogg scored eight points in the final five minutes, but the Wildcats' early shooting trouble still put them back 27-25 to ASU at halftime.
The Wildcats shot just 23.8 percent from the field and made only 2 of 11 three-pointers. ASU, however, wasn't much better at 28.6 percent, missing all four field goals it took on one first-half possession.
UA went on a 9-0 run to cut ASU's lead to 20-19 when Fogg hit two free throws with 4:18 left. Fogg later gave UA its first lead since the early minutes when he hit two free throws with 1:34 left to make it 25-24.
But Kuksiks hit 1 of 2 free throws with 1:06 left and Demetrius Walker hit two with 5.6 seconds left to give ASU the 27-25 lead entering halftime. UA had the five seconds to try a final shot but Wise drove inside and could not find a shot as time expired, passing to Fogg as the halftime buzzer sounded.
The Wildcats didn't score at the beginning of the game until Parrom knocked down a jumper with 18:00 left in the first half, but kept ASU scoreless for over three minutes. Derek Glasser scored the Sun Devils' first points with a layup at the 16:57, drawing a foul from Wise and converting the ensuing free throw.
But UA's poor shooting allowed ASU to build leads of 9-5 and 20-10 before Wise hit a pair of free throws with 7:14 left and Hill made an open three-pointer with 5:05 left to cut ASU's lead to five points.
At the media timeout with 7:14 left in the first half, UA had made just 3 of 17 shots from the field and only 1 of 9 three-pointers.
Three of UA's missed shots were air balls by Fogg, Horne and Parrom.
UA wore its red road uniforms for the second straight game, after wearing only blue for all previous road games.
Miller said Thursday the Wildcats would wear blue.
