Arizona center Christian Koloko rises above the crowd to swat away a shot from Stanford forward James Keefe during Thursday’s second half.

 Kelly Presnell, Arizona Daily Star

The second-ranked Arizona Wildcats started slow but finished strong to beat Stanford at home 81-69.

The Wildcats outscored Stanford 44-30 in the second half to come away with their 18th straight home victory.

These key stats explain Arizona’s 27th win of the season.

3: Benn Mathurin has scored 20-plus points in three consecutive home games, pouring in a team-high 24 against the Cardinal. He knocked down 8 of 14 (57%) from the floor while also going 7 for 9 from the free throw line. He’s shot 50% or better in six of Arizona’s last nine games.

33: Christian Koloko’s combined points (21), rebounds (10) and blocks (2) in Thursday’s win. Koloko’s 21 points were his most since scoring 22 against Washington on Jan. 3. It also marked his first double-double effort since Jan. 29 and seventh of the year.

35-26: Stanford was able to gain the early advantage in the first half and at one point, held a nine-point lead over Arizona with 2:58 before halftime. Arizona closed on a 11-4 run to pull within a possession.

22%: After connecting on their first six 3s and 7 of 10 in the first half, Stanford went cold from beyond the arc in the second, going 2 for 9 (22%). Four first-half 3s came from Michael O’Connell, who didn’t score a point in the final 20 minutes.

12: Kerr Kriisa has hit a 3-pointer in 12 straight games. He had two against Stanford, one of which came during a stretch where UA hit 10 straight field goals.

605: With 21 assists against Stanford, Arizona eclipsed the 600-mark for the season.

22 for 27: The Wildcats got to the free-throw line regularly on Thursday, knocking down 22 of 27. It’s the seventh time attempting 20 or more foul shots and their sixth-highest conversion rate (81%) of the year.

17: The Wildcats (27-3, 17-2) became the seventh Pac-12 team to win 17 conference games in a year; they can become the first to reach 18 with a victory over Cal on Saturday. The first six teams to accomplish the feat played an 18-game conference schedule.

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Contact sports producer Alec White at 573-4161 or awhite1@tucson.com. On Twitter: @alecwhite_UA