BERKELEY, Calif. β Dylan Smith took advantage of a spot start by hitting all four 3-pointers he took, while Deandre Ayton had his 13th double-double to lead the Wildcats to a 79-58 win over Cal on Wednesday at Haas Pavilion.
Smith was starting in place of forward Rawle Alkins, who was held out because of soreness in the right foot he broke in the preseason. Smith had 14 points on 5-for-5 overall shooting, while the Wildcats also had more help than usual off the bench.
Keanu Pinder had five rebounds in 10 minute in reserve while Emmanuel Akot had three points, a rebound and a steal in 10 minutes. Ira Lee also had four rebounds but fouled out after just eight minutes played.
With 20 points and 11 rebounds, meanwhile, Ayton broke the UA freshman double-double record of 12 and remains on pace to break Al Flemingβs season record of 22 set in 1974-75. Allonzo Trier had 15 points for UA and Parker Jackson-Cartwright had 14.
The Wildcats shot 62.0 percent overall and made 11 of 19 3-pointers while holding Cal to 35.3 percent shooting. Those numbers easily compensated for UA's 21 turnovers.
Up 36-26 at halftime after hitting 7 of 10 3-pointers in the first half, Arizona picked up where it left off with a quick 3 from Dylan Smith that helped the Wildcats build a 15-point lead before Cal gradually cut it to single digits, 53-44 with 12:39 left after Marcus Lee dunked for the Bears.
But Arizona went on a 12-1 run to take a 65-45 lead with 7:28 left and stayed in control the rest of the game even as Ayton and Calβs Don Coleman received offsetting technical following a dunk-and-flex from Ayton that appeared to trigger some words between them.
In the first half, Arizona shot 70 percent overall while holding Cal to just 34.5 percent shooting and 1-for-9 shooting from 3-point territory. That helped UA overcome 11 turnovers in the first half.
Jackson-Cartwright led UA with nine points and two assists in the half, though he had three early turnovers, and Deandre Ayton had nine points and four rebounds.
The Wildcats committed five turnovers in the first four minutes β three from Jackson-Cartwright and two by Ayton -- but Cal took only an 8-4 lead during that period.
With the Wildcats' defense holding Cal under 40 percent shooting, it wasnβt long before they caught up.
Jackson-Cartwright hit a 3-pointer to give UA its first lead, 13-12 with 11:15 left, and the Wildcats went on to lead by as many as 14 points in the half .
Arizona will have two days off before playing at Stanford on Saturday at 2 p.m.
