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

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 Arizonaโ€™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. Heโ€™s shot 50% or better in six of Arizonaโ€™s last nine games.

33: Christian Kolokoโ€™s combined points (21), rebounds (10) and blocks (2) in Thursdayโ€™s win. Kolokoโ€™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 Oโ€™Connell, who didnโ€™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. Itโ€™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