Arizona's Bennedict Mathurin (0) looks for an open teammate past Oregon State's Zach Reichle (11) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Corvallis, Ore., Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. Arizona won 98-64. (AP Photo/Amanda Loman)

 Amanda Loman

CORVALLIS, Ore. – In the first game with his revamped starting lineup, Arizona coach Sean Miller probably couldn’t have asked for more.

In the Wildcats’ 98-64 destruction of Oregon State at Gill Coliseum on Thursday, freshman wing Bennedict Mathurin responded to his first start with a season-high 31 points, demoted center Jordan Brown determinedly poured in a career-high 25 points off the bench and Arizona’s other two newly inserted starters also had productive evenings.

Starting in place of injured guard Jemarl Baker, senior guard Terrell Brown had five assists to no turnovers in his first start of the season while center Christian Koloko, who returned to the starting lineup in place of Jordan Brown, had 10 rebounds to lead the Wildcats’ dominance on the glass.

Arizona's Terrell Brown Jr. (31) drives in to the basket past Oregon State's Rodrigue Andela (34) and Tariq Silver (55) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Corvallis, Ore., Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Amanda Loman)

Arizona outrebounded Oregon State 42-28 overall while holding the Beavers to 41.0% shooting. The Wildcats scored the first 15 points of the game – the first seven of which came from Mathurin – and were up by 35 just four minutes into the second half.

Miller said he didn't know if the lineup changes worked out better than he thought, transitioning into how much the Wildcats will miss Baker, but indicated something was right.

β€œOur charge is to find a way to get ready, to give some of the players we have a bigger role, a different opportunity,” Miller said. β€œI thought we practiced very well and for the most part tonight our defense was intact, though new laid down a little bit in the second half, but I thought for some of the game that was the best that we can do in terms of effort, cohesiveness and togetherness.”

For the Beavers, meanwhile, cohesiveness was almost bound to be an issue. While UA improved to 10-3 overall and 4-3 in the Pac-12, OSU dropped to 5-5 and 1-3 while trying to pick its season back up after two weeks of COVID-19 issues including a pause for a week that allowed the Beavers to resume practice only on Tuesday.

Arizona's Bennedict Mathurin (0) dunks during the first half of the team's NCAA college basketball game against Oregon State in Corvallis, Ore., Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Amanda Loman)

It showed immediately. OSU didn’t score for over the first eight minutes of the game, missing its first 10 shots, while Mathurin immediately provided the sort of offensive spark Miller had been hoping for at the start of each half.Β 

Given a start for the first time because of the offense he could bring, Mathurin scored seven points in just three minutes and 30 seconds in the first half while UA went on to build a 15-0 lead, and then scored seven in the first 4:03 of the second half, giving the Wildcats a significant boost each time.

Mathurin’s postgame comments were difficult to hear on the Zoom conference but he said he wanted to make an impact both offensively and defensively in order to help the team. Brown’s answer was clear and, well, pretty obvious.

Arizona freshman Bennedict Mathurin erupted for a career-high 31 points, while Jordan Brown notched a career-best 25 points, in the Wildcats' 98-64 win over Oregon State in Corvallis.

β€œHe was great,” Brown said. β€œHe was out there making his shots. He got hot and we kept finding him.”

Brown did more than his part in the reconstructed lineup off the bench. He led the second group in both halves, scoring 15 points at halftime with perfect field goal (5-5) and free-throw (3-3) shooting and adding another 10 points in the second half.

β€œIt’s not really too big a deal starting or coming off the bench,” Brown said. β€œI’m out there doing what I love.”

Arizona's Jordan Brown (21) takes a shot off of a rebound over Oregon State's Maurice Calloo (1) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Corvallis, Ore., Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. Arizona won 98-64. (AP Photo/Amanda Loman)

Totaling 20 points on 7-for-9 shooting, Mathurin capped his early second half spree with a stunning sequence: After Ethan Thompson picked off a UA pass, OSU guard Zach Reichle drove down for a layup – but Mathurin lept out of nowhere from behind to swat the shot away.

Then, point guard James Akinjo picked up the rebound and found Mathurin at the other end of the court, open on the left wing, where Mathurin sank a 3-point shot to give UA a 61-26 lead with 15:57 left in the game.

Miller said Mathurin's furious race to block Reichle's shot was "the play of the game for me."

"Aren't too many guys who could block that," Miller said. "But the fact that he gave that type of effort and got the block, those are the plays that we need to make."

The Wildcats didn’t expand their lead from there, with OSU improving to 46.4% shooting in the second half, but they hardly needed to. Instead, Miller put freshman wing Tibet Gorener in what was only his fifth game, at the 13:55 mark, and Gorener hit 1 of 3 3-pointers he took.

Miller said earlier this week that Gorener might have to help in a pinch on the wing without Jemarl Baker, who suffered a broken wrist bone on Thursday.

Arizona freshman Bennedict Mathurin erupted for a career-high 31 points, while Jordan Brown notched a career-best 25 points, in the Wildcats' 98-64 win over Oregon State in Corvallis on Thursday.

UA said Baker underwent successful surgery to repair the wrist earlier on Thursday, but his absence for probably the rest of the season means the Wildcats have only four other players for their three perimeter spots: Akinjo, Terrell Brown, Mathurin and Dalen Terry – until Kerr Kriisa becomes eligible on Feb. 6.

With three minutes left, Miller also played Tautvilas Tubelis, the little-used twin brother of starting center Azuolas Tubelis, along with walkon Grant Weitman.

In the first half, the Wildcats shot 54.3% overall while keeping OSU to 35.7% and clobbering the Beavers on the glass with a 23-12 edge in rebounding. UA also scored nine points off eight OSU turnovers.

At the beginning of the game, UA’s offense initially struggled. The Wildcats missed four shots on its first two possessions against the Beaver defense before Mathurin picked them up. He first drove to the left and reached the basket for a layup, then hit a corner 3 and made a layup to singlehandedly give the Wildcats a 7-0 lead after three minutes and 30 seconds had passed.

The Wildcats went on to take a 15-0 lead with 12:02 left in the first half before the Beavers finally scored at the 11:40 mark when Jerod Lucas hit a stepback jumper. Oregon State missed its first 10 field goals and turned the ball over four times in the first eight minutes.

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Contact sports reporter Bruce Pascoe at 573-4146 or bpascoe@tucson.com. On Twitter @brucepascoe