| Advertisement |
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Freshman Deandre Ayton had his 10th double-double to help No. 17 Arizona defeat No. 3 Arizona State 84-78 in McKale Center on Saturday night in the teams' Pac-12 Conference opener. Ayton finished with 23 points and 19 rebounds to give the Sun Devils their first loss of the season. Arizona State (12-1) was the last undefeated college team left -- Villanova and Texas Christian lost earlier in the day. It was ASU's best start in school history.
Advertisement
It's the first time since 1994-95 each team was ranked in the matchup.
Arizona (11-3), behind Ayton and junior guard, Allonzo Trier, was able to hold off a pesky and aggressive ASU behind Tra Holder, who scored 31 points, 19 in the second half.
Twice Arizona held 12-point leads in the second half, but Holder all but willed ASU to stay close. He hit a 3-pointer with 2:17 to make it 76-73.
Trier followed with a basket only to see Kodi Justice hit a 3-pointer after a turnover. Arizona then called a timeout with a 78-76 lead with 1:12 left.
Ayton tipped in a missed shot by Trier to give UA an 80-76 lead with 11 seconds left. But Holder was fouled driving to the basket on the next possession. He hit two free throws to make it 80-78.
Trier was fouled with 10.3 seconds left. He hit both free throws to make it 82-78. On ASU's next possession missed a 3-pointer to all but end the game.
Arizona opened the second half with a 10-4 run as ASU went 1 for 9 to start the half.
Arizona also took advantage of its large size advantage behind Ayton and Dusan Ristic as they grabbed rebounds and gave Arizona second-chance opportunities.
Ayton continued to run with a strong dunk and a free throw to make it 52-41 with just more than 15 minutes left.
ASU's Shannon Evans didn't help his team's cause when he was assessed a technical foul with 12:28. Trier hit both free throws to make it 58-48.
Ristic followed with a dunk to give Arizona its largest lead of the game -- 62-50 -- with 10:53 left.
Behind Holder's nine points, ASU went on a 11-2 to inch closer at 64-63 with 7:52 left.
Trier hit a 3-pointer to give UA some breathing room to make it 69-63 with 6:14 left. And Ayton followed with another basket to make it 71-63.
ASU's Romello White fouled out with UA leading 73-64 with 4:50 left. UA continued to get the ball to Ayton, who again gave the Wildcats a double-digit lead at 76-64.
The pace was just as fast and loose in the first half as it was in the second half.
Arizona jumped out to a 12-9 lead before Remy Martin hit a 3-pointer to tie it up with 13:18.
After the teams traded baskets throughout -- and each team hitting three 3-pointers -- ASU eventually took a 22-19 lead. On a drive to the basket, Ayton was fouled but was assessed a technical foul with 9:38 left.
Arizona retook the lead on back-to-back baskets by Rawle Alkins and Ayton with 8:28 left.
ASU used a 6-0 run to retake the lead at 30-28, eventually getting its largest lead of the half, 35-30, when Justice hit a 3-pointer in transition with 2:12 left. But Trier hit his first basket in the same fashion -- on a fast-break 3-pointer -- to tie it at 35 with 1:28 left.
Arizona capped off a 9-0 run when Ayton scored with 22 seconds left. Arizona eventually took a 39-37 lead at the half.
NOTES: Arizona State and Stanford (2000-01) have been the only Pac-12 teams to start 12-0 and have won 11 games by double digits since 1996-97. ... De'Quion Lake entered the game shooting 74.1 percent (40-of-54). He went 3 of 4 on Saturday. ... Sean Miller is 8-1 at home vs. ASU. ... Allonzo Trier's 23 points made him the 56th UA player to reach 1,000 points in a career. He's averaged 17 points in that time. He'd be the eighth UA player to do so under Miller ... Arizona is 131-13 at McKale Center under Miller.
