Wildcat fans take a deep breath!

Arizona Wildcats Basketball


Arizona Wildcat fans take a deep breath!

The top-ranked Wildcats improve to 21-0 with a heart-stopping 60-57 win at Stanford tonight over the Cardinal.

Trailing 31-30 at the end of the first half, the Wildcats fought back, relying on their defense to get the job done in the second half, as Stanford missed 12 of its last 13 shots from the field.

Still, the Wildcats needed someone to step up and make a shot down the stretch. They found their man in Nick Johnson. With 45 seconds remaining in the game, Kaleb Tarczewski snatched an offensive rebound and passed off to Johnson, who then hit a three-pointer to give Arizona a 58-55 lead.

Johnson's dagger was the sixth bucket from three-point range for Arizona tonight as the Wildcats shot just 36 percent from the field (18 of 50), but knocked down 6 of 14 from three-point land. On a night when the Wildcats were out rebounded (38-36), missed 11 of 29 free throws and received a horrible shooting night from Aaron Gordon (2 of 10 from the field and just 5 points), they found a way to win.

Wow!

Johnson finished with 16 points, while T.J. McConnell chipped in 11 and Brandon Ashley netted 10. Gordon hauled in nine rebounds, while McConnell had eight boards and four assists.

And now the Wildcats head for Berkeley and a showdown with the California Golden Bears on Saturday.

Go get 'em, Wildcats!