Wildcats slip by 3rd-ranked ASU

Arizona Wildcats Basketball


Deandre Ayton scored 23 points and hauled down 19 rebounds, while Allonzo Trier pumped in 23 points and dished out four assists at McKale Center tonight to lead the 17th-ranked Arizona Wildcats to a 84-78 win over the third-ranked Arizona State Sun Devils.

Arizona held a slim 39-37 lead at halftime and led by a dozen twice during second half, only to see its double-digit leads vanish. In the end, Arizona went to their two stars down the stretch as Ayton and Trier combined for 30 of the Wildcats' 45 points in the second half.

The Wildcats shared the ball well, dishing out 18 assists with Parker Jackson-Cartwright leading the way with six. Dusan Ristic finished with 12 points and Dylan Smith came off the bench to hit 3 of 5 from beyond the arc.

There will be a new No. 1 come Monday as Villanova, the top team in the land, lost to Butler today. The Sun Devils went into McKale tonight as the only unbeaten team in the country. No more unbeaten teams as the Wildcats take care of business at McKale to improve to 11-3 on the season and 1-0 in Pac-12 play. The Sun Devils: now 12-1 overall  and 0-1 in the Pac-12.

Way to go, Wildcats.