- Arizona defeated Utah 97-78 in Big 12 opener on Saturday.
- Five Arizona players scored double figures; Awaka, Bradley each had 18 points.
- Utah's Terrence Brown led with 26 points; Utah shot 44% from the field.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's Don McHenry hit a jumper off a screen to open the scoring, giving the Runnin' Utes an early 2-point lead on the game.
But No. 1 Arizona used a 12-0 run to quickly put distance on the home Utes, who were outmatched in every way Saturday afternoon against the undefeated Wildcats.
"To start the game, I think we were a little hesitant," Utah head coach Alex Jensen said. "I think that might have been the biggest game I think a lot of our guys have played in. But I give our guys credit, I think we never gave up, we kept fighting."
Arizona built up a 17-point lead midway through the first half before Utah went on a small run of its own to get the deficit down to 8 with 7:41 left to play in the half. But it was Arizona the rest of the way en route to a 97-78 win in Salt Lake City to open up Big 12 play.
At one point, Arizona (14-0, 1-0 Big 12) led by as much as 24 points behind an 18-point day from both Tobe Awaka and Jaden Bradley, with Awaka adding 12 rebounds in the the double-double performance.
Though Arizona got a convincing win, Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd said his squad wasn't perfect in their conference opener, either. He said there were moment where the team "relaxed a bit" and there were some occasional "let downs."
"I think it's really important in these games to not get caught up in all the ancillary stuff," Lloyd said. 'It's 0-0, possession by possession, and I'm trying to hold these guys to a certain standard."
In all, Arizona had five players score in double figures in a balanced effort for the top team in the country. Freshman Koa Peat finished with 17 points on 8-of-14 shooting, while Brayden Burries added 17 points and 11 rebounds in the team's second double-double.
Arizona outrebounded Utah 43-30 and had 18 points off 12 Utah turnovers, while outscoring Utah 52-42 in the post. But Utah managed 78 points against the No. 1 team in the country, giving Jensen some optimism his team is improving while still recognizing the long journey his team has to go to be better in conference play.
"I told our guys we can beat a lot of teams by scoring 78 points a game, but you're not going to beat a lot of teams by giving up 58 in the first half," Jensen said, while describing the game as a "valuable lesson."
"Yeah, we lost, but I think it was a good effort and not every team in the Big 12 is Arizona," added star guard Terrence Brown. "So just approaching it every day to get better, and a certain look in practice to get better."
Utah's (8-6, 0-1 Big 12) Brown led the team in scoring with 26 points and four rebounds, and both Keanu Dawes and Don McHenry supplied an additional 15 points apiece in the loss.
As a team, Utah shot 44% from the field, while missing only one free throw on the night (92%) in the best shooting performance from the line all season.
