EUGENE, Ore. — T.J. McConnell scored a season-high 21 points and Stanley Johnson added 14 to lead No. 7 Arizona over Oregon 80-62 on Thursday night.
The Wildcats (14-1, 2-0 Pac-12) also got 14 points from Rondae Hollis-Jefferson in his second start of the season and 11 from Kaleb Tarczewski as they beat the Ducks (11-4, 1-1) for the second time in their last five meetings.
Brandon Ashley had 10 points as all five Arizona starters reached double figures.
Joseph Young led Oregon with 12 points and Jordan Bell had 11.
The Wildcats had a 40-27 edge in rebounds, led by Tarczewski with 10 and Hollis-Jefferson with nine. Arizona shot 27 of 56 from the field (48.2 percent).
The Wildcats hit their comfort zone with an 11-3 run to start the second half that pushed their lead back to double digits at 50-37. That grew to 55-41 minutes later when the pesky McConnell found Gabe York on the left wing for a wide-open 3-pointer.
The Ducks cut it to 58-48 on Bell’s layup and Young’s dunk off a steal midway through the second half, but after Elgin Cook fouled out with 8:31 left, the air mostly was gone from Oregon’s balloon.
Young’s 3 got the Ducks within nine with 5:32 to play, but they got no closer as the Wildcats paraded to the foul line, hitting 24 of 30 for the game.
The Ducks didn’t have a player in double figures until Bell, whose three blocks tied him with Tony Woods for Oregon’s single-season record with 51 in just 15 games, made two free throws with 6:42 to play.
Arizona hit six of its first nine shots to open a 12-2 lead, and Oregon called its first timeout less than four minutes into the game. The Ducks chipped away at the deficit but still trailed 25-17 until Casey Benson scored six straight points to pull them within two with 6:07 left in the half.
The Wildcats then dashed off an 8-0 run, the last two points coming on Parker Jackson-Cartwright’s two free throws after he drew a third foul on Cook, to make it 33-23.
But the Ducks climbed back again with a 7-0 spurt on three-point plays by Jalil Abdul-Bassit and Dillon Brooks to pull within three before the Wildcats settled for a 39-34 lead at the break.
TIP-INS
Arizona: How young are the Wildcats? The player closest to cracking Arizona’s top 75 career scorers is Tarczewski, who has 721 points in 87 games. He still needs 68 to catch Loren Woods for 75th place.
Oregon: Halfway through his senior season, Young is closing in on becoming the 33rd Ducks player to score 1,000 points in his career. Young has 936 points in 47 games at Oregon, after scoring 916 in two seasons at Houston before transferring, to give him 1,852 for his career.
UP NEXT
Arizona plays at Oregon State on Sunday night.
Oregon hosts Arizona State on Saturday.
