Arizona men’s basketball vs. South final score: The third-seeded Wildcats shake off a slow start to get past the Tigers

The hangover from exercise isn’t the worst, but it’s not fun. Just ask Arizona, which three days after one of the biggest non-conference wins in program history, found itself trailing the unheralded South by five midway through the first half.

But once the cobwebs were cleared, the Wildcats kicked it to another level, defeating the Tigers 97-59 on Monday night at McCallie Center.

Keshad Johnson He scored 17 points, including 15 in the first half, a career high Motigos Crevas And KJ Lewis The Wildcats had 12. Three more Wildcats scored in double figures, making 19 players in the first three games, with Caleb love The only player who did not reach 10 points. He had nine points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals.

UA shot 53.4 percent for the game, despite a terrible start, and was 28 of 36 from the line while outscoring South 54-24.

Arizona also turned it over 23 times, one fewer than it had in the first two games, contributing to 19 points for the Tigers (1-2). Seven of those giveaways were in the first five minutes, a good indicator that UA was still dreaming of a 78-73 victory at that point. 2 duke on Friday.

A 19-4 run gave Arizona a 35-23 halftime lead after trailing by as many as five early. The Wildcats scored the last seven points of the first half and the first 10 of the second, then another 16-2 run.

They outscored South 60-18 over the next 20 minutes after trailing 17-12 with 11:13 remaining in the first half.

The Wildcats turned the ball over 14 times in the first half and missed 10 of their first 13 shots, but made up for it by attempting 21 free throws, making 15.

A 9-0 run midway through the first half put UA ahead for good, a run that included a dunk by Johnson off an alley-oop pass from Philipp Borovikanen He was crowned with a Kellan Boswell 3-Indicator.

South missed its last 15 shots in the first half, shooting 19.4 percent in the first 20 minutes.

Arizona is back at it Friday night in McCallie against Belmont.

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