Field Level Media
Jan 30, 2021
James Akinjo had 20 points and eight assists with no turnovers to lead Arizona's balanced attack in a 71-50 win Saturday over visiting California in a Pac-12 game at Tucson, Ariz.
Arizona (13-4, 7-4 Pac-12) has won nine in a row against Cal, with a seven-game streak in Tucson.
Jordan Brown had 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting and Bennedict Mathurin added 10 points.
Azuolas Tubelis had 12 points and fellow interior player Christian Koloko finished with nine. Tubelis and Koloko combined for 12 rebounds.
Arizona outrebounded Cal 33-23. The Wildcats outscored the Golden Bears 34-18 in the paint. They shot 51.9 percent from the field.
California (7-12, 2-10) made 38.3 percent of its shots from the field.
Akinjo equaled the Golden Bears' assist total. California had only eight as a team with 16 turnovers.
The Golden Bears were led by Matt Bradley's 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including 5 of 6 from 3-point range. Joel Brown had 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting.
Arizona took a 37-22 halftime lead after holding California to 2-of-12 shooting in the first 13 minutes of the game. The Golden Bears also had nine turnovers by halftime.
Arizona turned those turnovers into nine points. The Wildcats had 15 points off California's turnovers in the game.
Brown controlled the paint from the start, scoring 11 points by halftime on 5-of-7 shooting.
Arizona had an 18-4 edge in points scored in the paint by halftime.
The Wildcats took a 6-0 lead and never trailed after California did not score until 14:32 remained in the first half on jumper by Bradley.
A 12-2 run by Arizona that included nine points by frontcourt players Brown, Tubelis and Koloko put the Wildcats ahead 25-9 with 6:40 left in the first half.
California could not come closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
Sean Miller, who is 298-104 in his 12th season at Arizona, improved to 18-4 against California.
--Field Level Media