Wildcats defeat defending champs

TUCSON—It might have been a cold and rainy winter night in Tucson last evening, but inside the McKale Center, it felt like March.

Jordan Hill submitted yet another outstanding outing, leading all scorers with 23 points, along with 11 rebounds and two blocks as the Arizona Wildcats (8-3) thumped the defending national champion Kansas Jayhawks (8-3) 84-67 at the Fiesta Bowl Classic.

“This win is a great measuring mark for our team,” interim head coach Russ Pennell said. “Games like this certainly help our postseason resume.”

Hill abused highly touted sophomore center Cole Aldrich. The 6-foot-10 junior blew past Aldrich for the game’s first hoop, and continued his dominance with an array of up-and-under moves, power drop-steps and midrange jump shots. Aran Smith at NBADraft.net recently moved Hill to No. 5 on his 2009 mock draft, and Hill didn’t do anything last night to hurt that standing.

However, last night’s game was far from being simply “the Jordan Hill show.”

In a surprise move, Pennell inserted Zane Johnson into the starting lineup, with Jamelle Horne — who had started the previous 10 UA games — coming off the bench as the Wildcats’ sixth man.

The benching provided a much-needed energy boost, after the squad‘s lackluster outing at UNLV on Saturday.

“Coach told me I wasn’t playing hard enough and obviously, I responded in a great way,” Horne said.

Horne responded with the best game as a Wildcat, posting a career highs in points (19) and rebounds (13) — eight of them on the offensive end.

Horne’s pogo-stick legs seemed to have added bounce to them tonight, allowing the 14,156 in attendance to see why the UA coaching staff said this 6-foot-7 sophomore reminded them of former Wildcat great Andre Iguodala.

When he entered the game at the 16:41 mark, it was easy to see that Horne was a little more fired up for this game. He wore his emotions on his sleeve and seemed determined to prove himself.

“Hopefully, Jamelle can use this game as a building block for the rest of his season,” Pennell said. “This was a fantastic effort.”

Horne wasn’t the only player to set career marks.

Freshman Kyle Fogg played an inspired game, scoring 14 points, including a clutch lay-up during Arizona’s second-half run. Perhaps with the memory of his ugly missed slam that kick-started UNLV’s run on Saturday, Fogg took off on a fast break at the 12:32 mark, executed a textbook jump stop and laid the ball in while absorbing the contact.

Nic Wise won the battle of the marquee point guards, out-dueling Kansas’ Sherron Collins with 16 points, eight assists and only one turnover.

Collins matched Wise with his 16 — with most of those coming in the second half as his Jayhawk teammates struggled to keep up — but went 6-17 from the floor in the process.

Despite a season-worst game from junior star Chase Budinger (five points on 1-9 shooting), he submitted the game’s signature play. With 11:05 remaining and the McKale Center crowd ready for something special to happen, Wise pushed the ball down the right side the of the floor and rifled a no-look alley-oop. Budinger caught the ball with his right hand as it was still rising and in one motion threw it down with authority, leading to the loudest noise Wildcat fans have made thus far this season.

“Kansas focused on shutting down Chase, which allowed the rest of us to have a good game,” Horne said. “Chase didn’t push it or force anything, which just goes to show his maturity.”

Pennell echoed Horne’s sentiments.

“That was the best 1-for-9 I’ve ever seen,” Pennell said. “He let the game come to him and did so many great things on the floor. After the game, Chase was so excited for the win and I was so proud of his effort.”

Arizona’s second-half dominance was keyed by its amped-up defensive intensity. After the Jayhawks hit 6-13 from 3-point range in the first 20 minutes, the Wildcats held them to a 36-percent showing in the second half.

The second-half performance provided a stark contrast to the early going, when Kansas jumped out to a 12-4 lead.

Even though these Jayhawks don’t bare much resemblance to last year’s title winners (Mario Chalmers, Darrell Arthur and Brandon Rush are playing in the NBA and key seniors Darnell Jackson, Sasha Kaun and Russell Robinson graduated), the Wildcats still approached this game with a level of intensity that matched the win over Gonzaga.

“We’ve been excited to play them from the start of the season,” Fogg said.

During this brutal stretch of Arizona’s schedule (San Diego State, Gonzaga, at UNLV, Kansas), Pennell said he was very pleased to come away with a 3-1 mark.

After the Wildcats take a couple days off to celebrate the holiday, they will be back in action on Monday to host Weber State at 6:30 p.m.

nprevenas@gvnews.com | 547-9747