No. 1 Arizona pulls away late to top Cincinnati 77-51 and remain 1 of 3 unbeatens in country

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Motiejus Krivas scored 17 points, Ivan Kharchenkov added 14 and the top-ranked Arizona Wildcats pulled away late to beat Cincinnati 77-51 on Wednesday night and remain one of three unbeaten teams in the country.

Arizona (19-0, 6-0 Big 12) entered as the unanimous No. 1 team in the latest AP poll — a first in school history.

Cincinnati (10-9, 2-4) tested Arizona with an early 14-1 run to take a 20-16 lead midway through a rugged first half, but Arizona responded for a 33-27 halftime advantage. The 7-foot-2 Krivas thrived in the physical environment with 8 points, five rebounds and a block before the break.

Krivas continued his good work in the paint during the second half, scoring a handful of tough, close-range buckets to keep the Wildcats ahead.

Arizona used a 20-4 run over a nearly 10-minute stretch of the second to methodically build a 58-44 lead. The Wildcats had a 48-14 advantage on points in the paint.

Cincinnati was coming off a 79-70 win over No. 2 Iowa State on Saturday. They were trying to become the first team to knock off the No. 2 and No. 1 teams in consecutive games during the regular season since Kansas did it during the 1989-90 season, beating LSU and UNLV.

The Bearcats were led Baba Miller’s 14 points. Cincinnati couldn’t overcome a tough shooting night, finishing just 17 of 56 (30.1%) from the floor.

Cincinnati guard Kerr Kriisa returned to the floor in a reserve role after missing four games with an upper body injury. The well-traveled Kriisa — now in his sixth college season — played his first three seasons for Arizona from 2020 to 2023.

The Wildcats recognized Kriisa’s return with a pregame video.

Up next

Cincinnati: At Arizona State on Saturday.

Arizona: Host West Virginia on Saturday.

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