The Arizona Wildcats had no trouble defeating their instate and conference rival Arizona State Sun Devils on New Years Eve in the McKale Center by a score of 68-51. The Wildcats improve their record to 10-4 and are 1-0 in the Pac-12 and the Sun Devils fall to 4-9 and are 0-1 in the conference.
The Wildcats were led by senior forward Jesse Perry, who scored 16 points, and freshman guard Nick Johnson, who scored 14. Solomon Hill also added and Jordin Mays and Kyle Fogg combined for 25 points. Kevin Perrom and Josiah Turner came off the bench and combined for 13 points.
The Sun Devils were led by junior center Ruslan Pateev, who scored 12 points. He was the only Sun Devil to score double digit points on the day. Carrick Felix, Keala King, Trent Lockett and Kyle Cain rounded out the rest of the starting lineup and combined for 25 points. Chanse Creekmur, Jordan Bachynski, Chris Colvin, Dave Whitmore and Jonathan Gilling came off the bench to add 16 points.
This is the third win in a row for the Wildcats, who take on the UCLA Bruins on the road on Thursday, and it's the fourth loss in a row for the Sun Devils, who face USC on the road also on Thursday.