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Leading up to Tuesday's game, an argument could be made that the Arizona Wildcats were one of the nation's elite teams when it came to scoring the ball. On Tuesday night, the Southern Miss Golden Eagles gave the 'Cats a serious scare. In the end, Arizona's talent won out as they went on to win their sixth game of the season by a score of 63-55.
Nick Johnson was the reason Southern Miss was unable to pull the huge road upset. The sophomore guard went off for 23 points, and stuffed the stat sheet with three rebounds, four assists and four steals. Johnson had nearly half of UA's points in the first half. Kevin Parrom also had a big night off the bench, chipping in 14 points and eight rebounds
Perhaps the scariest statistic from Arizona's win was 27 turnovers. The undersized Golden Eagles gave the Wildcats trouble all night with a couple of zones, and they were still unable to consistently score points even during their big runs in the second half.
It wasn't a pretty win, but a game this team needed. It was the first time Arizona had been truly challenged this season, and it came a couple of days before their toughest stretch of schedule this year.
Next up is a road trip to Clemson on Saturday.