USC
Arizona *
USC Falls At No. 1 Arizona, 86-59
February 15, 2003 | Men's Basketball
Feb 15, 2003
By BOB BAUM
AP Sports Writer
TUCSON, Ariz. - Channing Frye scored a career-high 25 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and blocked three shots and No. 1-ranked Arizona used a 32-4 second-half outburst to rout USC 86-59 on Saturday.
The Wildcats (20-2, 12-1 Pac-10) reached 20 victories for the 16th year in a row, the longest active streak in the country, and swept all four games from USC and UCLA for the first time since 1992-93.
Frye, a 6-foot-10 sophomore with a soft shooting touch, was 11-for-13 from the field.
Jason Gardner scored 16 for Arizona, including 4-of-9 from 3-point range and became just the second Pac-10 player to reach 300 3-pointers in his college career.
Salim Stoudamire, who took just one shot in the first half, scored all 10 of his points in the decisive run, including a pair of 3-pointers.
Luke Walton, also scoreless up to that point and plagued by foul trouble, sank a pair of 3's during the surge.
Such streaks are becoming the trademark of coach Lute Olson's team. They had a 21-0 run in their 106-70 win over UCLA on Thursday night.
USC, meanwhile, went 1-for-20 from the field while Arizona pulled away. The Trojans, who shot 23 percent from the field in the second half (9-for-39) and 31 percent for the game, lost their games at Arizona State and Arizona by a combined 57 points.
The Wildcats outscored USC 36-11 over the final 14? minutes.
Desmon Farmer scored 11 for USC. Gregg Guenther had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
For the first 28 minutes, the Trojans (10-11, 5-7) stayed with Arizona, thanks largely to their pestering defense and sloppy ball-handling by the Wildcats, who committed a season-worst 22 turnovers, 15 in the first half.
Down 45-35 at the break, USC outscored Arizona 14-5 to start the second half and cut the lead to 50-48 on Derrick Craven's 18-footer with 14:44 to play.
Gardner's four 3s gave him 301 for his four-year college career, the first Arizona player to pass 300. The only other Pac-10 player to reach that mark was Stevin "Headache" Smith, who had 323 for Arizona State in 1991-94. Smith served jail time in a point-shaving scandal at ASU.
Frye had 18 points on 8-for-9 shooting, grabbed six rebounds and blocked two shots in the first half.
USC cut it to 10 at the halftime buzzer when the Trojans knocked the ball away from Gardner and Jerry Dupree sank one from half-court.
The Trojans, blown out 108-78 at Arizona State on Thursday night, came out strong and were up 29-28 on Nick Curtis' stuff with 5:56 to play in the half.
But Frye's short left hook triggered a 13-0 surge that put Arizona ahead 41-30 on two free throws by Chris Rodgers with 1:38 to go in the half. Gardner scored on a breakaway layup and a 3-pointer in the run.
