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No.1 Arizona crushes Arizona State

Jan 17, 2014 - 6:10 AM Tucson, AZ (SportsNetwork.com) - The Arizona Wildcats dominated on both ends of the floor Thursday and continued showing why they are the No. 1 ranked team in the nation.

Nick Johnson led seven Wildcats in double figures with 17 points and Arizona kept up the best start in school history with a 91-68 drubbing of in-state rival Arizona State.

Aaron Gordon supplied 16 points and Kaleb Tarczewski added 12 with eight rebounds for the Wildcats (18-0, 5-0 Pac-12), who have won 15 straight at home. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson chipped in with 11 points off the bench, while Brandon Ashley, T.J. McConnell and Gabe York all netted 11 in the rout.

"We have a group of guys that play with a lot of energy, a lot of effort and are willing to share the ball," Arizona head coach Sean Miller said.

Arizona shot 55.7 percent from the floor and held the Sun Devils to 34.0 percent shooting.

Jahii Carson struggled from the floor early but wound up going 7-of-19 en route to a game-high 20 points for Arizona State (13-5, 2-3), which went 1-2 on a tough road swing against USC, UCLA and the top-ranked Wildcats.

The Sun Devils missed 15 of their first 17 shots, and even though Arizona also came out slow, the Wildcats picked up the pace about 5 1/2 minutes in when Gordon's layup sparked an 18-3 run.

Tarczewski's dunk near the midway point gave the Wildcats a 26-8 cushion, and the hosts led by a 42-28 margin at the break.

Arizona State stayed relatively close by making 14-of-17 free throws in the first half, but its poor shooting from the field carried over to the second half as the visitors started out 1-for-8.

Arizona opened the half on a 10-2 spurt, and McConnell's bucket before the first television timeout extended the lead to 52-30.

An alley-oop slam by Gordon off an inbounds pass a little later punctuated the Wildcats' stranglehold throughout the one-sided affair.

Game Notes

Arizona is within a game of tying the longest winning streaks in program history ... Johnson became the 48th member of Arizona's 1,000-point club ... ASU fell to 1-8 all-time against No. 1 ranked teams, the lone win coming in against Oregon State on March 7, 1981 ... Arizona has won six of the last seven meetings.