PACIFIC 10 : Inside Job by Mills, Rooks Helps Arizona Defeat Cal

Seventh-ranked Arizona took advantage of its experience and strength, and the result was an 80-68 victory over California Sunday.

Cal is the Pacific 10’s youngest team with three freshmen starting and five among its primary eight-man rotation.

“The key for us was the experience and strength of our inside people,” Arizona Coach Lute Olson said. “We felt the best way to go after ‘em was to pound it inside. We did a good job of taking advantage of our advantage, which was our interior strength.”

Chris Mills and Sean Rooks each scored 23 points for Arizona (17-3, 7-2) and the two dominated inside as the Wildcats rolled to their seventh consecutive victory since back-to-back losses to UCLA and Washington.

Arizona out-rebounded the Golden Bears, 47-35, with Mills pulling down 10 and Rooks nine.

Also, the Wildcats limited Cal to 37.1% shooting, 34.4% in the second half.

“We wanted to play much more aggressive,” Rooks said. “We got killed on the boards against Stanford.”

Arizona barely beat Stanford, 72-70, Thursday night and was out-rebounded, 45-30.

Cal (8-11, 2-7) was led by Brian Hendrick, a junior who had 20 points and 14 rebounds.

“It was tough for us,” Hendrick said. “They did a really good job on the boards. They set the tone in the second half and we couldn’t keep up.”

Unable to shake Cal during the first half, Arizona opened the second half with a 17-4 run to lead by 56-41 with 12:44 remaining. Rooks ignited the spurt with a tip-in of a Mills miss and Khalid Reeves capped it with a layup to finish a fast break.

“Arizona kind of wore us down when they went to the big guys inside,” Cal Coach Lou Campanelli said. “In the second half, we didn’t seem to match their energy level, their intensity, and bang, we were in the hole.”

The Wildcats expanded their lead to 67-47 on a dunk by Mills before settling on the final 12-point margin.