TUCSON, Ariz. (AP)—Nic Wise had 15 points, seven assists and five steals and Jamelle Horne scored eight of his 13 in the final 5 1/2 minutes to help Arizona pull away from Rice 66-49 on Thursday night.
Solomon Hill and Derrick Williams scored 12 and 10, respectively, for Arizona, which is now 2-0 under new coach Sean Miller.
Arsalan Kazemi, the first Iranian to play major college basketball in the United States, had 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Owls (3-1). Tamir Jackson added 11 points for Rice.
The Owls, down 24-6 in the first half, narrowed the lead to six in the second, using a 9-1 run to make it 44-38 on Connor Frizzelle’s driving floater in the lane with 13:20 to play.
The teams traded baskets, then Arizona scored the next six. Hill made a baseline layup, Wise sank a 16-footer and Williams had a dunk. The Wildcats led 52-40 with 10 minutes to play and Rice never got it to single digits again.
The Wildcats scored the first nine points of the game against the Owls, who made just two of their first 20 shots.
Three-pointers by Wise and Kyle Fogg put Arizona up 24-6 with six minutes left in the half.
Rice, though, responded with a 14-4 run to cut it to 28-20 1:55 before the break on Kazemi’s put-back after an Arizona turnover. The Wildcats scored the last five of the half. Brendon Lavender made two free throws with 1:37 to go, then Fogg’s 3-pointer with 8 seconds left gave Arizona a 33-20 lead at the break.
Kazemi scored 11 of Rice’s 20 first-half points on 4 of 4 shooting. The rest of the Owls made 2 of 27 shots. The Owls shot 29 percent to Arizona’s 45 percent for the game.
Next up for the Wildcats is a trip to Hawaii and a game against Wisconsin Monday in the first round of the Maui Invitational. Rice is home against Furman on Tuesday, then hosts No. 3 Texas on Nov. 29.
