Arizona men’s basketball vs. Southern final score: Third-ranked Wildcats shake off sluggish start to roll past Tigers

Dealing with sports hangovers isn’t exactly a walk in the park, and Arizona knows this first-hand. Just three days after pulling off one of the most significant nonconference victories in their program history, they ended up being behind Southern, a relatively uncelebrated team, by five points in the first half.

But once they got out of their funk, the Wildcats stepped up their game and went on to overwhelm the Tigers with a final score of 97-59, bringing home a victory on Monday night at McKale Center.

Keshad Johnson shone with a career-best 17 points, 15 of which came in the first half, while Motiejus Krivas and KJ Lewis both contributed 12 points. In total, seven Wildcats scored in double figures in their first three games, with Caleb Love narrowly missing the mark with just nine points, though he also added six rebounds, five assists, and two steals.

Despite a rocky start, Arizona managed to shoot 53.4% and make 28 of 36 free throws, outrebounding Southern 54-24.

On the downside, the Wildcats turned the ball over 23 times, almost as much as they did in their first two games, giving away 19 points to the Tigers (1-2). It took a bit of time for Arizona to recover from their 78-73 win against then-No. 2 Duke on Friday, evident in the seven turnovers in the first five minutes.

However, a 19-4 run secured a 35-23 halftime lead for Arizona after initially being behind by five. They wrapped it up with a 60-18 lead over the Tigers in the next 20 minutes, following a 17-12 start in the first half.

While the Wildcats were shaky initially with 14 turnovers and missing 10 of their first 13 shots, they bounced back by attempting 21 free throws and making 15 of them.

Arizona’s momentum continued with a 9-0 run in the first half, culminating in a dunk by Johnson from a pass by Filip Borovicanin and a 3-pointer by Kylan Boswell.

As for Southern, they failed to make a single shot in the last 15 attempts of the first half, ending with just a 19.4% shooting percentage in that period.

Next on the agenda, Arizona will be facing Belmont this Friday night at McKale.

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