TUCSON, Ariz. — Not long after Arizona knocked off Florida for its biggest win of the season, coach Sean Miller told his team not to get too high, to keep their focus. He told them the same thing the next day during the film session.
Seems the message got through loud and clear.
Showing no signs of a letdown after beating the Gators, No. 4 Arizona raced out to a big lead and never let up in an 89-64 rout over Oral Roberts Tuesday night.
“If you want to be labeled as a great team or a team that has a chance to win a national championship, you have to get over games like the Florida game," Arizona forward Solomon Hill said. “You need to have focus and we were able to do that."
Arizona (9-0) pulled off the improbable against then-No. 5 Florida on Saturday, overcoming a six-point deficit in the final 56 seconds for a victory that still had the campus buzzing on Monday.
Arizona had no trouble staying in the present, racing out to a 17-point first-half lead. Mark Lyons led Arizona with 17 points and seven assists. Grant Jerrett added 15 points and fellow freshman Brandon Ashley scored 14.
Also on Tuesday:
No. 7 Ohio State 65
Winthrop 55
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Deshaun Thomas scored 21 points — missing nine straight shots at one point and making five in a row at another — to lead Ohio State past Winthrop. It was the last tuneup for the Buckeyes (9-1) before taking on No. 9 Kansas.
No. 9 Kansas 87
Richmond 59
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Jeff Withey had 17 points and 13 rebounds, Ben McLemore added 14 points and Kansas used another big first-half run to put away Richmond. The Jayhawks (9-1) used an 18-0 first-half run to bury the Spiders.
No. 18 San Diego State 76
Point Loma Nazarene 49
SAN DIEGO — Xavier Thames scored 17 points and Chase Tapley added 15 for the Aztecs’ ninth straight victory since losing the season opener to No. 3 Syracuse.
No. 20 Michigan State 64 Bowling Green 53
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — Gary Harris and Denzel Valentine scored 12 points apiece to lead Michigan State (10-2) to victory.
No. 25 N.C. State 88
Stanford 79
RALEIGH, N.C. — Lorenzo Brown scored 18 of his season-high 24 points after halftime to help North Carolina State (8-2) pull away and beat Stanford. Dwight Powell continued his recent strong play for the Cardinal (7-4), scoring 23 points, but Stanford gave up its highest point total of the season.
Utah 62
SMU 53
SALT LAKE CITY — Justin Seymour scored 11 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer, to lift Utah (7-3) past SMU.
UCLA 89
Long Beach State 70
LOS ANGELES — Jordan Adams scored 24 points, Shabazz Muhammad added 21, and UCLA (8-3) posted its fourth consecutive victory.
California 68
UC Santa Barbara 59
BERKELEY, Calif. — Freshman Tyrone Wallace had 10 points and 10 rebounds and California (7-3) held off a late run by UC Santa Barbara.
