eleventh-ranked Arizona defeated USC 81-66 from McKale Center in Tucson on Thursday night thanks to a change in the lineup and the Wildcats offense knocking down 12 3-point shots.

Arizona (16-3, 5-3 Pac-12) had won its previous three matchups against USC with its last loss against the Trojans dating back to January during the 2020-21 season.

For the first time all season since Courtney Ramey return to the lineup, Tommy Lloyd mixed things up inserting forward Cedric Henderson Jr. in and moving Pelle Larsson to the bench.

“Great effort by our guys,” head coach Lloyd postgame. “...We got a great challenge there ahead of us Saturday and you know, we’re locked in.”

The change worked as the Wildcats got out to a 9-2 led forcing USC to call a timeout early in the game. Arizona never looked back, leading the game for 38 minutes and never trailing.

The energy that Henderson brought to the floor was clear from the jump with him scoring a bucket and grabbing two boards before the Trojans even called their timeout.

Earlier in the week, Henderson talked about playing loose, free and not overthinking the game. Well, it seemed like he was able to do that by not only bringing the energy in the lineup, but impacted the game with his own personal 6-0 run to extend the Wildcats' lead.

Henderson finished the night scoring 11 points on 4 of 6 shooting while snagging seven rebounds. He had a (+/-) of 10 showing his impact both on the offensive end and on defense.

“I just think he brought a lot of energy and just made plays early in the game and kind of helped the whole team,” Ramey said about Henderson's performance. “I think he did a good job of rebounding and kind of got himself going. And he made some big buckets in a second half with those back-to-back threes, our offense was kind of stale.”

In coloration to Henderson starting, Larsson moved to the bench looking to find his offensive rhythm again. The move proved to be a good one as he scored 15 points while going 4 of 7 from the field.

When watching Larsson, you could tell that there was more confidence in his game and that he was making quicker decisions with the ball.

Although it wasn't the best offensive night for forward Azuolas Tubelis with just 15 points scored on 6 of 12 shooting, Tubelis was able to make his mark on the boards collecting a career-high 17 rebounds and the most by an Arizona player since 2019 when Zeke Nnaji had 17 against Gonzaga.

The performance by Tubelis marks his seventh double-double of the season. He has been one rebound shy of a possible four other double-double performances.

As a team, the Wildcats were to win 30 to 24 in the paint with Tubelis and Oumar Ballo combining for 27 points. Plus, Arizona won 43 to 36 on the glass which helped it score 16 second-chance points.

“Our rebounding numbers are good, but I don’t know if we’re a good rebounding team,” said Lloyd during his postgame interview. “But I just think our team has more potential there.”

The Wildcats will look for the weekend sweep as No. 5 UCLA rolls in to town leading Arizona by three games in the Pac-12 standings. The game will air on ABC with tip off set for noon (MST).

> DISCUSS the article with other Arizona fans Inside McKale

> WATCH the latest videos from GOAZCATS.com and subscribe to our YouTube channel

> FOLLOW us on Twitter (@goazcatscom, @MattRMoreno, @THutch1995)

> FOLLOW us on Instagram (@goazcats)

> LIKE us on Facebook

> SUBSCRIBE for all the latest Arizona Wildcats team and recruiting news (subscribe now)