Midway through the first half during Saturday's game, No. 11 Arizona (9-0, 1-0 Pac-12) took a punch to the mouth when Illinois (7-3, 2-0 Big Ten) went on a 19-0 run to take a 13-point lead. The Wildcats led by Benn Mathurin and Kerr Kriisa were able to rally for a gritty 83-79 victory over the Fighting Illini.

This season, Arizona has been one of the top assists team's in the nation and was fourth in assists to turnover ratio before the Illinois game. However, this wasn't the Wildcats typical game, and the team finished with 12 assists for a season-low in that category.

The Wildcats' offense received a boost from Mathurin, who scored a season-high 30 points while going 10 for 17 from the field and scored six of those points in the game's final two minutes to help secure the victory for Arizona.

Since his rough first three games of the season, Mathurin has seemed to figure things out in this system, and since that point is averaging 21.7 points while shooting 56% from the field and has made 16 3-point shots.

After having a rough first half and only scoring two points, Kriisa took his game up a notch in the second period and scored 17 points while going 6 for 10 from the field.

Although the rhythm of the offense wasn't perfect, Arizona still was able to get out in transition thanks to its defense which created 16 Illinois turnovers and scored 25 points from those opportunities.

This led to 18 fast break points for the Wildcats to the Fighting Illini's 3 fast break points.

Even with Illinois turning the ball over at a high rate, Arizona still struggled on the defensive end as the Illini went 16 for 36, with guards Trent Fazier and Alfonso Plummer going 12 for 25 from the 3-point line.

It wasn't just the high-pressure defense that was the difference-maker for Arizona. The Wildcats dominated the paint and outscored Illinois 42 to 16 while holding Illini center Kofi Cockburn to 13 points on 5 for 15 shooting.

Arizona's starting lineup scored 75 of the team's 83 points, and as a team, the Wildcats shot 46% from the field and went 7 for 19 from the 3-point line.

With the win over Illinois, Arizona now has three quadrant-one wins with previous victories over Wichita State and Michigan.

The Wildcats will be back in action on December 15, when the team faces Northern Colorado (6-5, 2-0 Big Sky). The game will be televised on Pac-12 Networks at 7 p.m. (MST).

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