Through the first ten minutes of the game, No. 9 Arizona didn't look like itself with five turnovers and Texas A&M-CC evening things up at 16 a piece. Then, the Wildcats went on a 15-3 run midway through the first half and never looked back winning 99-61 over Texas A&M-CC.

"It was good to be back home. Good to get some guys some extended run today. And you're always dealing with adversity," coach Tommy Lloyd said during his opening postgame statement. "And seeing our guys get better and better at responding to that. Whether it's something internal, or from an opponent is a lot of positives in that for me."

Lloyd would go on to say that he believes that Kriisa will be good to go for the Wildcats' game against Tennessee on Saturday.

Like most games, it was the froncourt of Arizona that led the way with forward Azuolas Tubelis recording his third double-double of the season with 20 points and 13 rebounds.

Meanwhile, center Oumar Ballo had 13 points and eight rebounds while shooting 5 of 8 from the field and went 3-for-6 from the foul line. As a team, the Wildcats scored 34 points in the paint while allowing 18 to Texas A&M-CC.

Arizona (9-1, 1-1 Pac-12) did this without point guard Kerr Kriisa, who left the game early on after going 0-for-1 from the field and turning the ball over three times in four minutes on the floor. Kriisa left the game due to a non-COVID-19 related illness that prevented him from coming back into the game.

"Kerr is fine. He hasn't been feeling well. A little bit rundown. I don't think it's anything significant," Lloyd said on Kriisa's illness. "We've been riding him pretty hard and he's got a little bit of a bug and he just didn't feel it today. That kids got tremendous heart and tremendous character. So, I don't question anything."

With Kriisa out, guard Kylan Boswell was the receptiant of the extra minutes getting 26 minutes throughout the game. During that time on the floor, Boswell scored eight points and stuffing the stat sheet with seven rebounds and eight assists.

"I thought Kylan looked really good. I think there's some easy fixables for him as he gets more comfortable being a point guard in our system," Lloyd said. "Kylan is going to be a really good player. And for him to get comfortable running the offense, connect on a few passes and make a few threes it's a huge boost for his confidence. And it's a huge boost for our team's confidence in him and we know he's a really good player, but to see him do it is really meaningful."

As a whole, the Wildcats' bench scored a season-high 51 points while shooting 59% from the field on 27 shots. Leading the way for the bench was forward Henri Veesaar, who scored 16 point on 5 of 5 from the field and snagged four rebounds. Veesaar's 16 points is a career-high for the young big man.

Defensively, the Wildcats held Texas A&M-CC 30% from the field and 9 of 36 from beyond the arc. Plus, Arizona dominated the glass 52-32 against the undersized Islanders, who were trying to create chaos by hedging screens and getting their hands in the passing lane. UA finished the game with 15 turnovers despite starting the game with six in the first five minutes.

Arizona will now host No. 6 Tennessee on Saturday. The Wildcats will be looking for payback after the Volunteers won the game last season in Knoxville 77-73 when Lloyd's team got off to a slow 16-2 start and had to play catch up the rest of the way.

"Sixteen to 2. 16 to 2," Lloyd said about last year's game against the Vols. "That's my memory."

The Wildcats will face Tennessee (9-1) on Saturday with a start time of 8:30 p.m. (MST) on ESPN2.

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