By Morris Phillips

Of all the emphatic dunks enjoyed by  Arizona on Wednesday night–and there were a few–it may have been the one that missed that best summed up the evening for both the Wildcats and the easily-handled Cal Bears.

With just under eight minutes remaining and Arizona cruising to a 87-59 win, Nick Johnson got a point blank run at the rim and opted for the full windup.  But when the ball bounced high off the rim then away from the basket Gabriel York grabbed the ball and in one motion kicked out to point guard T.J. McConnell for a wide open three.

It went that way all night: when Arizona wasn’t converting their good looks they took advantage of the Bears on the offensive glass for second chance baskets.

“They were solid and a little angry having lost to us at our place,” Cal coach Mike Montgomery said.  “They’re making shots now and at our place they weren’t making all their shots.  They’re playing really well right now.”

“You might make the argument that the game against Colorado and tonight’s game were the best back-to-back games we’ve played all season,”:Arizona coach Sean Miller said.

 Johnson best personified the turnaround with 22 points, seven rebounds and five assists.  In the first meeting Johnson’s sore wrist and off game led to 1 for 14 shooting–a career-worst.  This time he orchestrated the Arizona attack beautifully and got the best of Justin Cobbs in their head-to-head matchup.

The Wildcats used a big first half run to go up 16 and led 44-29 at the half.  Three minutes into the second half Arizona led by 20.  When Cal sliced the led to nine at 53-44 the Wildcats surged again.

Kaleb Tarczewski added 16 points for Arizona and McConnell and Aaron Gordon had 13 each.

Cobbs was Cal’s only double-figure scorer with 12 but he managed just two assists.

The Bears have dropped six of nine and will attempt to turn things around on Saturday afternoon at Arizona State.