For the third time this season, the Arizona Wildcats set a new decades-low attendance mark.
But aside from another jaw-dropping Derrick Williams dunk and a few crafty assists from his designated feeder, Kyle Fogg, the fans who weren't among the 11,762 at McKale Center didn't miss a whole lot.
Arizona beat Bethune-Cookman 78-45 in a sluggish, sometimes sloppy game that was marred by a slow pace, 38 fouls and nine first-half UA turnovers.
"Tonight was a game that was a hard game to coach in, really hard to enjoy as a fan and very difficult game to officiate," UA coach Sean Miller said.
Arizona survived in large part by becoming more patient in the second half, out-rebounding B-CU by 13 and by getting strong efforts from starters Williams, Fogg and Jamelle Horne.
The effort and tempo were so forced, so uneven that it wasn't immediately clear that the Wildcats had actually blown out the other Wildcats.
People are also reading…
"You feel you won by about six points," Miller said. "You won by 33 points."
Or it …
"... seemed like we only won by four, but we won by 30," Fogg said.
The big margin of victory, however it took to get there, might have eventually been a good sign for the Wildcats, who improved to 4-0 despite playing only low- and mid-major teams so far.
The Wildcats will next move on to Las Vegas, where they will face Santa Clara on Friday and Kansas on Saturday in the fixed-bracket Las Vegas Invitational multi-team event.
"We're playing at a high level right now," Horne said. "We'll be fine, and the games will be a lot more interesting."
Horne had a season high 13 points on 5-for-7 shooting but it was, again, Williams who stole the show with 19 points, six rebounds and a nearly 360-degree spin around dunk that lit up McKale Center and gave the UA a 22-8 lead in the first half.
"I don't want know what that was," Horne said. "You should have seen Coach Miller's face. You should have seen my face."
You should have seen Fogg's face. He was the guy who fed Williams, as he has often this season. Fogg had a team-high five assists.
The way he talks, that's the easiest way to get an assist.
"I make a point to really get him the ball," Fogg said. "If he's going, our whole team is going. Just give him the ball and let him go to work."
Uh-huh. That's what Fogg always says.
"Kyle's got a little Eddie Haskell to him," Miller said of the sneaky 'Leave it to Beaver' character. "He'll have the 'aw, shucks.' But he knows what's going on."
Miller said Fogg and Williams have an "amazing" on court chemistry, which was exactly what the Wildcats lacked for much of the game.
Especially in the first half, when Arizona coughed up the nine turnovers and made just 1 of 9 three-pointers, the Wildcats were thrown off balance by the slow pace of the Wildcats from Florida.
Arizona took an early 16-4 lead and held Bethune-Cookman to just 36.4 percent shooting for the half but never put B-CU away - or anything close to it.
Arizona even gave B-CU guard C.J. Reed an open 15-footer at the halftime buzzer, but Reed missed.
"Their game plan was to shrink the clock," Miller said. "But it makes no sense for us to play different defense (than normal) so we're going to be man-to-man centered, and it's not going to be fun to watch."
The game remained shaky into the second half, even after Fogg and Jones took advantage of good looks at the basket by making three-pointers to put the UA ahead 39-25 with 17:07 left.
But Bethune-Cookman cut UA's lead to 39-30 with 15 minutes left, and it wasn't until Williams hit a three-pointer with 7:34 left to make it 62-39 that the Cats could feel comfortable.
Then, finally, the Wildcats and Miller could look ahead, knowing at least that the four games they won easily so far have each come with different lessons learned.
"If we got one thing out of this, it's being able to play against a very patient team," Miller said. "They're patient on offense, yet they're trying to speed (your offense) up."
TODAY
• Who: Santa Clara vs. Arizona at Las Vegas Invitational
• Where: Las Vegas
• When: 8:30 p.m. Friday
• TV: Channel 58
• Radio: 1290-AM, 107.5-FM
