No. 17 Arizona State (9-2) opened Pac-12 play on Sunday night with a tough loss down South at Arizona (11-1).
The Wildcats, who were riding high on a nine-game non-conference winning streak heading into the matchup, flustered the Sun Devils all night in front of a crowd of 5,006 people at the McKale Center.
Some questions surrounded Arizona’s strength of schedule and its non-conference slate, which included games against no ranked opponents, but the Wildcats were able to answer those question marks with a statement win on their home court.
Leading the way was Arizona redshirt sophomore guard Aari McDonald, who racked up 24 points on 9-17 shooting.