Arizona routs Wright State in first round of NCAA tournament

SAN DIEGO (KOLD News 13) - There wasn’t going to be an upset this time for the Arizona Wildcats.

Top-seeded Arizona crushed No. 16 Wright State 87-70 Friday night in the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

The Wildcats (32-3) will now play either Seton Hall or TCU in the second round on Sunday. Tip-off has not been announced, but it will be broadcast by truTV (Ch. 246 on DirectTV, 242 on Dish, 34 and 579 on Xfinity and 52 on Cox). Seton Hall and TCU were set to play in the second game at the regional in San Diego later Friday.

Bennedict Mathurin, an expected lottery pick, powered Arizona with 18 points and five rebounds while Christian Koloko posted a double-double of 17 points and 13 rebounds.

Dalen Terry (16), Azuolas Tubelis (13) and Pelle Larsson (11) also scored in double digits for the Wildcats, who led 42-31 at halftime.

Arizona was near perfect in its first NCAA tournament game under first-year head coach Tommy Lloyd. They shot 55.0% from the field and from the 3-point line. The Wildcats outrebounded the Raiders 50-30 and had nine blocks.

The only spot on the scoresheet that could worry for Wildcat fans is turnovers. Arizona turned it over 19 times to only six times for Wright State.

Grant Basile scored a game-high 21 points for Wright State (22-14) while Trey Calvin added 16 points and four assists.