Oumar Ballo had 18 points and 13 rebounds, and No. 11 Arizona turned up the defensive intensity after halftime as the Wildcats defeated Stanford 82-71 on Sunday night in Tucson, Ariz.
Caleb Love had 18 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Wildcats (17-5, 8-3 Pac-12), who outscored the Cardinal 48-26 after halftime. Arizona held Stanford (11-10, 6-5) to 28.1 percent shooting (9 of 32) from the floor in the second half.
Junior center Maxime Raynaud scored a career-high 29 points for Stanford, which was without its leading scorer Kanaan Carlyle (upper-body injury), who is averaging 14.3 points per game. Raynaud, who entered the game having made 8 of 28 3-pointers, was 5 of 6 from beyond the arc.
Stanford’s Michael Jones scored 21 and made 5 of 11 3-point attempts.
Arizona’s comeback was fueled by the interior presence of Ballo, who had a double-double just in the second half with 10 points and 10 boards. Pelle Larsson contributed 17 points in the win.
Stanford led 45-34 at halftime on the strength of nine made 3-pointers, but Arizona closed the gap quickly with an 8-0 run to start the second half. Soon after, the Wildcats used a 13-0 burst to take a 59-52 lead at the 9:39 mark.