SAN JOSE, Calif. - Defense wins championships.

Both Arizona and Oklahoma knew coming into the game that the most effective team on defense would advance to the round of eight.

In the first half, it was Arizona that came out and played lights-out defense, but the Wildcats could not keep up the defensive intensity and gave up 55 second-half points to the Sooners.

It was clear from the start that Arizona was not going to let Oklahoma beat them inside.

The Wildcats came out and double-teamed in the post, limiting Oklahoma big men Aaron McGhee and Abi Ere to limited looks.

By using multiple defenders on the inside, Arizona was left vulnerable from the perimeter.

The Wildcats were willing to let the Sooners shoot from outside and almost dared them to beat the Wildcats solely on outside shooting.

UA head coach Lute Olson's game plan only had one problem - OU guard Hollis Price.

As Ere and McGhee were limited to just eight first-half shots between them, Price found his outside stroke, hitting six 3-pointers in the first half.

Arizona stuck to its game plan and did not allow Oklahoma an inch inside. Had it not been for Price's outside shooting, Arizona would have been comfortably ahead at the half.

Price scored 22 of Oklahoma's 33 first-half points on 7-of-12 shooting. The rest of the team was 5-of-21 from the floor.

McGhee and Ere - who average 15 and 14 points, respectively - mustered just two in the opening half.

Defensively for Oklahoma, the Sooners tried to force Arizona into turnovers by pressuring the guards.

The trapping did not work, nor did it last long as the Wildcats were able to pass the ball around and get scoring from seven different players.

But no Wildcats were able to establish a rhythm on offense.

Freshman Will Bynum led the Wildcats with seven first-half points.

Besides Price, only four other Sooners scored in the first half, and only one had more than two points.

As expected, the Sooners made adjustments.

"It started with the fact that they made it difficult for us to get any open looks," Olson said. "What looked like a good shot ended up being very challenged."

With more scoring distribution for Oklahoma in the second half, Arizona had more to worry about than Price.

The tougher and more physical Sooners soon started to make their breaks by being more aggressive on the boards. McGhee and Ere worked harder for their points and proved to be too tough for Arizona inside.

McGhee scored 19 of his 21 points in the second half. On several occasions, he ripped the ball out of the hands of Arizona players.

"They did a great job of adjusting," Olson said. "We were out-quicked in the second half."