KEVIN KLAUS/Arizona Daily Wildcat

SALT LAKE CITY- For 10 minutes Thursday, it seemed that Vermont could hold their own against the nations best team.

That didn't last long though, as the Arizona men's basketball team took its game to a level it hasn't seen lately, cruising to an 80-51 victory over the 16th seeded Catamounts.

"In the tournament, every game is a one game season," UA head coach Lute Olson said. "They showed that they are fighters and you have to credit their coaching staff on how hard they competed."

Arizona's victory will put them in a second round game against Gonzaga, a 74-69 winner against Cincinnati.

After a nearly two day delay in Denver, Vermont head coach Tom Brennan said that while it was tough battling the harsh weather conditions, that was nothing compared to having to face the Wildcats.

"Who knew that was going to be the calm before the storm?" Brennan said.

UVM kept the game close for the first nine minutes due to Arizona turnovers and UA's inability to capitalize on shots in the paint.

With the score 15-13 and Vermont on a 6-0 run the Wildcats turned on another gear and the Catamounts were never able to adjust.

Vermont came out fast early, keeping up with the more athletic Wildcat players for the first part of the game. But the Catamounts expended so much energy at the start that it seemed as if they had nothing left in their tanks.

"We definitely didn't have the legs in the second half," UVM's Grant Anderson said.

The Wildcats ended the first half on a 24-9 run to blow the game wide open.

"It was big for us," senior forward Luke Walton said. "We wanted to come in and take care of business. We put a run together and that gave us a real boost going into halftime."

With the Wildcats holding a commanding 17 point halftime lead, the Catamounts came out of the locker room and tried to put together a second half run to make it a ball game, but they were unable to do so.

Vermont was unable to match Arizona's defensive intensity and quickness on both ends of the floor.

"They showed why they are the No. 1 team in the nation," Grant Anderson said. "They play great defense and they pass better then any team I have played against. It was fun for us to get to play against the best team."

The Catamounts tried to shut down UA's perimeter shooters, finishing with mixed results.

Arizona senior point guard Jason Gardner was held to four points, but Vermont was unable to contain Arizona sophomore Salim Stoudamire

Stoudamire finished with a game high 18 points, including 4-of-8 from behind the 3-point line.

"Salim made a huge difference for us early," Olson said. "He is the kind of shooter that when he is open he is as good of a shooter as anyone in the country."

Stoudamire gave Arizona an advantage from beyond the arc, but the real difference in the game was on the boards.

The Wildcats dominated the glass with a 47-34 advantage, usually giving Vermont only one shot on each offensive possession.

KEVIN KLAUS/Arizona Daily Wildcat

UA sophomore center Channing Frye led the way on the boards as he finished with a double-double with 12 points, 12 rebounds and four block shots.

Senior Rick Anderson was one rebound short of a double-double, posting 13 points and nine rebounds.

Olson said that the great thing about the UA program is that when one-player struggles, such as Gardner did today, another player steps up his play.

That statement held true against Vermont with four players scoring in double figures.

"The strength of our program is our balance," Olson said. "If someone has a bad game, someone else steps up. We had four guys in double figures plus Hassan (Adams) and Andre (Iguodala) helped a lot off of the bench."