KEVIN KLAUS/Arizona Daily Wildcat Sophomore center Channing Frye enjoys a play with senior forward Luke Walton during Arizona's 17-point victory over Notre Dame last night in Anaheim, Calif. The Wildcats will take on the Kansas Jayhawks tomorrow at 5:05 p.m. MST with a trip to the Final Four on the line.

Hoops will take on Kansas after last night's victory

ANAHEIM, Calif. ÷ Coming off a one-point double overtime victory over No. 9 seed Gonzaga last weekend, many thought top-seeded Arizona was more lucky than good after the second-round scare.

Notre Dame was hoping a similar Arizona team would show coming into its Sweet 16 matchup with UA. What Notre Dame hoped for and what it got were two completely different things.

The top-seeded Wildcats (28-3) came out and played flawless basketball at times in a dominating 88-71 victory against No. 5 Notre Dame (24-10).

"We got beat by one heck of a basketball team," Fighting Irish head coach Mike Brey said. "I am very impressed with Arizona · it was too much for us to handle."

The win moves the Wildcats into an Elite Eight matchup with Kansas tomorrow at 5:05 p.m. MST.

With a win over KU, the Wildcats will not only advance to the Final Four, but head coach Lute Olson will have taken his 500th career victory during his tenure in Tucson.

The Fighting Irish's game plan coming into the game was to run the floor and turn the game into more of a "track meet."

That has been their style all year, but that played right into the hands of the Wildcats. With 12:22 remaining in the first half, Notre Dame point guard Chris Thomas stole the ball from Jason Gardner and it led to an Irish layup and a one-point lead. That was the turning point in the game.

"Coach O (Olson) gave me a stare," Gardner said. "I think that play got me going."

Player of the game: Luke Walton 16 points, eight assists, seven rebounds Play of the game: Salim Stoudamire and Jason Gardner hit back-to-back 3-pointers to start a 22-3 Arizona run in the first half. Stat of the game: Hassan Adams came off the bench to score 14 points in 22 minutes. Adams was held scoreless in four minutes against Gonzaga.

That was the last time Notre Dame would lead in the game. The Wildcats proceeded to go on a 22-3 run over the next six minutes to break the game wide open.

The key to UA's run, and its protection of the lead, was its defensive intensity and on-the-ball pressure.

The Wildcats forced 19 turnovers last night, which allowed them to push the ball up the court and quickly get into their offensive sets.

"The key to our run was just staying on them," senior forward Luke Walton said. "It makes teams tired. If we can keep up the defensive intensity, that's when we go on runs and limit teams to one shot."

Besides playing tenacious defense in the first half, the Wildcats had a 14:1 assist to turnover ratio.

This statistic was most apparent in the play of Thomas and Gardner at the point guard position.

Both players grew up in Indiana and played against one another in high school. Although Thomas's high school team got the best of Gardner's, it was Gardner who came out on top in last night's game.

Gardner finished with 19 points and six assists, but more importantly he was able to contain Thomas.

Thomas scored 20 points, but 10 of those points came after the game was well in hand. Thomas also had seven turnovers, compared to only two by Gardner.

"Jason is a tremendous competitor," UA head coach Lute Olson said. "There is no question, he is the leader of our team. Chris Thomas is a hard guy to guard and Jason did a good job on him."

Arizona's stellar team defense was mirrored on the offensive end of the court.

Coming into the game, all five of the Wildcats' starters averaged double figures in points, and last night the Wildcats posted another impressive offensive onslaught coming from all positions.

Walton led the way for the Wildcats with 16 points, eight assists and seven rebounds.

Fellow senior Jason Gardner led the Wildcats with 19 points, and Rick Anderson just missed a double-double with nine points and 12 rebounds.

The solid performance from the senior trio was to be expected.

What Notre Dame wasn't counting on was for freshman Hassan Adams to come off the bench and contribute 14 points on 7-of-9 from the field.

Adams played sparingly in UA's first two tournament games, but when Olson called his name, the freshman made the most of his opportunities.

"It doesn't really matter how much I play," Adams said. "I am always ready to contribute."

Gardner said Adam's play off the bench was key to the success that UA had against the Fighting Irish.

"Hassan did a great job defensively," Gardner said. "He had a big dunk that got us going. He was an inspiration off of the bench."

Game Notes

Arizona has beaten Notre Dame in four consecutive meetings, which have all been on neutral courts · The Wildcats have not lost to the fighting Irish since 1934. Arizona is 21-1 when leading at halftime · This win is Olson's 42nd career tournament win, tying him with Bob Knight and Denny Crum for fourth on the all-time list.