SAUL LOEB/Arizona Daily Wildcat Actor Tom Arnold competes in the three-point contest at "Midnight Madness" Friday night.

Arnold performs for largest-ever crowd at ÎMidnight Madness'

On a night that was supposed to showcase the three senior captains for the nation's No. 1 basketball team, two freshmen stole the show.

Freshmen Hassan Adams and Andre Iguodala overwhelmed a nearly filled McKale Center Friday night during "Midnight Madness" in the slam-dunk contest and the full-court scrimmage.

In his first real scrimmage as a member of the Wildcats, Iguodala threw down a tomahawk slam with his right hand just after he passed the basketball between his legs in mid-air.

During the highly anticipated slam-dunk contest ÷ by far the event that excited the crowd the most ÷ Iguodala used a one-handed reverse windmill jam and a baseline-to-baseline run to dunk the ball from the free-throw line to win the contest over Will Bynum ÷ last year's champ ÷ and Adams.

"I have never had such an athletic team. The freshmen are unbelievably athletic," head coach Lute Olson said. "There were some unbelievable plays."

During the 15-minute scrimmage ÷ in which the teams were split up to have a mix of veterans and youngsters ÷ that showcased several fast breaks that led to alley-oops.

The Wildcats crisply moved the ball up and down the court while switching between both the inside and outside game. Guards Jason Gardner and Salim Stoudamire connected regularly from three-point range while centers Isaiah Fox and Channing Frye muscled for rebounds.

The women's basketball team also scrimmaged for 10 minutes when the men were done. It was Arizona's first glimpse of highly-touted freshman center Shawntinice Polk.

Tom Arnold, of Fox's Best Damn Sports Show Period, was the master of ceremonies for the event. Olson introduced the comedian as a new walk-on.

The Wildcats performed before their biggest crowd ever in four "Midnight Madness" events, as more than 11,000 fans filled the arena.

"It was far and away our best crowd," Olson said. "(Tom Arnold) really got everyone fired up and did a great job."

Arnold and women's basketball assistant coach Denise Dove Ianello played against Garnder and Dee-Dee Wheeler in the finals of the three-point contest. Arnold missed all of his three-point shots while Ianello made four of hers. The duo still lost to the combination of point guards, 8-4.

Earlier in the day, Arnold taped a segment for his show with Gardner, Luke Walton and Rick Anderson at Gentle Ben's Brewing Co. on East University Boulevard. The players answered numerous questions on how they are going to be able to handle the pressure of being ranked No. 1. Olson also appeared on the show and was able to keep up with Arnold's humor.

One of his best one-liners to Arnold was, "Not that he's cheap, but he thinks free weights means he can take the weights home with him."

Gentle Ben's was packed with nearly 250 students, many of them participating in other contests throughout the day, such as a pie-eating contest that turned into a food fight, with Arnold getting the worst of it when one of the spectators threw a whole beer on him.

"I used to be the guy who would throw the beer on someone," Arnold said.

The show aired Friday night on Fox Sports and some segments from "Midnight Madness" will appear on the station tonight.