KEVIN KLAUS/Arizona Daily Wildcat In his first game as a Wildcat, freshman Hassan Adams scored a team-high 22 points against Western Kentucky. Adams, who played 17 minutes, finished the game shooting 9-of-12 from the field, while also collecting four rebounds and three steals.

Lute Olson said his Wildcats are the deepest and most talented team that he has ever coached.

Arizona showed off those qualities against Western Kentucky Saturday.

The No. 1 Wildcats made a statement with a dominating 107-68 victory over No. 19 WKU in front of 14,584 in McKale Center.

The loss was the worst loss since 1990 for the Hilltoppers.

"Today was a case of too much quickness and too much size at the wings spots for Western Kentucky to handle," Olson said. "Western Kentucky is a very good basketball team with a lot of experience. We got a lot of pressure on them, and a lot of turnovers that we forced them into were the result of our size and pass deflections."

Western Kentucky had high hopes of giving the Wildcats a run for their money in the season opener for both teams, but the athleticism and depth of Arizona was too much for the undersized Hilltoppers to handle.

"Arizona is an incredible team and we knew it was going to be a challenge," WKU head coach Dennis Felton said. "We clearly didn't have enough poise to compete."

WKU (0-1) scored first, but it was all downhill from there for Felton's team.

The Wildcats (1-0) came out from the first tip and pressed the Hilltoppers from sideline to sideline, and their defensive intensity stifled WKU's ball handlers.

After trailing 0-2, Arizona went on a 24-4 run to break the game wide open.

Senior forward Rick Anderson said Arizona's defensive pressure caused WKU to play timidly and passively.

"I saw fear," Anderson said. "I think they lost hope. We jumped on them and kept the pressure on."

Another problem facing the Hilltoppers was their lack of an answer for the balanced Wildcat offense, as seven players scored in double figures.

Coming into the game, seniors Jason Gardner, Luke Walton, and Anderson were UA's key offensive weapons.

The Hilltoppers managed to keep Gardner scoreless in the first half, but Anderson and sophomore Will Bynum stepped up their play.

Bynum came off the bench with 10 first-half points, and Anderson led the way with 14 in the first frame to give Arizona a commanding 53-25 first-half lead.

At the half, Arizona was dominating the glass with a 23-11 advantage, and looked as though it could set the cruise control to its first win of the season.

But Arizona showed little mercy in the second half.

The Wildcats came out and continued with the full-court press for the first nine minutes of the second half, extending their lead to 73-38.

With a commanding 35-point lead, Olson called off the dogs, but the Wildcats continued their high defensive intensity in a half-court set.

The story of the second half was the play of freshman guard Hassan Adams.

Adams scored 16 points in the half. The freshman finished the game with a team-high 22 points to go along with four rebounds and three steals.

As a team, the Wildcats forced 28 turnovers, and they finished the game with a 42-25 advantage on the glass.

"Coach Olson stays on us so much about defense because that's what wins," Adams said. "We came out today and showed we're the No. 1 team in the country."

Sideline Notes

NBA Hall of Famer Bill Walton was in attendance to see his son Luke play. The elder Walton was in town to speak with kids at the Drachman Boys and Girls Club, as a charity event for the NBA and WNBA ·

There is still no timetable on the return of WKU All-American center Chris Marcus. Marcus is still sidelined after having foot surgery ·

WKU starting forward Todor Pandov left the game in the second half after injuring his knee. Pandov will have a MRI today to see if he tore his ACL ·

Hilltopper Jamaal Brown also left the game with a scratched eye ·

This was the first game that the UA athletic department's new promotion of "Zona Zoo" was in effect. The athletic department hired two zookeepers and handed each student a Zona Zoo Gazette in an attempt to unify the students' cheers.