SAUL LOEB/Arizona Daily Wildcat UA guard Chris Rodgers steals the ball from Washington's Jeffrey Day during the Wildcat's 79-61 win Saturday Jan. 11 at McKale Center.

For the first time in three years, the Wildcats have gotten off to a 4-0 start in Pacific-10 Conference play.

Behind sophomore guard Salim Stoudamire's season-high 23 points, Arizona beat Washington 79-61in front of 14,570 fans at McKale Center.

The Wildcats (11-1, 4-0) used a strong second half performance, which included an 18-4 run midway through the half, to beat the Huskies.

Again, No. 2 Arizona was able to over come a slow start, something that many of the players stressed was a problem.

"We can't have slow starts against good teams, especially on the road," senior forward Luke Walton said. "We need to get on top of people early."

Head coach Lute Olson said that he has been preaching to the team the need to get off to a good start, but said he is through doing that.

SAUL LOEB/Arizona Daily Wildcat UA forward Andre Iguodala collides with Washington's Doug Wrenn during the Wildcat's 79-61 win Saturday Jan. 11 at McKale Center.

"We can't talk any more about (doing) things," he said. "It's (the players) job to get it done."

This was the Huskies (6-7, 1-3) 13th consecutive loss in the state of Arizona.

A big reason for the Huskies struggles this time around was the play of junior forward Doug Wrenn. Wrenn scored 35 points in his last visit to McKale, but because of foul trouble and a strong defensive effort, the Wildcats held Wrenn to just 11 points.

Wrenn scored seven points in the game's first three minutes, but was not much of a factor after that. Freshman Andre Iguodala was key defensively in stopping the Huskies best player.

Senior guard Jason Gardner finished second on the team in scoring with 11 points and was only one assist shy of a double double.

Sophomore center Channing Frye led the Wildcats in rebounds with seven and added 10 points in just 24 minutes of action.

A big plus for the Wildcats was their defense. The team put a little more pressure on the Huskies with some full court pressing, which caused turnovers.

Arizona scored 29 points off of Washington's 22 turnovers.

"We got the big lead as a result of forcing turnovers and turning them into fast break points," Olson said.

Game notes

Olson moved into third on the Pac-10's all-time conference win list. He is now tied with former Washington coach Hec Edmondson at 266 wins. Olson trails only Oregon State's Slats Gill (276) and UCLA legend John Wooden (304)·..Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano was in the stands for the Wildcats game wearing Arizona red·Less than a week after sophomore guard Will Bynum decided to leave Arizona, he was featured on the game's program. Programs covers are made months before the season starts.