KEVIN KLAUS/Arizona Daily Wildcat Sophomore Channing Frye slams home two of his career-high 25 points in Saturday's 86-59 rout of USC. The win completed the home and away sweeps of both USC and UCLA.

No. 1 UA, led by Channing Frye's 25 points and 14 boards, dropped USC by 27 on Saturday, just two days after punishing UCLA by 36

Winning has not been much of a problem for the No. 1 Arizona Wildcats so far this season, but winning in back-to-back games had been rare until this weekend.

After cruising to victory over UCLA last Thursday, the Wildcats finally put together a solid weekend of play as they scorched Southern California 86-59 in front of 14, 584 spectators at the McKale Center.

The Trojans stayed close early in the second half, but Arizona went on a 32-4 run over a 10-minute span to break the game wide open.

"We had a good run in the second half," Rosborough said. "We definitely are capable of making those kinds of runs. We are very balanced offensively, and we have a pretty potent attack."

During UA's run, USC went one-for-20 from the field, including an almost 11-minute time period without a field goal.

Channing Frye Player of the game: Sophomore center Channing Frye had a career-high 25 points with 18 of them coming in the first half. He also had three blocks and a season-high 14 rebounds. Stat of the game: From the 12:15 mark in the second half until there was only 1:45 remaining, the Trojans were held without a field goal. USC made only three points in that time span, all coming from free throws. Play of the game: With Jason Gardner taking the ball out of bounds under his own basket, freshman Hassan Adams cut down the middle of the lane for an alley-oop two handed dunk.

"When our defense kicks in, it's over," Arizona senior forward Rick Anderson said. "That's what we are going to be working on up through March. We have offensive skills, but we have to dig down to get the defensive mold down to win the championship. We definitely feel like we are No. 1."

The win over USC gives Arizona its first sweep of the Los Angeles schools in 10 years.

It also marks the 16th consecutive season the Wildcats have had at least 20 wins in a season, which is the longest active streak in the country.

"We really did a nice job today," Rosborough said. " We got out in our defensive stance, and we really got into a good rhythm."

Arizona (20-2, 12-1) came out sluggish against the Trojans (10-11, 5-7), but sophomore center Channing Frye had a career night and willed the Wildcats through their slow start.

Frye finished the game with career-high 25 points and 14 rebounds to go along with three blocked shots.

Besides scoring at will against the Trojans, Frye was able to clog the middle, which made it hard for USC to penetrate to the basket.

"I was watching Tim Duncan last night," Frye said. "He just went out there and played. He did his thing. I try to pattern my game off of him. I'm a little more emotional, but I try to go out there and play and get to my spots."

Senior forward Luke Walton said Frye has become one of the premier centers in the Pacific 10 Conference.

In the first 14 minutes of the game, Arizona was losing the battle on the boards and committing turnovers left and right. However, as soon as the Wildcats took care of the ball and began rebounding better, the Trojans didn't stand a chance.

Walton, who is still not quite 100 percent due to his ankle sprain, continued his struggles on the offensive end.

Walton finished the game with six points and seven assists, but he also had seven turnovers.

"It was a real good weekend," Walton said. "We are starting to play a lot more than just one half. Our defense is starting to make strides. I didn't play a great game today, but the team did. And that's all that matters."

Defensively, Arizona held USC to 30.6 percent shooting from the field.

USC's leading scorer, junior Desmon Farmer, was held in check with only 11 points.

With five games remaining in the Pac-10 season, Arizona still holds a mere one game lead over California.

Game notes

Senior guard Jason Gardner hit four 3-pointers to give him 301 3-point field goals in his career. He is the first Wildcat and only the second Pac-10 player to eclipse the 300 mark during a career ·

Arizona shot 63.3 percent from the field in the first half, which is the high for any half this season ·

Walton, Anderson and Gardner were given the day off from practice this afternoon, and the entire team will have tomorrow off before they return on Wednesday to prepare for Saturday's game against Arizona State in Tempe.