By Maxx Wolfson
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Saturday February 15, 2002
In winning their 20th game of the season, it might have been the Wildcats best performance so far.
Using a 32-4 second half run and getting a career-high 25 points and 14 rebounds from sophomore Channing Frye, No. 1 Arizona rolled to an 86-59 victory against Southern California in McKale Center Saturday afternoon.
UA (20-2, 12-1) reached 20 victories for the 16th year in a row, the longest active streak in the country. The Trojans fell to 10-11 overall and 5-7 in the conference.
During one stretch in the second half USC was held without a field goal for 10:21. In the second half the Trojans shot only 23.1 percent from the field.
Going up against USC's match-up zone, the Wildcats were able to get the ball down low to Frye, who made 11 of 13 field goals and had three blocks.
Senior guard Jason Gardner, who finished with 16 points, became the second Pac-10 player ever to make over 300 3-pointers. He now has 301 and is just 22 behind Arizona's State's Stevin "Headache" Smith for the conference's all-time mark.
Southern California's Desmon Farmer scored 11 for USC as Gregg Guenther had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
The Wildcats shot a season-best 63.3 percent from the field in the first half leading to a 45-35 lead at the break. It would have been more but the Trojans' Jerry Dupree hit a half-court shot as time expired.
UA swept all four games from USC and UCLA for the first time since 1992-93.