PHOENIX — Since Lute Olson retired in October, the Arizona Wildcats have been reading their basketball obituary.

Turns out they're not dead yet.

Nic Wise scored a career-high 21 points, including three free throws in the final 31 seconds, and Arizona upset No. 4 Gonzaga 69-64 on Sunday.

Jordan Hill added 22 points and Chase Budinger had 14 for the Wildcats (7-2), who beat a team ranked in the top four for the first time since Nov. 8, 2001, when they beat No. 2 Maryland.

"A lot of people have been counting us down," Budinger said. "This kind of gives us hope that Arizona is not a lost team. We're not a rebuilding-type team.

"The biggest thing is that it kind of puts us on the map," Budinger said.

Under Olson, some Arizona fans came to believe that Tucson was the center of the college basketball universe. But the balance of power has shifted in recent years — and the once-mighty Wildcats felt like an underdog against the Bulldogs (7-1), who are no longer an up-and-comer in a fringe conference.

Arizona and Gonzaga met for only the third time — and the first since the top-seeded Wildcats held off the Bulldogs in a double-overtime thriller in the NCAA's second round in 2003.

This time, the teams swapped roles. Arizona came in looking to make a name for itself — or perhaps restore its name.

"We feel that we've been underrated," Wise said. "We were the underdog coming in. We feel like we had nothing to lose in this game."

Led by interim coach Russ Pennell and inspired by a raucous partisan crowd in U.S. Airways Center, the Wildcats outscored Gonzaga 7-2 over the last 2:25, with Hill and Wise scoring all their points.




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