No. 2 Arizona 78, Mount St. Mary’s 55: Brandon Ashley had 21 points, six rebounds and two steals in a triumphant return to the lineup, and the Wildcats cruised past the visiting Mountaineers in the season opener for both teams.

Ashley, an emotional leader for Arizona, suffered a foot injury on Feb. 1 that required surgery and forced him to miss the Wildcats’ run to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. Fueled by an inspirational home crowd, he made the most of his first game back, hitting 9-of-10 shots from the field as the Wildcats led 40-25 at the half and never looked back.

Byron Ashe had 12 points, four rebounds and one assist while Kristijan Krajina scored 13 for Mount St. Mary's (0-1), which made seven 3-pointers but shot just 38.5 percent from the field overall. Coach Jamion Christian, whose Mountaineers recovered from an 0-5 start last season, tried several different lineup combinations but had no answers for the Wildcats, who outrebounded the visitors, 35-28.

Kaleb Tarczewski had 10 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson added 15 points and three steals as Arizona, which opened last season with 21 consecutive victories, committed just eight turnovers en route to the win. T.J. McConnell, the senior starting point guard and general of Arizona's uptempo offense, had seven of the Wildcats' 17 assists.

A lot will fall on McConnell and Ashley this season, as Arizona looks to top last season’s 33 wins and shoot for that elusive national title. The Wildcats lost forward Aaron Gordon and guard Nick Johnson to the NBA, but coach Sean Miller easily has one of the deepest rosters in the nation, and he was able to flex that versus the Mountaineers, getting nine players into the scoring column.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Miller, a former guard at Pittsburgh who also coached at Xavier, is now 130-48 in his career at Arizona and 250-95 overall. ... Christian, a 2004 graduate of Mount St. Mary's, received a contract extension in the offseason after leading the Mountaineers to the NCAA Tournament. ... The Wildcats went just 12-of-25 from the line.