No. 4 Arizona Cruises By IUPUI

December 14, 1999 / 12:11 AM EST / CBS/AP

No. 4 Arizona coach Lute Olson may not have seen much of starter Richard Jefferson against Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, but he liked the stylish sophomore's progress.

"Richard is really stepping up," Olson said after Jefferson scored 14 points in 21 minutes in a 70-41 rout Monday night. "He is becoming a more vocal leader, as well as leading with his play."

The Wildcats (8-1) were never tested in winning their second straight after a loss to Connecticut.

Rick Anderson and Jason Gardner had 11 points apiece, and Loren Woods scored 10. Anderson and Woods played less than half a game.

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"I was feeling my shot," Anderson said. "It was a good night to work on your shot. I'm trying to get better and better."

The mismatch gave Olson a chance to rest top scorer and rebounder Michael Wright, who hyperextended his right knee in the Connecticut game Dec. 7. Wright started the game but played only six minutes in the first half and seven in the second.

Charles Price had 15 points and six rebounds for IUPUI (1-7), a second-year Division I school which lost for the fifth time in five road games.

"That was big time out there," Price said. "We don't get to see that very often, so it was pretty fun to play in front of a huge crowd."

The Wildcats scored the first 11 points of the game and never looked back.

Anderson started the surge with a 3-pointer and a short jumper, and the Jaguars never came closer than five. IUPUI was within six at 19-13 after a jumper by Price with 7:51 remaining but Anderson capped a 7-0 surge with a 3-pointer with 4:08 to play.

Arizona's lead reached 53-23 on a dunk by Woods 5:50 into the second half.

Despite trailing by double figures most of the game, Jaguars coach Ron Hunter felt his squad profited from the game and earned respect.

"I think that Lute had to play his starters a lot longer than he though he would. I know they wanted to rest their starters quite a bit, but I am not sure that they were able to," Hunter said.

The bench played more minutes than the starters but only scored 18 points, and Olson was upset with the lack of production.

"That was like having a root canal," Olson said of watching his bench corps. "Our reserves now know better why they are reserves after that."