PHOTOS BY KELLY PRESNELL / arizona daily star

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Rob Gronkowski roamed McKale Center all week, hoping to get a moment alone with an oversized visitor: Shaquille O'Neal.

The Phoenix Suns' center was always doing something else — shooting layups, working out in the weight room or enjoying the "cold tub" in the training room.

"I wanted to meet him and see how tall I was compared to him and everything," Gronkowski said following the Arizona Wildcats' 48-14 win over Washington on Saturday. "I think he's sweet because he's so big and he owns people."

Gronkowski, the Wildcats' 6-foot-6-inch, 260-pound scoring machine, now knows the feeling.

Arizona's sophomore tight end caught five passes for 109 yards and three touchdowns in Saturday's rout of the Huskies at Arizona Stadium, the most lopsided Wildcats win in the teams' 30-year rivalry. With Gronkowski leading the way, Arizona (4-1 overall, 2-0 Pac-10) improved on its best start since 2000 and forged a tie with California for first place in the Pac-10 Conference.

The Wildcats will travel to Stanford next week before returning to Tucson for games against Cal and USC.

"We're on a roll right now," said tailback Nicolas Grigsby, who rushed for 113 yards and a touchdown. "We've just got to keep it up."

Saturday's game was a breeze — and it had nothing to do with the stiff winds that whipped the 55,624 fans inside Arizona Stadium.

The Wildcats scored 17 first-quarter points on touchdowns by Gronkowski and Grigsby and a 29-yard field goal by Jason Bondzio to set the tone early against the reeling Huskies (0-5, 0-3).

Gronkowski's first score, a 37-yard catch-and-run from quarterback Willie Tuitama, may be the most impressive play in his brief, but accomplished, college career.

Facing second-and-7 from Washington's 37-yard line, Arizona called a little-used play: the middle screen.

Tuitama took the snap and backpedaled, sucking in the Huskies' blitzing linebackers. Gronkowski ran parallel to the line of scrimmage and waited for the pass. Tuitama hit Gronkowski running down the middle of the field. The tight end crossed the goal line with a half-dozen Huskies trailing him.

"That's the first screen in my life I've ever had thrown to me," Gronkowski said. "It was a great call in the press box by (offensive coordinator) Sonny Dykes. He saw the blitz coming. It was a great job by the offensive linemen. When I caught it, I just saw the end zone — and I was just running."

Arizona coach Mike Stoops said the team had been working on the play the last few weeks. It's similar to the Wildcats' wide receiver screen, except the receiver — in this case, Gronkowski — camps out in the middle of the field.

The play was deceptive; the reasoning behind it was not.

"We need to find more ways to get him the football," Stoops said.

Gronkowski's second touchdown came on the Wildcats' final drive of the first half. He ran a short slant, caught Tuitama's pass at the 5-yard line, and bowled over a few Washington defenders on his way to a touchdown.

Gronkowski added an 8-yard touchdown catch on the Wildcats' first drive of the second half before being mothballed, along with Tuitama, for the night.

Tuitama was efficient in the blowout win. Arizona's senior quarterback connected on 17 of 21 passes for 193 yards and three touchdowns before being lifted midway through the third quarter. Backup Matt Scott took over, and led a scoring drive that gave Arizona a 48-7 lead. Tuitama spread the ball to eight different receivers, including the little-used Brandon Lopez, A.J. Simmons and Keola Antolin.

Senior wideout Mike Thomas caught just three passes for 26 yards — his lowest total of the season — but managed to put the Huskies away with a 48-yard punt return that made it 24-7 in the second quarter.

"Very efficient," Stoops quipped. "It was nice to see Mike Thomas break one for a touchdown."

Defensively, the Wildcats ruined Ronnie Fouch's first career start. Washington's freshman quarterback completed just 12 of 28 passes for 181 yards. His lone touchdown pass, a 20-yard lob to Michael Gottlieb, came in the fourth quarter against Arizona's third-string defense.

But the blowout belonged to Gronkowski, who is fast becoming Arizona's gridiron version of Shaq. In his two games since returning from mononucleosis, Gronkowski has caught eight passes for 141 yards and five touchdowns.

His three scores on Saturday mark the best single-game performance by a tight end in UA history.

O'Neal once boasted that he was "like toilet paper, Pampers and toothpaste. I'm definitely proven to be effective."

Gronkowski is becoming just as important to the first-place Cats.

"That's the thing about Robby — he's such a competitive guy," Stoops said. "That's going to make him a tremendous player."