JILL TORRANCE / arizona daily star

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Arizona 75, Florida Atlantic 62At halftime: UAB 41, Arizona 31At halftime: UAB 41, Arizona 31Wildcats Football '08

Other articles by Bruce Pascoe:

UA recruiters look down the road Freshmen mean array of options Now that's a switch Like Fogg, Williams will come in unseen Cats gain one more of USC's recruits NY duo sure they can make it here It's not Rocket science: Chase faces challenge Hill goes No. 8 to Knicks Budinger traded to Houston RocketsHill chosen No. 8 overall by Knicks

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Coasting into the second of back-to-back games tonight was not an option for Arizona's key players Monday.

But they weren't complaining after a 75-62 win over Florida Atlantic in the first round in the NIT Season Tip-Off at McKale Center. They're alive in the tournament, with a chance to beat UAB tonight for the right to spend Thanksgiving week in New York.

Junior standouts Chase Budinger, Nic Wise and Jordan Hill were all forced to play major roles for an extended period of time, but neither Budinger nor Wise expressed concern about rebounding to play tonight.

"We're used to it," Wise said. "We played four games a day in AAU ball."

Added Budinger: "It'll be fun. We don't have practice tomorrow. We have a game."

Besides, nobody said this season was going to be easy for the Wildcats, who lost head coach Lute Olson just 25 days before Monday's opener and are working under their second interim head coach in as many seasons.

In fact, the Wildcats were not included in The Associated Press preseason Top 25 for only the second time since 1987.

"It's big," Budinger said of Monday's victory. "A lot of people had doubts about us, and this was a game where we can show we can still play."

It was Budinger who kept the Wildcats out of serious danger in the first half, with 15 points before halftime, while Wise had 14 in the second half when the Wildcats finally put away their Sun Belt Conference opponent. Wise finished with a career-high nine assists to go with 19 total points.

"I thought tonight our guys played probably as hard as I've seen them play," UA interim head coach Russ Pennell said. "We still have a ways to go but that's a big step for us. Tonight's game was kind of a grind. At times, we played well. At times, it was kind of ugly."

Arizona will now meet UAB tonight at 9:30 in a NIT Season Tip-Off second-round game at McKale Center. The game will be preceded by a loser's bracket contest between Santa Clara and Florida Atlantic at 6:30.

The winner of tonight's UA-UAB game will travel to New York for an NIT semifinal game on Nov. 26 and either a final or consolation game on Nov. 28.

The loser will join other teams who lost in the first or second round, in another set of two games at sites to be determined.

Arizona expanded a four-point halftime lead quickly with two three-pointers from Wise early in the second half. The Wildcats later went on a 7-2 lead to take a 54-43 lead midway through the second half.

The Wildcats then took control with a 13-3 run toward the end of the second half, getting a dunk from Hill and two free throws from Budinger with six minutes left to take a 69-52 lead.

Hill finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Budinger had 21 points and five rebounds.

In the first half, Arizona trailed Florida Atlantic by up to eight points but recovered to take a 39-35 lead.

The Wildcats allowed the Owls to shoot 50 percent from the field and were out-rebounded 16-11 in the half.

"In the beginning of the game, our defensive pressure was pretty weak," Budinger said. "We were able to get guys open shots. We didn't get into them enough."

Part of Arizona's problem stemmed from two early fouls by Hill, but Budinger responded with 15 points in the first half to lead all scorers in the half. Paul Graham III had 11 points in the half for FAU.

Arizona trailed 22-15 with nine minutes remaining in the first half but finally tightened up defensively and went on a 9-0 run to take a 24-22 lead when Budinger dunked through a crowd with 6:08 left.

Freshman guard Kyle Fogg added a steal that he converted for a layup and hit another jumper during the run, when Pennell played three guards together — Fogg, Wise and Garland Judkins.

The teams mostly traded scores in the final minutes, with Judkins ending the scoring by converting a fastbreak layup off a loose ball.

The Wildcats struggled immediately, allowing Florida Atlantic to hit three three-pointers in the first five minutes while the Owls took a 13-7 lead. The Wildcats had only two inside scores from Hill and a three-pointer from Budinger during that span.

Budinger held Arizona in the game throughout the first half, hitting another three with 14:19 left and converting a reverse layin off a pass from Wise to cut FAU's lead to 15-13.

Florida Atlantic then took a 22-15 lead, thanks to a three-pointer from Graham and a bank shot from the top of the key by Chris Watson.

The Owls were without their best player, forward Carlos Monroe, who is ineligible.

The loser of tonight's UA-UAB game will play two consolation NIT games on Nov. 24 and Nov. 25.

Among the losers of first- or second-round games, the three highest seeds will host three other schools, although third-seeded UA cannot host if it loses because there is a UA women's game on Nov. 25.

Teams will be divided according to geographical logic when possible, although nobody will be allowed to face a team it has already played.