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Arizona instead turned its force on No. 20 Auburn, beating the Tigers 97-68 before a sellout crowd at McKale to boost the chances it will gain the No. 1 spot in the Associated Press Top 25 poll on Monday.

No. 1 Purdue lost 81-58 at home to Iowa State earlier on Saturday, although third-ranked Michigan (8-0) received more first-place votes (15) than the second-ranked Wildcats (six) did last week.

Some fans chanted "No. 1" after time ran out and Auburn left the floor.

"Don't think we'll go in a tougher environment against a better team the rest of the year, which is probably one of the only positives you can take away from that," Auburn coach Steven Pearl said.

Saying UA and Michigan are ahead of other basketball teams by a "pretty wide margin," Pearl complimented the Wildcats' size and ability.

"In order for us to be able to compete against this upper echelon, we've got to play Auburn basketball, which is fly around for 40 minutes and play with your hair on fire," Pearl said. "We only did that in pockets tonight."

Five Arizona players scored in double figures, led by forward Koa Peat, who had 18 points, four rebounds and five assists. Guard Jaden Bradley added 16 points along with four rebounds and four assists.

Arizona shot 60.2% while holding Auburn to 32.3%. The Wildcats also outrebounded the Tigers 40-34 and scored 21 points off 15 Auburn turnovers. 

"Great overall team effort defensively," UA coach Tommy Lloyd said. "We want to hang our hat on being a great defensive team, being a great rebounding team.Those are staples you can call on every night.

"Our guys did a great job coming out and executed with some effort and some energy, We weren't perfect, but that wasn't the expectation so overall, really happy."

Leading 44-32 at halftime, Arizona (8-0) scored the first nine points of the second half, taking a 53-32 lead after two and a half minutes after Brayden Burries completed a three-point play. After two Auburn scores, Koa Peat triggered a 9-0 run, getting a dunk and a layup to begin a 9-0 Arizona run that gave them a 62-34 lead with 15 minutes still to go.

"That's a big deal for us," Lloyd said of UA's runs. "The game of basketball is so special because offense connects to defense, and offense to defense, and defensive rebounding, offensive transition, all these little connection points in the game make it really fun to coach.

"It's pretty fascinating when you really get the flow of the game. I love that. In order to go on runs, you got to stack a lot of good things together in all those areas of the game. That's something we talk about a lot with our guys."

Arizona held leads of 23 or more points the rest of the way, while also winning a coach’s challenge to protest a possession call, with officials agreeing with UA that the ball went out of bounds on the foot of an Auburn player.

UA briefly went ahead by 31 when reserve forward Sidi Gueye made a hook shot with 19 seconds left but Auburn's KeShawn Murphy dunked on the Tigers' next possession for the final score.

In the first half, Arizona put together runs of 12-0 and 13-0 to turn an early five-point deficit into a 44-32 halftime lead.  The Wildcats shot 60% from the field and held Auburn to just 33.3%.

Auburn held a 15-10 lead after Auburn's Tahaad Pettiford hit a 3-point shot with 13:47 left but the Wildcats quickly tied it at 15 after Bradley hit a 3-pointer and Tobe Awaka grabbed a steal that led to a dunk from Anthony Dell'Orso. Another 3, this time from freshman Dwayne Aristode, gave UA an 18-15 lead and the Wildcats went on to make it a 12-0 run.

After Pettiford made a layup to cut UA's lead to just 24-21 with 9:24 left, the Wildcats rattled off 15 straight points to take a 39-21 lead with 3:43 left on a layup from Bradley.

Arizona forward Ivan Kharchenkov returned from an ankle sprain he suffered a week earlier, and wound up putting together one of his best games yet. The German freshman had 12 points, five rebounds and eight assists while playing a top defensive role on Auburn's leading scorer, Keyshawn Hall, who had 13 points on 3-for-11 shooting.

The Wildcats (8-0) will be tested again quickly whatever spot they receive in Monday’s poll, having to face No. 12 Alabama in Birmingham, Ala., on Dec. 13. They will have the entire week to prepare and travel to Alabama.