ATHENS, Ga. (AP) - Garland Judkins said the plan from Arizona interim coach Russ Pennell was simple: Let defense set the tone for the Wildcats.

The Wildcats followed the script, holding Mississippi Valley State scoreless for the first 7 minutes while rolling to an 86-52 win in the NIT Season Tip-Off on Monday.

"He said to just play our defense and let our defense carry us to the offensive end," Judkins said.

Arizona's 1-1-3 trapping zone helped set the pace for a lopsided first half.

Arizona scored the first 12 points and led 29-8 after another 13-0 run.

Chase Budinger scored 24 points while making 10 of 11 shots from the field for Arizona (2-1). Jordan Hill added 19 points with 10 rebounds and four blocked shots. Judkins had 12 points.

Mississippi Valley State (0-6) missed its first 13 shots before Shannon Behling's jumper with 13:03 left in the first half.

"Tonight was a good measurement on a neutral court against a team that has already played a couple of top 10 teams," Pennell said.

"I was proud of how my players played tonight because I saw things that we had been practicing. We've been working on the 2-3 zone and the 1-1-3 zone, and tonight both of those were effective."

Arizona led 44-21 at halftime. Mississippi Valley State made only 7 of 32 shots (21.9 percent) in the opening half.

Budinger said the Wildcats opened the second half "kind of sloppy" before he and Hill "started playing a two-man game."

Budinger scored 10 straight points for Arizona early in the second half, but he and Hill sat out the final 10 minutes after the Wildcats' lead reached 30 points.

Pennell had 10 players log 12 or more minutes.

Mississippi Valley State missed its first 14 3-pointers before Tashan Newsome ended the drought with 8:55 left to play.

The Delta Devils were playing their fourth Pac-10 opponent in their last seven games. The stretch began with their 70-29 loss to UCLA in the first round of last season's NCAA tournament and continued with losses to Arizona State and Washington State this season.

Mississippi State has played each of its first six games away from home.

"We are just extremely road weary right now," said Mississippi Valley State coach Sean Woods. "The road has taken a toll on us, but this is the first time that we've come out on the road with no energy."

The stretch continues with more road games against Iowa State, Creighton, Kentucky, Houston and Arkansas State before Woods' team finally plays a home game on Dec. 20 against Tennessee-Chattanooga.

"We just need to keep plugging away," Woods said. "We've had a very tough road stretch up to this point, and it doesn't get much easier after Thanksgiving."