TUCSON, Ariz. — It took four years, but Mustafa Shakur is becoming the player Arizona coach Lute Olson thought he could be.

Shakur had 23 points, six rebounds and five assists Wednesday night to lead the ninth-ranked Wildcats to a 78-71 victory over No. 18 Memphis in the Fiesta Bowl Classic.

"He just is so different a player this year than he's been before for us," Olson said. "This is his team, it's his leadership. He does a great job of breaking the defense down. It's the difference between night and day, in my opinion, the way he's playing."

Freshman Chase Budinger, who scored 15 of his 18 points in the second half for Arizona (9-1), gave Shakur the credit.

"Mustafa played a heck of a game," Budinger said. "He was unbelievable out there. He was just a leader out there."

Shakur was the game's most valuable player.

"I'm obviously still looking for my teammates a lot," he said. "I want to get them the ball. I feed off them. When people start doubling them, I am ready to shoot."

Arizona erased a five-point halftime deficit to win its ninth straight game in its first matchup with a nationally ranked team this season. It was the final preconference tuneup for the Wildcats, who open Pac-10 play Thursday at home against California.

"This is not a team that's going to plateau," Olson said. "I think they're going to be a team that will keep getting better because they play hard, they practice hard and they really enjoy playing together."

Jeremy Hunt led the Tigers (8-3) with 21 points.

No. 5 Florida 88, Stetson 67Joakim Noah was 7-for-10 from the field and scored 16 points for the Gators (10-2), who improved to 8-0 at home and gave coach Billy Donovan his 236th victory at Florida. Garfield Blair led the Hatters (3-8) with 18 points.

No. 10 Alabama 82, North Carolina St. 75Richard Hendrix had 23 points and 12 rebounds and Ronald Steele returned to the Alabama lineup and added 14 points. Steele, a first-team preseason all-America, missed two games and played only 4 minutes of a third while battling a sprained right ankle and tendinitis in his left knee. His status for this game was in question until shortly before tipoff.Mykal Riley had 17 points for Alabama (10-1).

No. 17 Washington 88, No. 12 LSU 72Freshman center Spencer Hawes had season highs of 23 points and 12 rebounds for the Huskies (9-1), who won their 26th consecutive nonconference home game while hosting an SEC team for the first time since 1985.

No. 14 Connecticut 88, Pepperdine 66A.J. Price had 17 points to lead four Connecticut players in double figures and the Huskies (10-0) pulled away in the second half.