LAWRENCE, Kan. -- Let the race to catch Arizona begin.

	Coach Lute Olson and Arizona improved to 15-1 after the win.

If you had any doubts about Arizona creating separation from the rest of the field then you didn't watch the 91-74 victory at Kansas on Saturday.

The 2003 NCAA Tournament will be the Wildcats' to lose.

Arizona can circle the second half Saturday as its turning point, the time when the Wildcats knew they could be national champions.

Winning at Oregon in early January was a start, but it was nothing like this. Not even close.

"Honestly, I would say this is one of the best, if not the best (win during the regular season),'' said Arizona senior Jason Gardner of the past four years. "This was at Kansas, in this building, on the day they retired Paul Pierce's number.''

Arizona was down 20 points in the first half (44-24) and looking like it was going to be the second consecutive No. 1 team to get toasted on the road on back-to-back Saturdays (see: Maryland roasting Duke last Saturday in College Park).

The Wildcats looked vulnerable. Their 1-3-1 zone was getting eaten up by Nick Collison and Jeff Graves (a combined 9-for-12 inside for a total 18 points) as Gardner was getting smashed underneath at the back end of the zone.

"I'm glad I don't have to do that all the time,'' Gardner said.

Kansas' Keith Langford was having a field day finding the open spots on the wing, scoring 22 points.

Gardner had three turnovers. Luke Walton had four.

"I was trying too often to make the big play,'' Gardner said.

Kansas scored 52 points in the first half.

Arizona looked scared, like the ThunderStix had really rattled the Wildcats. It was loud, really loud and Arizona looked like it had packed it in and was ready to get back to the Tucson sun and out of the frigid plains.

"(That game) was the reason we play games like this,'' Arizona coach Lute Olson said. "This was a win-win situation, even if we lose. We have to have games like this in this environment. We need these big-game feels. We do this every year. Sometimes we win these games and sometimes we lose them but we win for playing in this type of environment.''

Sure, Arizona came back from 11 points with 14 minutes left at Oregon. But the Ducks aren't the Jayhawks and Mac Court is still second to Phog Allen.

This was something special. Arizona ended up with a 30-point swing from down 13 at the half to finish winning by 17 to snap Kansas' 25-game home-court winning streak, 23 against non-conference teams.

"This legitimizes us,'' Arizona's Channing Frye said. "This helped us feel like what it would be like to win games in the NCAA Tournament.''

Kansas was coming off a loss at Colorado. But this was still at Kansas. This was as impressive a turnaround as you'll see all season.

The Wildcats went exclusively to the zone with about six minutes left in the first half. Kansas' Kirk Hinrich was on the bench with three fouls and the Wildcats had decided they couldn't play Kansas straight man-to-man.

"They were shooting the lights out and got into a good rhythm so we couldn't stay in the zone early in the first half and we couldn't play man one we went to the zone for good,'' Arizona associate head coach Jim Rosborough. "We had to adjust we weren't getting out on the wings. And we weren't rebounding the ball.''

Arizona's Ricky Anderson had no boards in the first half. Olson lit into Anderson a number of times for that and got into him at the half. Frye continued to let Graves and Collison get the ball in the post. Frye had three boards in the first half so Olson got into him, too.

Anderson finished with seven. Frye had eight. The Wildcats ended up outrebounding the Jayhawks by 10.

But it was the overall effort that stung Kansas and showed the nation why Arizona is the team to beat.

The 'Cats stormed out of the second half with 10 straight points to cut the lead to 52-49. They had the lead at 60-57 and never looked back.

The zone was tighter in the second half as Langford had just five second-half points. Hinrich went 2 for 10 on 3s. The Jayhawks were 2 for 14 on 3s after going 6 for 10 in the first half. Graves scored one point in the second half, Collison just four.

"We had more energy and were more aggressive in the zone,'' Gardner said. "We got to the spots in the second half.''

And the 'Cats Salim Stoudamire finished with 32 points, making 6 of 9 3s. Rosborough said he hasn't played that well since putting up 29 points on USC in the Pac-10 tournament last March. Gardner got to the line to make 10 of 12 free throws. They finished shooting over 50 percent.

"That lead shrank pretty quick,'' Collison said. "It's unbelievable. I'm disappointed and embarrassed to lose by 30 points in the second half (52-22). Arizona is the favorite but they can be beaten.''

OK, how? And when?

Arizona has two trouble spots left (sorry Stanford but coming back against Oregon State and Washington State isn't going to scare these 'Cats). Mark down Feb. 22 (at Arizona State) and Feb. 27 (at Cal) as the two games that could prevent Arizona from going undefeated in the Pac-10. That has never happened. Arizona went 17-1 four times. Never 18-0.

"We haven't had games where we had everyone's attention,'' Rosborough said. "We didn't in the first half. But this shows that if we play like we did in the second half for a full game then we can be awfully good.''

Arizona came back from 15-down to lose by one at LSU in late December. But Walton didn't play and he's getting closer to 100 percent. Depth is clearly a factor as the 'Cats just wore the Jayhawks down. This is a trend that will continue.

"Arizona can win with the depth and leadership they have inside and out,'' Kansas coach Roy Williams said. "They don't have any holes. They can handle all the expectations.''

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.