TUCSON, Arizona -- When he exploded off the ground, stole a ball floating three feet over the cylinder and dunked in the first half, Arizona fans in the McKale Center screamed.
He then caught a rebound with his left hand -- the ball looked like a cantaloupe in his bear paws -- and slammed it. People strapped to their seats moved back as if they'd witnessed something illegal, something violent.
Later, they yelled when officials flagged Deandre Ayton for basket interference after he plucked Dusan Ristic's shot from the air, turned it into an alley-oop and threw it into the rim as if it were a load of laundry careening toward a washing machine.
When Ayton sank a pair of clutch jump shots that sealed an 88-82 win for Arizona over Alabama in the final minutes, it all seemed premature.
The doubt. The magnified doomsday projections. The mass pessimism.
Yes, Arizona fell from the national rankings and drew criticism after a poor stint at the Battle 4 Atlantis last month in the Bahamas. But if Ayton -- a freakish 7-footer -- continues to grow, Arizona will remain a dangerous opponent for any team in the Pac-12 and beyond.
After Ayton scored 29 points and grabbed 18 rebounds with 24 representatives from 19 NBA teams in the McKale Center to see him and Alabama star Collin Sexton (30 points), Arizona coach Sean Miller suggested that he had the best player in America on his roster.
He also questioned concerns from some NBA personnel about Ayton's energy level.
"I just have a hard time believing there is anybody better than [Ayton]," Miller said. "I just do. I don't want to hear anything about his motor. They're almost fabricating or inventing things that aren't true."
Thus far, only Mike Krzyzewski and Marvin Bagley III could offer enough convincing evidence to rebut Miller's claim.
This is, however, indisputable: Ayton's freakish gifts will keep Arizona's ceiling high.
"I'm just happy we got the win," Ayton said. "Tough game."
Perhaps Arizona will enter the NCAA tournament with a lower seed than what most projected entering the season. But would you want to see Ayton and the Wildcats in your favorite team's region come March?
As Ayton dominated Saturday, his teammates blossomed. He commanded doubles whenever he touched the ball and an extra body on the other end to fight him for rebounds. Allonzo Trier (25 points) said Ayton's presence forces defenders to play off him because they're always waiting to help.
"He makes the game easier for me, and I try to make it easier for him," Trier said.
After the sky-is-falling depictions of Arizona basketball streamed through social media following the team's three consecutive losses to NC State, SMU and Purdue in the Battle 4 Atlantis, Florida lost a pair of games to Florida State and Loyola-Chicago. Duke couldn't handle Boston College on Saturday. Washington traveled to Kansas City and beat Kansas.
Minnesota, a team that entered the season as a sleeper in the Big Ten, has lost three of its past four following Saturday's loss to Arkansas.
Has any team figured it out? No.
But now the Wildcats enter Saturday's road game at New Mexico on a four-game win streak, a stretch anchored by victories over Texas A&M on Tuesday in Phoenix and Alabama on Saturday.
Plus, Rawle Alkins (10.9 points, 4.9 rebounds per game in 2016-17) is back after missing 10 weeks with a broken foot.
"The one thing I'll tell you is nobody panicked when we went to the Bahamas," Miller said. "I think all of us knew we had a few things we were going to get much, much better at."
Both Arizona and Alabama are connected to the FBI investigation that walloped college basketball before the season began. Book Richardson, then an Arizona assistant, was one of four Division I coaches arrested for their alleged roles in bribery schemes that rocked the sport. Richardson was eventually fired. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him in federal court.
In late September, Alabama staffer Kobie Baker was dismissed after he was accused of meeting with two people tied to the scheme and introducing the family of a top recruit to a financial adviser. Sexton, reportedly the player in question, missed the team's season opener against Memphis because of a violation of NCAA rules, per the team.
The investigations might linger throughout the season. The unknowns remain.
On Saturday, however, the nearly 15,000 in the McKale Center focused on the teenager from the Bahamas who could help Arizona move past its recent challenges.
Ayton can't erase the cloud, but he's the reason the future seems more optimistic for the Wildcats now than it did after the trip to the Bahamas.
"Deandre, tonight, was the difference," Miller said.
He'll probably say that all season.