Caleb Love sparks Arizona to Big 12 win over struggling Utah
The Arizona Wildcats (19-9, 13-4) are trying to hold onto second place in the Big 12, which would give them a big advantage entering the Big 12 Tournament. The top four teams in the conference earn byes into the tournament quarterfinals.
To do that, the Wildcats are going to have to go on a run — and they got started Wednesday night with an 83-66 victory over Utah at McKale Memorial Center.
Caleb Love racked up 23 points, 7 assists and 4 rebounds for Arizona. Ezra Ausar and Keanu Dawes scored 18 apiece for Utah.
Utah (15-13, 7-10) was playing its first game under interim head coach Josh Eilert, who took over after head coach Craig Smith was fired on Monday after nearly four seasons with the Utes.
Arizona's 'two-big' lineup dominates
The Wildcats outrebounded Utah 45-39 behind another impressive performance from their "two-big" lineup of Tobe Awaka and Henri Veesaar. The duo combined for 24 points, 17 rebounds and 3 blocks.
But it was their length and shot-altering presence that made the biggest difference. Utah shot just 21-of-62 from the field, and many of them were close-range misses that were impacted by Veesaar, Awaka and freshman Carter Bryant.
Bryant came off the bench to finish with 8 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks.
Caleb Love catches fire
Love was red-hot in the first half, hitting several deep 3-pointers to help stake Arizona to a 14-point halftime lead. He finished 7-of-15 from the field and 6-of-12 from the 3-point line. It's only the third time this season he's shot 50% or better from beyond the arc.
Arizona's other starting guards, Jaden Bradley and Anthony Dell'Orso, combined to shoot 0-of-6 from downtown. Bradley finished with 12 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists.
3BALL CORNER POCKET pic.twitter.com/9GbJSvEtvV
— Arizona Basketball (@ArizonaMBB) February 27, 2025
First half stats: Arizona 46, Utah 32
Love led all scorers at halftime with 17 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the 3-point line. Tobe Awaka had 8 points and 4 rebounds, and freshman Carter Bryant had 7 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks off the bench.
LOV3 FROM LONG RANGEEE pic.twitter.com/ZpnAzQYHNH
— Arizona Basketball (@ArizonaMBB) February 27, 2025
Arizona outrebounded Utah 21-18 and had just 2 turnovers. The Wildcats have struggled with turnovers all season and are coming off a 96-95 loss to BYU where they turned it over 14 times — leading to 22 BYU points.
Arizona's defense was the biggest factor through the first 20 minutes: the Wildcats forced 9 turnovers, which led to 17 points. They flew around on the defensive end and racked up a ton of deflections, which led to several runouts. The Wildcats had 8 steals — one by every player who entered the game in the first half.
Sophomore forward Keanu Dawes led Utah with 11 points and 5 rebounds off the bench. Leading scorer Gabe Madsen had just 6 first-half points.
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-029877d49238355bd3388a94f90e3c72.jpg "Ben Sherman")
Ben Sherman has been covering the sports world for most of his 27-year journalism career, including 17 years with The Oregonian/OregonLive. A basketball junkie, March Madness is his favorite time of the year.