Caleb Love helped stake No. 4 Arizona to a big lead with 20 first-half points, and Oumar Ballo posted his seventh consecutive double-double, as the Wildcats held off Washington 91-75 on Saturday in Tucson, Ariz.
Love finished with 28 points, seven rebounds and five assists as Arizona (21-6, 12-4 Pac-12) shook off Thursday night’s 77-74 home loss to No. 21 Washington State with a blistering start that included a 17-point halftime lead.
But after Arizona went up by as many as 23 points early in the second half, the Huskies (15-13, 7-10) climbed within single digits with a 14-2 run to make it 69-60 with 9:21 to go. Washington went cold late, though, missing seven consecutive shots at one point down the stretch.
Love, a senior transfer from North Carolina, hit a 3-pointer with 1:27 left to give him 2,000 career points.
Ballo finished with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Pelle Larsson had 17 points, seven assists and five rebounds. Keshad Johnson contributed 16 points.
Washington shot only 38.2 percent (29 of 76) for the game. Koren Johnson led the way with 17 points, followed by Keion Brooks Jr. and Nate Calmese with 15 points each.
Arizona still has not lost consecutive games under third-year coach Tommy Lloyd, who improved to 82-17 with the Wildcats.
Arizona was on fire early, making its first seven shots from the field and 11 of its first 12 to take a 27-11 lead. At that point, Love was 4 of 4 from the field, including three attempts from beyond the arc, for 11 points.
The rest of the first half featured dueling runs. Washington cut its deficit to 10 before the Wildcats went on an 11-0 run, which gave way to a 10-point spurt by the Huskies to make the score 42-31.
Arizona surged late and took a 52-35 lead into the break, shooting 52.9 percent for the half (18 of 34).
–Field Level Media