Caleb Love's 3-point shooting helps No. 22 Arizona top Utah

Caleb Love hit six 3-pointers and scored 23 points to help No. 22 Arizona cruise to a 83-66 victory over Utah on Wednesday night in Tucson, Ariz.

Tobe Awaka (10 rebounds and two blocks), Henri Veesaar (seven boards) and Jaden Bradley each scored 12 points as the Wildcats (19-9, 13-4 Big 12) bounced back from a one-point home loss to BYU on Saturday in impressive fashion.

Love scored 17 first-half points to help Arizona jump out to an early double-digit lead. He finished 7 of 15 on field-goal attempts, including 6 of 12 from 3-point range, and logged seven assists and four rebounds for the Wildcats, who had lost three of their previous four games.

Keanu Dawes produced 18 points and 10 rebounds off the bench and Ezra Ausar collected 18 points and five boards for the Utes (15-13, 7-10).

Utah, which shot just 33.9 percent from the field, played its first game since fourth-year coach Craig Smith was fired on Monday. Josh Eilert completed his first game as the Utes' interim head coach, a position he also served in the 2023-24 season at West Virginia.

Gabe Madsen, the Utes' leading scorer this season, chipped in 10 points and seven assists as Utah lost for the fourth time in six games.

Utah briefly led in the early going until the Wildcats went on a 14-4 run, with six Arizona players scoring.

Love hit his fourth trey of the first half and then drained three free throws, putting Arizona up by 16 with 48 seconds left in the first half.

Utah went scoreless for nearly three minutes to end the first half before Dawes beat the halftime buzzer with a last-second dunk. The Wildcats led 46-32 at halftime, sparked by Love's 17 points.

The Utes began the second half cold again. Before Madsen hit two free throws at the 17-minute mark, the Wildcats had built a 20-point lead thanks to a 6-0 run.

Arizona, which is trying to retain one of the top four spots for the upcoming conference tournament, built the lead as high as 24.

--Field Level Media