No. 4 Arizona dominates Cal to open Pac-12 season

Caleb Love scored 22 points and Oumar Ballo posted his third consecutive double-double as No. 4 Arizona cruised past Cal 100-81 to open Pac-12 play on Friday night in Berkeley, Calif.

The Wildcats (10-2, 1-0 Pac-12) never trailed and delivered an early knockout punch, leading by as many as 31 points in the first half. Cal (4-8, 0-1) recovered to outscore Arizona by nine in the second half but never climbed closer than 19 points.

Arizona reached triple-digit points for the fourth time this season but for the first time in a conference game since beating Washington State 100-72 on Jan. 31, 2018.

Jaylon Tyson had 22 points and 10 rebounds for Cal, which has lost 14 consecutive games to the Wildcats, including 11 in a row by double digits. Jalen Celestine added 14 points.

Love made 7 of 10 shots, including all three of his 3-point attempts. Ballo had 17 points and 11 rebounds, as he and Motiejus Krivas (18 points) created problems for the Bears in the paint.

Cal starting center Fardaws Aimaq fouled out with 12:47 to go after scoring 10 points, and backup Gus Larson picked up his fifth foul with 9:54 left.

The Wildcats shot 59.3 percent for the game, able to easily hold off the Bears, who followed up their cold-shooting first half (26.5 percent) by hitting 55.9 percent after the break.

Cal missed its first 10 3-point attempts but finished 9 of 31 from long range.

Pelle Larsson was a fourth Arizona player in double-figure points (12) and contributed seven assists.

There was never any drama about the outcome as Arizona led 10-3 at the first media timeout and 22-5 at the second media timeout. The Wildcats went on to build a 31-point lead late in the first half before Cal ended with a 3-pointer to make the score 54-26 at the break.

—Field Level Media