Caleb Love scores a career-high 36 points as No. 9 Arizona beats Oregon 87-78

By STEVE MIMS
Associated Press

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Caleb Love scored a career-high 36 points, and No. 9 Arizona beat Oregon 87-78 on Saturday.

Kylan Boswell added 14 points as the Wildcats (15-5, 6-3 Pac-12) bounced back after losing 83-80 at Oregon State on Thursday on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer. Keshad Johnson scored 12 points, and Oumar Ballo had 10 points and nine rebounds.

Arizona, which had dropped three straight road games, moved into a tie with Oregon for the top spot in the conference standings. Coach Tommy Lloyd has not lost consecutive games during his three seasons as coach.

“After taking the ‘L’ on Thursday, we came into the next game with more of a fire,” Boswell said. “You don’t want to take back-to-back losses, we are trying to keep that streak for coach Lloyd. That was kind of the mindset.”

Love, a transfer from North Carolina, made five 3-pointers. He went 12 for 18 from the field.

“I was just trying to play within the offense and let my teammates create for me,” Love said.

Jermaine Couisnard scored 20 points for Oregon (14-6, 6-3), which lost for the third time in four games. N’Faly Dante added 19, and Kario Oquendo scored 13.

“Really disappointed,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said. “The guys are disappointed. … Just too many mistakes, by the players, by me, to beat a good team.”

Boswell made two foul shots and Love connected from deep to help Arizona open a 63-48 lead with 12:13 left.

Oregon closed to 66-56 on Couisnard’s two foul shots with 8:30 to play, but Love followed with four straight points and Boswell’s 3 made it 75-59 with 6:05 remaining.

“We have been fighting to play better, it hasn’t come easy for a while,” Lloyd said. “There have been ups and downs, but that is part of the journey. I am thankful that the guys have hung with it. This was a good step forward for the team.”

The Ducks closed the first half with a 7-0 run to trim the Wildcats’ lead to 45-38 at the break. Couisnard beat the buzzer with a heave from the 3-point line on the other side of the court.

BIG PICTURE

Arizona: The Wildcats are back in a tie for first place in the Pac-12, but likely will drop out of the top 10 in the AP rankings after the loss to Oregon State. But Arizona could move back up after home games next week against California and Stanford, which are in the bottom half of the conference standings.

Oregon: G Keeshawn Barthelemy had to be helped off the court with a lower-body injury in the second half. Oregon was already without five-star freshman Mookie Cook due to injury.

UP NEXT

Arizona hosts California on Thursday.

Oregon visits Southern California on Thursday.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball