Caleb Love hits six 3s and scores 23 points as No. 22 Arizona thumps Utah 83-66

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Caleb Love hit six 3-pointers and scored 23 points, leading No. 22 Arizona to an 83-66 blowout over Utah on Wednesday night in the Utes' first game since coach Craig Smith was fired.

Utah (15-13, 7-10 Big 12) fired Smith on Monday and named assistant Josh Eilert as interim coach. The change did little good against the Wildcats (19-9, 13-4).

Arizona jumped on the Utes early, building a 14-point halftime lead and rolling from there to keep Utah winless in Tucson since 1986.

Arizona's Tobe Awaka finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Keanu Dawes and Ezra Ausar led Utah with 18 points each.

Arizona had one of its worst defensive games of the season in a loss to BYU on Saturday, allowing the Cougars to shoot 55% from the floor.

The Wildcats were good at both ends against Utah in the first half — particularly Love.

The preseason AP All-American scored first on a jumper in the lane and kept draining shots. Love had 17 points by halftime, hitting 4 of 7 from 3 to push Arizona to a 46-32 halftime lead.

Utah missed eight of its first nine shots in the second half as Arizona stretched the lead to 21.

Takeaways

Utah: The Utes were no match for the motivated Wildcats, falling to 2-19 at McKale Center.

Arizona: The Wildcats needed a bounce back after the BYU loss and pulled it off with a dominant performance.

Key moment

Love scored 12 points over the final 6:11 of the first half as Arizona built a comfortable lead.

Key stat

Arizona had eight first-half steals and scored 17 points off Utah's nine turnovers.

Up next

Utah plays at Arizona State, and Arizona is at No. 9 Iowa State on Saturday.

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