Caleb Love had a season-high 33 points to go along with seven rebounds and seven assists and Arizona never trailed in the first Big 12 game in program history, beating TCU 90-81 on Monday night in Tucson, Ariz.
The 90 points are the most allowed by TCU (7-5, 0-1 Big 12) this season.
Arizona (7-5, 1-0) shot 56.9 percent from the field, with Love going 11-for-17. Reserve Henri Veesaar finished with 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting for the Wildcats. He added six rebounds and four assists.
Noah Reynolds led the Horned Frogs with 23 points and seven assists. Ernest Udeh Jr. recorded a double-double (10 points, 14 boards), and Vasean Allette chipped in 18 points and five rebounds.
Love was strong from the start, scoring the first five points of the game.
The Wildcats later went on a 13-2 run to establish a 22-8 lead with 10:38 left in the first half. Love had 10 points at that point.
TCU’s 13-2 run that featured five points apiece from Udeh and Reynolds cut the Arizona lead to 26-23 with 6:40 remaining in the half.
Arizona followed with eight unanswered points.
A dunk by Love with 2:44 left in the half gave Arizona a 39-28 lead. The Horned Frogs closed the period on a 9-2 run and trailed 41-37 at halftime. Love had 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field before the break while Allette had 12 points and Reynolds scored 10 over the first 20 minutes of action for the visitors.
TCU cut the Wildcats’ lead to one point on three occasions early in the second half, but the Horned Frogs could not move in front.
After Love and TCU’s Isaiah Manning traded five 3-pointers, with Love making three of them, Arizona led 67-61 with 10:25 left in the game.
A breakaway dunk by KJ Lewis capped a 7-2 spurt for Arizona, which led 71-63 with 8:35 remaining. The Wildcats managed to lead by at least six points over the last 7:26. A layup by Tobe Awaka with 3:23 to go gave Arizona its biggest lead of the second half, 86-75.
–Field Level Media
