Caleb Love leads Arizona to 96-64 win over Samford Bulldogs at McKale Center

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Caleb Love had 23 points on 7-for-14 shooting to help the Arizona Wildcats beat Samford 96-64 on Wednesday at McKale Center.

Facing the Bulldogs’ aggressive full-court pressure, the Wildcats shot 58.2% and had only four turnovers in the first half. However, they turned it over nine times in a second half in which Samford mostly played the Wildcats evenly.

Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd started Anthony Dell’Orso for the first time this season at small forward, while playing freshman 7-footer Emmanuel Stephen for the first time with 2:36 left in the game. Lloyd had said Tuesday that he would pull Stephen’s redshirt because of a foot injury that is threating to keep projected starting center Motiejus Krivas out all season.

Love hit 3 of 9 3-pointers while also going to the free throw line far more often than he had all season. Love had taken only 12 free throws over the Wildcats’ previous nine games but took eight, all in the first half.

Trey Townsend added 12 points and seven rebounds while Jaden Bradley had 11 points and six assists.

The win moved Arizona back to .500 at 5-5, with a final nonconference game left to play, Saturday against Central Michigan at McKale Center. Samford dropped to 9-3.

Returning home after losing five of their seven previous games, the Wildcats began without many flaws early against the aggressive Bulldogs’ defense and led comfortably after the first 18 minutes, though Samford played them even throughout the second half.

Love hit a 3-pointer on UA’s first possession and the Wildcats took a 13-9 lead into the first media timeout, having made 5 of 9 shots and with assists setting up each one. They also did not turn the ball over once during that span.

Up by 23 at halftime, Arizona let its lead slip to 14 over the first six minutes of the second half after Samford scored seven straight points, including a 3-pointer from Collin Holloway.

But Samford outscored the Wildcats by four through the first 16 minutes of the second half, with UA committing six…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/caleb-love-leads-arizona-96-044211372.html

Author : AZCentral | The Arizona Republic

Publish date : 2024-12-19 04:42:00

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