No. 22 Arizona blows out Utah to hold onto 2nd place in Big 12 standings

Arizona demonstrated the gap between a No. 22 team and a team playing in its first game without its head coach, blowing out Utah 83-66 on Wednesday.

Caleb Love led the way with one of his better shooting performances this year, scoring 23 points on 7-for-15 shooting (six of 12 3s). He has back-to-back games of at least 20 points after a season high-matching streak of five games held below the mark.

Love was helped by a dozen apiece from Henri Veesaar, Tobe Awaka and Jaden Bradley, as Arizona led by as many as 24.

The Wildcats played the kind of game coach Tommy Lloyd would be proud of, finding assists on 16 of their first 26 made shots with just seven turnovers.

Utah (15-13, 7-10), which was led by interim coach Josh Eilert after it fired Craig Smith earlier this week, struggled to find good looks to the tune of 33.9% shooting. It had nearly as many turnovers (12) as assists (14).

Where does Arizona stand in Big 12 standings after win?

The win gave Arizona (19-9, 13-4) sole possession of second place in the Big 12 standings. It has a one-game lead over Texas Tech with three games remaining.

The third-place Red Raiders fell to conference leader Houston on Monday. With three games remaining and a three-game lead, the Cougars are one win away from their second straight regular season title in as many seasons in the conference.

Arizona has games at No. 9 Iowa State, in Tucson against ASU and at now-unranked Kansas to close out its regular season. Texas Tech similarly has Kansas and ASU remaining, but it also will host last-place Colorado.

The conference’s top four teams get double-byes in the conference tournament, which Arizona has not yet clinched. Beating fourth-place Iowa State on Saturday would help greatly.

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