TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Caleb Love hit five 3-pointers and finished with a season-high 33 points, Henri Veesaar added 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting and Arizona beat TCU 90-81 on Monday night in the Big 12 opener for both teams.
Love made 11 of 17 from the field, hit 6 of 6 from the free-throw line and had seven rebounds and seven assists. Jaden Bradley added 10 points and six assists for Arizona (7-5).
The Wildcats had a season-high 28 assists, led by KJ Lewis’ eight to go with eight points and three steals. Arizona made 33 of 58 (57%) from the field despite missing 15 of its 22 shots from behind the arc.
Love made a layup to open the scoring with 18:30 left in the first half, followed with a 3-pointer 33 seconds later and Arizona led the rest of the way. Five different Wildcats scored in a 13-2 run that pushed the lead to 22-8 with 10:38 left in the first half. TCU scored 15 of the next 19 points to make it a three-point game about 4 minutes later and went into halftime trailing 41-37.
The Horned Frogs got within a point on three occasions in the first five minutes of the second half, but Arizona responded each time, pulling away for good with a 12-5 spurt that made it 76-66 after Tobe Awaka converted a three-point play with 6:30 to play.
Noah Reynolds scored a season-high 23 points with seven assists for TCU (7-5) and Vasean Allette added 15 points on 6-of-19 shooting. Ernest Udeh Jr. scored 10 and grabbed a career-best 14 rebounds and Micah Robinson also scored 10.
