Caleb Love scores 28 to lead Arizona Wildcats to 91-75 win over Washington at McKale

Tommy Lloyd asked a bunch of college students to show up early Saturday, then pretty much crossed his fingers.

“Do you think many of these guys wanted to be up at 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning?” the coach said of his Arizona Wildcats. “Probably not.”

But just after noon, barely into No. 4-ranked Arizona’s 91-75 win over Washington on Saturday at McKale Center, it was clear the answer really didn’t matter.

Motivated again for redemption after Thursday’s 77-74 loss to No. 21 Washington State muddied their drive for a final Pac-12 title, and with guard Caleb Love on a personal mission that could help them find some, the Wildcats were already up by double-digits after less than six minutes.

With two assists, a layup and a 3-pointer already at that point, Love was on pace to break the 2,000-point barrier as a collegian. He needed 28 entering Saturday, meaning he either he had to have a big scoring afternoon or risk having to reach the threshold at ASU’s Desert Financial Arena on Wednesday — or, worse, averaging less than 14 points over two games before UA’s final home game next Saturday.

Love finished with exactly 28, ending with a dagger 3-pointer that gave UA a 17-point lead with 1:27 left.

“l wanted to do it at home,” Love said. “God willing, everything worked out and I got it. If I didn’t get it, I would have been happy to do it at their place.”

But if he had to do it at ASU’s place, the Wildcats might have been in a different place on Saturday at their place.

Love’s early production led to a 20-point first half, helping the Wildcats take a 52-35 halftime lead, while his game total of 28 points, seven rebounds and five assists helped UA go on to win its 15th straight game after a regular-season loss under Lloyd.

The win moved the Wildcats to 21-6 overall and 12-4 in the Pac-12, while Washington dropped to 15-13 and 7-10.

Love also did it efficiently, hitting 9 of 19 field goals, including half his 10 3-point attempts, while also making 5 of 6 free throws. UA center Oumar Ballo added his seventh straight double-double, with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Pelle Larsson added 17 points, five rebounds and seven assists with no turnovers, and Keshad Johnson had 16 points.

All that production helped offset a rough game for point guard Kylan Boswell, who had nine points and five rebounds but three turnovers and a defensive lapse that led Lloyd to verbally drill into him in the first half.

Arizona had taken a 42-21 lead with 6:23 left before halftime before Washington scored 10 straight points. Lloyd called a timeout with 4:35 to go after Washington’s Nate Calmese sank a 3-pointer and pulled Boswell out.

“We got a little sloppy and we’ve just got to understand how to control the game,” Lloyd said. “Kylan has to learn that and that’s why it was on him, because I know that’s kind of a next step for him.”

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While Arizona managed to build back what was 17-point lead at halftime and led 61-38 just three minutes into the second half, the Wildcats slipped again midway through the second half.

Washington went on a 14-2 run to pull within nine points, 69-60, by the time Huskies forward Moses Wood hit a 3-pointer with 9:21 to go.

Suddenly, it was a game again.

But the Wildcats gradually built the lead again, with a 3-pointer from Larsson and a one-handed dunk from Ballo off a feed from Love helping them take an 82-66 lead with 2:13 remaining.

Zig, zag. It was a much more preferable pace for the Wildcats to play at than they did against Washington State’s long and patient defense Thursday, but Washington enjoyed it, too.

“The challenge is that it comes right back at you,” Lloyd said of the pace. “Not a lot of people do that, so it tests your transition defense as well. And, hey, two games in 36 hours? Maybe we got a little bit tired in the second half.”

Maybe. But the Wildcats, and Love, still had plenty of motivation to push them through, though it did bubble over at one point late in the game.

Johnson drove down the middle for an emphatic dunk that gave UA an 84-68 lead, but the UA bench was called for a technical foul for spilling onto the court to celebrate, and UW’s Keion Brooks hit two resulting free throws.

Still, Arizona never lost control of the game from there. Love hit his dagger 3 to give the Wildcats an 87-70 lead, and the video board celebrated his 2,000-point mark.

Love is one of only 23 active college players to have reached the milestone, having scored 1,476 over three seasons at North Carolina and now 524 at Arizona.

So far.

“He’s an incredible basketball player, and he’s got a really bright future,” Lloyd said. “We’re lucky to have him. You know, to score 2,000 points is not easy to do… and the way he came out today really set the tone for us. He got us off to a good start.”

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Photos: Arizona takes down Washington 91-75, Pac 12 basketball