• Michael Lev Arizona Daily Star

Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd discusses the Wildcats' come-from-behind, 86-75 overtime victory over No. 3 Iowa State on Monday, Jan. 28, 2025, at McKale Center (video by Michael Lev / Arizona Daily Star)

So this is Big 12 basketball.

This is what all the fuss was about.

Michael Lev is a senior writer/columnist for the Arizona Daily Star, Tucson.com and The Wildcaster.

Intensity. Physicality. Drama. Heartbreak. Joy.

Did you stay up for the latest McKale Miracle Monday night? Were you among the mesmerized masses in the House That Lute Built?

I hope the answer was yes to one of the two, friends. If not, you missed something magical.

Even if Caleb Love hadn’t sunk a last-second 60-footer to send the Arizona-Iowa State game into overtime — where the Wildcats pulled away for an 86-75 victory over the third-ranked Cyclones — this was college basketball at its best. It was what we were promised when Arizona joined the Big 12 Conference.

And guess what? There’s more to come.

“I’m looking around the corner and wondering when it lets up,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said. “But I don’t think it does.”

Arizona guard Caleb Love celebrates his last-second shot to take the game into overtime against Iowa State during a game at McKale Center on Monday, Jan. 27. Arizona won 86-75.

Arizona visits ASU on Saturday, then BYU next Tuesday. Then Texas Tech comes to McKale Center for a rematch of the only Big 12 game the UA has lost so far.

One week after that, No. 6 Houston comes to town. When the calendar flips to March, the Wildcats head to Ames to face Iowa State again. The regular-season finale is at No. 11 Kansas.

Bring it on.

Arizona still has much to prove in this rugged league. It’s one thing to beat a top-five team — which is missing one of its best players — in your building. It’s quite another to do it away from the friendly confines of Tucson.

But if Monday night was a test of their mettle, the Wildcats passed it with ease.

Check that: Nothing about this game was easy, for either side.

Arizona guard Caleb Love is surrounded by Iowa State defenders in the first half during a game at McKale Center on Monday, Jan. 27, 2025.

Passes were contested. Drives were challenged. Shots were threatened. Dribble handoffs were disrupted.

Colleague Steve Rivera suggested this was the most physical game Arizona had been involved in since the Sweet 16 loss to Houston in 2022. He might be right.

The Wildcats had to match the Cyclones’ ferocity. Their guards were fearless. Their bigs were formidable.

Tobe Awaka made sure Arizona wouldn’t wilt.

While Love made the shot no one ever will forget, plus two more 3-pointers in overtime, Awaka provided the ballast the Wildcats desperately needed.

The junior transfer from Tennessee scored 17 points, one shy of his career high, on 6-of-6 shooting. Many were putbacks; he had a game-high 12 rebounds, his third outing in the past four with 12 or more boards.

Awaka was such a presence in the paint that on three occasions he battled for a rebound with one of his teammates, twice nearly knocking them to the floor. Awaka was going to control the lane, and he wasn’t going to let anyone — even his fellow Wildcats — deter him.

Arizona forward Tobe Awaka (30) drives between Iowa State forward Joshua Jefferson (2) and forward Brandton Chatfield during the second half of their game, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025, at McKale Center.

“The dude’s a beast,” Lloyd said.

Aside from the occasional dunk, nothing Awaka does is glamorous. He reminds me of former NBA power forward/enforcer Charles Oakley, whose game Awaka, a New Yorker, surely is familiar with despite their difference in age. Oakley last played in an NBA game on April 4, 2004; Awaka was born on Jan. 30 of that year.

Awaka summed up his role perfectly: “Just doing all the dirty work and taking pride in that.”

Winning this game required getting your hands dirty — or at least getting them on the basketball. There were three such skirmishes in the final 6:12 plus overtime that resulted in jump-ball rulings. The third came with less than 12 seconds left and the outcome already determined. Three Wildcats — Carter Bryant, Jaden Bradley and Love — hit the floor to try to secure the ball. Bradley, who played 40 of the 45 minutes, did it twice.

That said it all: The Wildcats weren’t going to be outworked.

The Arizona Wildcats gather together after guard Caleb Love (1) hit a last-second shot to push the game against Iowa State into overtime at McKale Center on Jan. 27, 2025.

“You have two things: Effort and scheme,” Lloyd said. “You can’t be good at one without the other.”

Love put it this way: “Our message has been gritty, gritty, gritty.”

The other tone-setter in terms of tenacity was sophomore guard KJ Lewis, whose defensive demeanor had his coach and teammates in awe.

“That dude is a bad boy defensively,” Lloyd said. “He was everywhere. I mean, relentless.”

“The energy he brings is second to none defensively,” Awaka said. “Watching him play defense, it’s just amazing.”

It can be contagious, too. Bradley was credited with a career-best seven steals. Love was assigned to check Iowa State guard Curtis Jones, who had a career-high 33 points at ASU two days earlier. Jones finished with eight points on 1-of-11 shooting, including 0 of 8 from beyond the 3-point arc.

Those are the contributions Love makes that even us so-called experts often overlook. It’s easy to see him miss 3-pointers, and he was trending toward one of those head-scratching performances Monday night. He had one open look after another, and he just couldn’t hit. He started 0 of 8 from 3-point range.

Arizona guard Caleb Love, left, and Iowa State guard Keshon Gilbert chase after a loose ball in the second half at McKale Center on Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. Arizona won in overtime 86-75.

Because so much is expected of him — and he’s so maddeningly inconsistent — fans have a Love-hate relationship with the fifth-year guard. But off the court, he’s incredibly likable.

When asked to describe “The Shot” and its aftermath, Love said: “Best moment of my life.” He smiled broadly and blissfully. Earlier, he gleefully ran around the court like one of those students who hits a half-court shot to win a scholarship. Except Love had a defender on him. And the weight of the world.

It was a big-time play to cap Big 12 newbie Arizona’s debut on ESPN’s “Big Monday.” The transition from the Pac-12 to the Big 12 — new opponents, new venues, new days of the week — has been a bit off-putting. Change is hard. Rivalries need time to marinate. Sports hatred can’t be microwaved.

With all due respect to the Cyclones, Iowa State isn’t UCLA — even if, stylistically, it felt like one of those bruising brawls vs. the Bruins.

But it might have been the start of something — our first true exposure to a new world of spellbinding, tantalizing, heart-thumping hoops.

More, please.

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Contact sports reporter/columnist Michael Lev at mlev@tucson.com. On X (Twitter): @michaeljlev. On Bluesky: @michaeljlev.bsky.social