Love's Half-Court Buzzer-Beater Leads Wildcat's to Seventh Conference Win vs. Iowa State

Arizona basketball star Caleb Love's heroic buzzer-beater shot leads Wildcat's to their seventh conference win on the season, beating No. 3 Iowa State in overtime, 86-75.

Iowa State proved to be the biggest challenge for the Wildcats this season since their early loss to Duke. The game was deemed over after Iowa State's Joshua Jefferson made both of his free throws putting Iowa State up 71-68 over Arizona with just 2.2 seconds left on the clock.

However, it became instantly clear that Iowa State left too much time on the clock for senior Caleb Love. Love made a half-court shot after the buzzer sounded tying the game 71-71 to send both teams into overtime, where Love recorded two more three pointers to ultimately win the game for Arizona.

The Wildcat's have not beat a top-5 ranked team at home since 1979 with a win over No. 3 UCLA at Mckale center.

Although Love's second-half shot and overtime three-pointers propelled the Wildcats to a win, he had a slow start on the night going 3-8 with only 6 points in the first half.

Tobe Awaka was pivotal for Arizona after coming off a career-high performance versus CU Boulder. Awaka recorded 17 points and 12 rebounds propelling the Wildcat's to their third consecutive conference win.

Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd called Awaka "a beast," after the performance, adding that Tobe allowed Arizona to make early runs in the game that created a divide between Iowa and Arizona leading to the Wildcat's success on the night.

KJ Lewis and Freshman phenom Carter Bryant both had tremendous performances against Iowa State as well, both scoring 14 points. Lewis also recorded 6 assists and 8 rebounds, coupled with an astounding defensive performance.

Arizona faces a tough schedule throughout the rest of the regular season, heading to rival Arizona State on Saturday and continuing on the road to BYU the next Tuesday.