Arizona needed a miracle to survive.
With two seconds left in regulation, the Wildcats trailed No. 3 Iowa State, 71-68, inbounding on the far baseline. They had zero timeouts left, so they couldn’t advance the ball to halfcourt even if they wanted to.
Turns out, Arizona guard Caleb Love didn’t need an easier shot, draining a last-second heave at the buzzer to force overtime. The Wildcats (14-6, 8-1 Big 12) built on the momentum, outscoring the Cyclones (17-3, 7-2 Big 12) 15-4 in overtime and winning, 85-76, to secure the program’s biggest win in over a year.
CALEB LOVE JUST LAUNCHED IT FROM BEYOND HALF COURT TO SEND IT TO OT 😱
📺: ESPN pic.twitter.com/PaL8fC6SxQ
— ESPN (@espn) January 28, 2025
The Big 12 matchup was a back-and-forth battle from tip-off till the final buzzer — no team led by more than nine points in the contest. Arizona led 34-30 at halftime.
And the game only intensified as the time went on, with each team trading punches like there was no tomorrow. Shooting 57.1% from the field, Iowa State eventually took back the lead in nearly the last three minutes of play behind guard Keshon Gilbert’s back-to-back buckets.
However, the Wildcats turned up the temperature out west on the Cyclones in overtime. Thriving off the home crowd that was just coming down from Love’s buzzer-beater, Arizona shot 80% from the field and went on an 11-0 run spearheaded by Love’s back-to-back threes.
The Cyclones went cold in the last five minutes of play, making just one of six shots, resulting in their second loss of the month — third on the year.
Although the Wildcats have six losses on the season, they’ve lost just one game in conference play, and sit in second place in Big 12 standings. Love finished with a game-high 22 points.
