In a rare Wednesday night game, No. 22 Arizona (19-9, 13-4 Big 12) faced off against a new look Utah, which fired its head coach Craig Smith and promoted assistant Josh Eilert to interim head coach. The Wildcats were looking to get back on the winning side after losing a thrilling 96-95 game to BYU.

Star guard Caleb Love helped get the Wildcats off to a fast start with his 17 points in the first half. Arizona took that momentum and was able to keep a solid lead over the Utes, which resulted in an impressive 83-66 win for UA.

It was one of the more efficient games of the season for Love as he scored a team-high 23 points while going 7 of 15 from the field. The key to his scoring was the 3-point shot as he nailed six of his 12 attempts.

Love managed to collect seven assists and four rebounds to just two turnovers on the night to go along with his 23 points.

Through the first five minutes of the game, Arizona shot 56% from the field and looked to have everything clicking on offense. However, the Wildcats finished shooting 41% from the field.

In the second half, Arizona struggled as Utah mixed up its defenses and held the team to 11 of 28 shooting from the field. But, the Wildcats' defense was just as good as the Utes shot 28% from the field in the final half.

Not only was Love able to get the team going from beyond the arc, but forward Tobe Awaka continued his steady play by recording his sixth double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

This marks the third straight game Awaka has recorded a double-double and during this stretch he is averaging 13.3 points and 10.7 rebounds while shooting 73% from the field and has gone 7 of 7 from the free throw line.

As a unit, the Wildcats won the battle of the glass of Utah collecting 45 rebounds to the Utes' 39 with 16 of those coming on the offensive board for the Wildcats.

In the last three games, Arizona has turned the ball over 38 times for an average of 12.7 turnovers per game and has gone 1-2 during that time. Against the Utes, the Wildcats finished with just seven turnovers while totaling 16 assists for a 2.3 ratio.

Still, despite the offensive success versus Utah, Arizona hit lulls throughout the game in the second half. So, yes it was a great win for the Wildcats but there are areas the team will need to improve upon as it gets closer to the end of the regular season.

Arizona will hit the road to face off against No. 9 Iowa State (21-7, 11-6) looking to sweep the regular season series. The Wildcats will tip off on Saturday at 7 p.m. (MST) with the game being televised on ESPN.

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