Caleb Love's career leads to Oregon's first win since 2015 in Arizona-Arizona Desert Swarm men's basketball

For so long, the ugliest place in college basketball. They won't be where Arizona begins its first losing streak in three years.

The Wildcats once again showed their uncanny ability to play their best immediately after a loss, winning 87-78 at Oregon on Saturday afternoon. It was their first win at Matthew Knight Arena since 2015, snapping a six-game losing streak there while also ending their three-game losing streak on the road.

Ninth-seeded Arizona (15-5, 6-3 Pac-12) improved to 14-0 in games following a loss on the season, only the second loss not decided by double digits and only because Oregon (14th). – 6, 6-3) hit a garbage 3-pointer with 10 seconds left.

The Ducks were 7 of 18 from 3 but made just 4 of 14 early, including one from beyond the halfcourt by the end of the first half, and shot 44.8 percent overall, including 39.4 percent in the second half. It was a stark contrast to Thursday's 83-80 loss at Oregon State, when the Beavers made 12 of 20 three-pointers, including a buzzer-beater, to win the game.

The UA was 10 of 19 from 3, with five of those coming from beyond the arc Caleb Love, who scored a career-high 36 points on 12 of 18 shooting. It was the most points a Wildcat has scored in a true away game since then Ivan Radenovic There were 37 at Stanford in 2007, the most at Oregon since then Salim Stoudamire had 37 in 2004.

Kylan Boswell added 14 points, his most since Jan. 4 and matching his points tally from the previous four games Keshad Johnson had 12 and Oumar Ballo went for 10 with nine rebounds.

Arizona led 45-38 at halftime but was down 14 with 1:09 left before halftime after Love threw down a one-handed dunk in transition. He immediately ran toward the Oregon student section, with whom he had been talking nonsense all game, and was assessed a technical foul.

The Ducks made both free throws, got a Dante dunk and then, after Arizona missed two layups in the final 10 seconds, Jermaine Cousinard released a 70-foot water cannon at the buzzer. Cousinard led Oregon with 20 points, but it came on 6 of 19 shooting N'Faly Dante had 19.

Still, the Wildcats managed to get back to a double-digit lead early in the second half and held it until Oregon scored five straight goals to get within 54-46 with 15:57 left. Love responded with his fourth triple, and his fifth brought him to 30 and gave Arizona a 63-48 lead with 12:13 left.

The lead grew to 16 after a Johnson 3, but Oregon took advantage of the foul line to get back to within 10 with 8:29 left. Love then hit two free throws and a floater to cap his career.

The dagger came a few minutes later when Boswell scored five straight, a backdoor layup off a feed from Johnson and then a pullup 3 from the top of the key to give the Wildcats a 75-59 lead with 6:05 left bring to.

The UA made six of its first eight shots to build a 17-5 lead in less than four minutes, but three empty balls followed that allowed Oregon to get within five. The Wildcats still managed to maintain a 2 or 3 point lead over the next 11 minutes Ballo And Motiejus Krivas Combined for five fouls in the first half.

The Wildcats got some separation late in the half thanks to Love, who hit his third three-pointer and later added a reverse layup in transition to make it 41-29 with 2:50 left.

Arizona's defense forced 12 turnovers in the first half, which led to 14 points, but the Ducks still shot 52 percent in the first 20 minutes.

The UA returns home for its next two games, hosting Cal on Thursday and Stanford on Saturday. The Wildcats are 10-0 at McKale Center this season, the same record Oregon had at home earlier in the day.