Love, Balllo power No. 4 Arizona to win over Cal in Pac-12 opener

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Caleb Love scored 22 points and Oumar Balllo had his third consecutive double-double to lead No. 4 Arizona to a 100-81 win over California in the Pac-12 opener for both on Friday night.

Balllo finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Wildcats (10-2). Pelle Larsson added 12 points and seven assists. Motiejus Krivas scored 18.

Love scored 20 or more points for the fifth time this season and the 31st time in his career. He shot 7 for 10 from the field.

Love had a big game despite drawing a technical foul for taunting. He drew the call after making a powerful dunk over Gus Larson and glaring at the California player in the second half.

It was one of the few things that didn’t go right for Arizona.

Jaylon Tyson had 22 points and 10 rebounds and Jaylen Celestine added 14 points as the Bears (4-8) lost for the seventh time in nine games.

The Wildcats were coming off a 96-95, double-overtime loss to then-No. 14 Florida Atlantic.

Arizona never trailed in this game and led by double digits over the final 34 minutes. The Wildcats have won 14 straight against Cal.

The Bears have shown dramatic improvement under first-year Cal coach Mark Madsen, but were no match against the Wildcats.

Arizona sped to an early lead and extended that advantage to 31 points.

The Wildcats shot nearly 70% in the first half and were equally effective on the defense side while outhustling and outmuscling the Bears.

Arizona made 13 of its first 16 shots and got consecutive 3-pointers from Love during a 14-0 run.

BIG PICTURE Arizona: On paper ,this had the makings of a blowout and it was exactly that. The Wildcats did just about anything they wanted against the smaller, slower Bears and set the pace early with a 14-0 run. It was the 17th time this season that Arizona has had a 10-0 run or more, second-most in the country behind Houston. It’s the fourth time this season that the Wildcats have scored 100 or more.

California: The Bears didn’t shoot well and kept hurting themselves trying to attack the lane, where they were stymied by the powerful Ballo and his 7-foot-2 freshman backup Krivas. The Arizona twin towers repeatedly altered shots and prevented Cal from getting anything going in the paint. The Bears never found any consistency with their offense and paid the price.

UP NEXT

Arizona: Play at Stanford on Sunday.

California: Faces Arizona State at Haas Pavilion on Sunday.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball