No. 4 Arizona hammers Washington

TUCSON, ARIZ. >> One of the hallmark’s of Tommy Lloyd’s tenure at Arizona has been the ability to bounce back from a loss. The Wildcats have been doing it for three years, winning every time, almost always in a blowout.

Washington knew what was coming after the Wildcats lost to Washington State two days earlier. The Huskies just couldn’t do much about it.

Caleb Love scored 28 points to eclipse 2,000 for his career and No. 4 Arizona bounced back from its first home loss of the season with a 91-75 win over Washington on Saturday.

“Today was a response game,” coach Lloyd said. “You just want to get the result.”

The Wildcats (21-6, 12-4 Pac-12) lost at McKale Center for the first time this year Thursday night, falling 77-74 to No. 21 Washington State.

Arizona shook it off quickly with a short turnaround, blistering the Huskies with a near-perfect start to build a 17-point lead in the opening 7 1/2 minutes in the teams’ final meeting at McKale Center as Pac-12 members.

Arizona’s Oumar Ballo controlled the paint after a quiet first half, finishing with 14 points, 14 rebounds and three blocked shots as the Wildcats turned back every Washington challenge. Arizona is 17-0 under Lloyd following a loss and has gone 99 straight games without losing two straight, the third-longest streak in Pac-12 history.

“We don’t let our last mistake affect our next opportunity,” Ballo said.

The Huskies (15-13, 7-10) had a wild night to start their two-game desert swing, beating Arizona State 84-82 in overtime on Thursday night after blowing a 25-point lead.

Washington spent most of the afternoon against Arizona unsuccessfully trying to dig out of the big early hole, getting no closer than nine after falling behind by 23.