Arizona snaps out of recent funk, pummels Samford

Caleb Love scored 23 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field with five rebounds and four assists to lead Arizona to a 96-64 victory Wednesday over visiting Samford.The Wildcats (5-5) bounced back after Saturday’s loss against UCLA, which was its third loss in four games.Samford (9-3) had its five-game winning streak snapped.The night included former Arizona guard T.J. McConnell, of the Indiana Pacers who is a 10-year NBA veteran, joining the Wildcats’ Ring of Honor at McKale Center.Trey Townsend finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and four assists against Samford. Anthony Dell’Orso, making his first start of the season, had 14 points.Jaden Bradley added 11 points and six assists. KJ Lewis, who also had 11 points, made all seven of his free-throw attempts.Jaden Brownell led Samford with 13 points while Trey Fort and Julian Brown each had 11.The Wildcats built a 56-33 lead at halftime after committing only four turnovers against Samford’s constant full-court pressure defense.Arizona had runs of 10-3 and 13-2 in the first half.Love had 18 points before halftime on 5-of-7 shooting from the field, 6 of 8 from the free-throw line.Arizona made 61.3 percent of its shots from the field in the first half and 58.2 percent for the game.The overall shooting made up for the Wildcats’ 7-of-22 performance from 3-point range.