Arizona takes down Long Beach State in tournament opener

Arizona avenges last years first round loss with a win over Long Beach State.

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (KYMA, KECY) - Caleb Love scored 18 points and had 11 rebounds to lead the Arizona Wildcats to an 85 to 65 victory over Long Beach State in the first round of the NCAA men's basketball tournament on Thursday.

Arizona advances to the round of 32. This avenges last years opening round loss to another 15-seed in Princeton. This ends the season for the Big West champion Long Beach State.

At halftime the Wildcats led 41-35. Despite the back and forth first half, the Wildcats exploded in the second half and went on to claim a dominant 20 point victory.

"You have to make a team like that that's playing with that emotion and positivity, you got to show them the end of their season," Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd said after the game. "You got to give them a glimpse of like if they don't start playing better, this could be it. And you got to flip the script on them. And and I thought we were able to do that in the second half and kind of flip the script on them a little bit. And then they saw the end and and we didn't."

On Saturday, Arizona will face Dayton.