SALT LAKE CITY— After their second-half lead of 16 points evaporated and led to an extra 15 minutes of play, Arizona went on a 9-0 run that led to its 105-99 win over Utah in three overtimes Thursday at the Huntsman Center.
Arizona wing Pelle Larsson, who spent his freshman season with the Utes in 2020-21, led Arizona with 27 points, seven rebounds and eight assists.
Guard Caleb Love wound up with 19 points and 10 rebounds, while point guard Kylan Boswell had 16 points and five assists despite missing four minutes of action in the second half with an injury to his left shoulder.
Branden Carlson led Utah with 27 points and 15 rebounds.
It was Arizona’s longest game since the Wildcats lost at USC 103-101 in a four-overtime thriller during the 2015-16 season.
UA hadn’t won a game with more than two overtimes since the Wildcats won at Cal 107-105 in a three-overtime game during the 2010-11 season.
Though Love missed a 35-footer with two seconds left in regulation and was just 5 for 20 overall from the field, he hit a 3-pointer to give UA a 99-93 lead with 2:13 to go in the third overtime period, when the Utes went scoreless for over 3½ minutes.
UA went on to build a 102-93 lead with 40 seconds left on a free throw by Jaden Bradley as fans filed out of the Huntsman Center.
Arizona took an 88-84 lead in the second overtime period after Love drew a 3-point shooting foul from Utah’s Hunter Erickson and hit all three ensuing free throws. An alley-oop dunk from Keba Keita later tied it at 88 but Larsson drove in for a layup to give UA a 90-88 lead with three minutes left in the second extra session.
A missed 3 from the right corner from Carlson later left UA with a 91-89 lead but, after the Wildcats turned it over, Utah received two free throws from Keita to tie the game at 91 entering the final minute.
Arizona had two chances to take the lead and possibly win the game at the end of the second overtime period. Keita was called for a foul while blocking Larsson’s shot with 52 seconds left, but Larsson missed both free throws.
Then, after Gabe Madsen missed a 3 wildly with 24 seconds left, Love rebounded the missed shot. He then dribbled down to the two-second mark before launching a 35-foot shot that missed, and the game went into a third overtime.
With the game tied at 82 and 26 seconds left in the first overtime period, Utah point guard Deivon Smith dribbled off about 15 seconds before driving inside to the left of the basket. But, as he drove the baseline, he stepped out of bounds with 4.5 seconds left to give Arizona a final chance to score. Officials reviewed the play and reset the clock to 5.1 seconds.
Love inbounded to center Oumar Ballo, who passed it back to Love. Love then dribbled downcourt and to the right side of the basket, but his 12-foot floater missed at the buzzer.
Larsson opened the scoring in the first overtime period with a driving layup to give UA a 78-76 lead, but a 3-pointer from Erickson gave the Utes a 79-78 lead. After UA later committed a shot-clock violation, Utah’s Smith maneuvered through the baseline and dropped a pass squarely for Carlson, who tossed in a 6-footer to give Utah an 81-80 lead with 1:18 left.
After Arizona called a timeout with 1:11 left, the Wildcats failed to score after Pelle Larsson had a shot blocked and both Love and Oumar Ballo missed shots. Then Larsson fouled Smith with 42.8 seconds left, and Smith hit the first of two free throws to give the Utes an 82-80 lead.
Love hit a 10-foot floater with 28 seconds left to tie the game at 82 before both teams failed to score on their final possessions, sending the game into a second overtime period.
In regulation, the Wildcats carried a five-point lead heading into the final minute, though a dunk from Keita cut their lead to 76-73 with 52 seconds left. Utah coach Craig Smith called a timeout before the Wildcats could set up their offense.
Arizona managed to take some time off the clock with its ensuing possession, but Love missed a 12-footer with 26 seconds left. Deivon Smith grabbed the rebound and passed to Madsen, who spotted up for a quick 3-pointer from the right wing that sailed through the net to tie it at 76 with 19.4 seconds left.
The game then went into overtime after the Wildcats passed the ball around the right wing several times on their last possession of regulation but a 25-footer from Boswell with one second left bounced off the rim.
Utah wound up shooting 52.8% in the second half while hitting 8 of 11 3-pointers.
With 5:25 left in regulation, Boswell suffered what initially appeared to be a serious injury to his left shoulder. He left the floor grimacing in pain and headed into the locker room with UA trainer Justin Kokoskie while clutching his left shoulder, but returned to the bench five minutes later while Kokoskie took a massage gun to the injured area.
Boswell re-entered the game with 1:32 left and Arizona held a 73-70 lead. A free throw from Carlson made it 73-71, but Love hit 1 of 2 fee throws and, after drawing a foul from Carlson, Johnson hit two free throws to put the Wildcats ahead 76-71 with 1:10 to go.
Arizona led by 16 at halftime and again early in the second half, but Utah gradually chipped away over the first 10 minutes of the second half with torrid shooting. After shooting just 32.4% in the first half, Utah was 52.4% from the field over the first 10 minutes of the second half while hitting all six 3-pointers it tried.
Eighth-ranked Arizona entered Thursday’s game at 17-5 overall and 8-3 in the Pac-12 but had lost three of its past four road games.
