It was a heavyweight fight, as Arizona went the distance with one of the best teams in the country. As the final seconds counted down, though, it looked like the Wildcats were going to come up a few punches short.

Caleb Love thought otherwise.

Love nailed a 55-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime, then drained two more triples in the extra frame to lead the UA to an 86-75 win over No. 3 Iowa State on Monday night at McKale Center.

The Wildcats (14-6, 8-1 Big 12) outscored the Cyclones (17-3, 7-2) 15-4 in the extra session, with Love hitting back-to-back 3s to spark a game-ending 11-0 run after it was tied again at 75. Both of those makes came off steals, as Arizona had 13 steals and turned 18 ISU turnovers into 22 points.

Love finished with 22 points on 8-of-22 shooting, going 4 of 13 from 3, but he also was integral in Arizona’s defense of Iowa State leading scorer Curtis Jones. Jones, who had 33 at ASU on Saturday, was 1 of 11 from the field (0 for 8 from outside) and finished with eight points, his third-fewest output of the season.

Jaden Bradley had seven of Arizona’s steals to go along with nine points,five rebounds and six assists but also six turnovers. Tobe Awaka had 17 points and 12 rebounds while Carter Bryant and KJ Lewis had 14 points each for the Wildcats, which shot 43.9 percent overall and was 10 of 29 from 3.

Iowa State shot 43.1percent and was 7 of 24 from 3. It made only one of six shots in OT while Arizona was 4 of 5 including 3 of 3 from deep in the extra period.

The Wildcats led 34-30 at halftime but it took less than two minutes for Iowa State to go back in front. A Trey Townsend 3 gave Arizona back the lead and it held it until Tamin Lipsey—who led ISU with 18 points—went coast-to-coast for a layup and a 44-43 lead with 15:29 left.

That was part of an 8-0 Cyclones run to go up four only to see Arizona score twice in 16 seconds to tie it again.

Iowa State, which shot only 35.5 percent in the first half, started 9 of 11 in the second half including six consecutive makes, the only thing slowing it down being turnovers. The Cyclones committed a shot clock violation out of a timeout, part of a sequence that saw each team give it away twice in less than 30 seconds, but after things calmed down Arizona scored five in a row to lead 55-51.

A pair of putbacks from Awaka made it 59-55 with 7:45 remaining, but Iowa State tied it on a Joshua Jefferson 3-point play with 5:23 to go.

Iowa State retook the lead at 63-62 on one of free throws by Keshon Gilbert with 3:57 left, and he ended up scoring six in a row for the Cyclones to build a 68-65 edge with 2:19 remaining.

There were no field goals for the next two-plus minutes, only free throws, with both teams missing once in the final 3.9 seconds. Veesaar intentionally missed his second with Arizona down two, then ISU’s Jefferson missed his first before making the second for a 71-68 lead with 2.2 seconds to go.

That set the stage for Love to nearly swish it from beyond halfcourt, sending McKale Center into a frenzy ahead of overtime.

fter that it was almost all Arizona, with ISU going up 73-71 before the Wildcats outscored the Cyclones 15-2 the rest of the way.

Arizona trailed by five early and had to play from behind almost the entire first half. A jumper from the foul line by Love tied it at 16, and it was knotted again at 18 before Iowa State ran off seven in a row to force a UA timeout with 5:19 left before halftime.

Tommy Lloyd called for the 16-0 run play during the break, a run that began with Bradley hitting a 3 after Arizona had started 0 for 9 from deep. Then, after a flop technical on ISU’s Lipsey, the Wildcats scored 13 more in a row including a pair of Bryant 3s and a 3-point play by Lewis that gave them their first lead since 2-1.

Bradley’s tip gave the UA a 34-25 lead with 1:05 left but Iowa State more than halved the lead with two scores in the final minute.

It’s back to the road for Arizona, which plays the next two away from McKale starting Saturday morning—yes, it’s an 11 a.m. MT tip—at ASU.