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Caleb Holt had 24 points while Ivan Kharchenkov added 19 points as No. 12 Arizona ended the nation's longest active nonconference win streak with an 80-69 victory over host Auburn on Friday night.
The Wildcats (3-1) won their first road game against a Southeastern Conference team since 2016, the same year Auburn (2-1) last lost at home to a non-SEC school. The Tigers had won 69 consecutive nonconference games at Neville Arena.
Holt, a freshman who grew up in Alabama, hit four of six 3-pointers after coming into the game 1 of 11 from outside. He also had nine rebounds and five steals.
Kharchenkov added eight rebounds, and Motiejus Krivas had 12 to go with 16 points, four assists and three blocks as Arizona finished plus-12 on the boards (49-37).
Auburn got 15 points from Thomas Dowd and 12 from Adam Olsen. Leading scorer Tahad Pettiford, who entered averaging 22.0 points per game, finished with nine points on 4-of-14 shooting, while Kevin Overton tallied five points on 2-of-13 shooting.
The Tigers blocked 13 shots, including six from Narcisse Ngoy, but shot only 34.8% from the floor.
Arizona led 36-32 at halftime but was up 14 less than three minutes into the second half thanks to a 10-0 run. Auburn cut it to 51-48 with 12:41 to go on a 3-pointer by George Kimble III and tied it on an Owen Freeman hook with 10:47 left.
The Tigers took their first lead since 20-18 when Freeman hit a free throw with 9:08 remaining, and Olsen hit three foul shots for a 61-59 lead before Arizona scored nine in a row. A 3-pointer by Kharchenkov made it 68-61 Arizona with 5:20 left.
The teams combined to miss 13 of their first 15 shots before settling in, with Arizona taking a 14-9 lead on back-to-back 3-pointers by Holt and Derek Dixon. Auburn responded with an 8-0 run, all from Thomas Dowd.
Seven straight points by Krivas helped the Wildcats go up 33-24 only to see the Tigers hit consecutive triples to get within two late in the first half.