By R.L. Bynum
Caleb Love has never been shy about taking a shot in a pressure situation on a national stage, and he showed that again Saturday in Las Vegas.
His last one, a long 3-point attempt that would have won the game, didn’t fall, though, after repeatedly coming up clutch after halftime on a day when he scored 26 points, four 3-pointers, made all four free-throw attempts and pulled down five rebounds.
“I thought it was going down,” Love said. “I probably should have got it to the paint or something like that. It was three seconds left, I tried to create some space and get a shot up. I’ll learn from this shot.”
Love’s shot bounced off the back of the rim with 1.2 seconds left in the second overtime as No. 14 Florida Atlantic (10–2) won a highly entertaining double-overtime game over No. 4 Arizona 96–95 in the Desert Classic at T-Mobile Arena for the Owls’ first win over a top-10 team in program history.
“I figured they were gonna come out and switch a bunch of things,” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said. “So, we just wanted to put the ball in Caleb or [Pelle Larsson’s] hands at the end there. I figured one of them was about to make a play off the dribble. We got a shot. Caleb’s a big shot-taker, and he’s a big shot-maker. I feel good about the look, and it was just in and out.”
The Wildcats (9–2) couldn’t find a way to stop Florida Atlantic’s Johnell Davis, who played 49 minutes, collecting 35 points, nine rebounds and three assists for the program that made the Final Four last season.
Love, who was 8 of 25 from the floor and 4 of 12 from 3-point range, has scored at least 20 points in three of the last four games after doing it only once in Arizona’s first seven games. He scored at least 20 points for Carolina 11 times last season.
But his 32% shooting from the floor was his fourth-worst shooting game of the season. Love is shooting 30.6% from 3-point range for the season after hitting 29.9% from outside the arc last season.
Arizona led by as many as 14 points midway through the first half and had a 37–31 halftime edge, with Love only scoring seven points.
“It’s a game of runs in basketball, and so hats off to them,” Love said. “They executed some of those plays, and they had big-time players to make big-time shots. So, unfortunately, we came up on the short end of the stick, but this will definitely help us.”
After the Wildcats trailed by eight with 12:37 left in the second half, Love helped rally them.
His 3-pointer and layup keyed a 10–0 run that turned a seven-point deficit into a three-point lead with 4:28 left in regulation.
His long 3-pointer with 1:13 remaining in regulation gave Arizona a two-point lead before a dunk by FAU’s Vadislav Goldin with seven seconds left sent the game into the first overtime.
Love scored seven of Arizona’s 11 points in the first overtime, tying it on a 3-pointer with 38 seconds left and on two free throws with five seconds left.
Love tied it again on two free throws with 1:27 left in the second overtime after drawing a foul pulling down a rebound at the other end. But after Giancarlo Rosaldo’s free throw gave the Owls a one-point lead with 57 seconds left, Love missed a twisting layup attempt in traffic with 43 seconds left before missing his last-second shot.
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Equally big for Arizona was center Oumar Ballo, who had 13 points, 21 rebounds, three steals and a block.
Arizona goes into the holiday break after a challenging four-game stretch. The Wildcats beat No. 23 Wisconsin 97–73 on Dec. 9, lost to No. 3 Purdue 92–84 on Dec. 16 and beat Alabama 87–74 on Dec. 20.
“It just helps us going into the long run, especially going into Pac-12 play, and then it’s gonna help us obviously going into March as far these big-time games, against these big-time teams,” Love said. “Get into situations that we may not be able to, like Coach says, simulate in practice. I’m glad Coach put this schedule together because we know what to expect going down and going forward.”
Dontrez Styles had 12 points and two 3-pointers in Georgetown’s 81–51 loss Friday at Marquette as the Hoyas fell to 7–6 overall and 0–2 in the Big East.
Justin McKoy collected 11 points, two 3-pointers, and seven rebounds in Hawaii’s 73–68 loss Friday to Georgia Tech in the semifinals of the Diamond Head Classic, playing on the Rainbow Warriors’ home court.
Hawaii (8–4) lost to TCU 65–51 Sunday in the third-place game, with McKoy contributing three points, five rebounds and three steals while battling foul trouble.
Will Shaver didn’t play in UAB’s 79–78 Friday home victory over Drake.
Elliot Cadeau, Michigan guard
6–1, 180 pounds | Junior | UNC 2023–25 (2 seasons)
Roster situation — Starter
Season statistics — 38 games, 38 starts, 10.2 points, 41.6 FG%, 37.7 3P%, 69.4 FT%, 2.7 rebounds, 5.8 assists
Team record: 35–3; Rank: No. 3
Friday: 90–77 win Midwest Regional Sweet 16 in Chicago vs. No. 18 Alabama — Started; 33:37, 17 points, 6–14 FG, 3–8 3FG, 2–5 FT, 5 rebounds, 2 fouls, 7 assists, 1 turnover, 1 steal, 1 block, +15
Sunday: 95–62 win Midwest Regional final in Chicago vs. No. 23 Tennessee — Started; 34:20, 8 points, 3–7 FG, 1–2 3FG, 1–2 FT, 3 rebounds, 2 fouls, 10 assists, 3 turnovers, 2 steals, +30
Next game — 8:49 p.m. Saturday vs. No. 2 Arizona at Final Four in Indianapolis, TBS
Trayanna Crisp, Mississippi State guard
5–8 | Senior | UNC 2024–25 (1 season)
Roster situation — Starter
Season statistics — 30 games, 30 starts, 8.7 points, 38.3 FG%, 37.1 3P%, 84.6 FT%, 2.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists
Team record: 18–13
Season ended with SEC tournament loss
RyLee Grays, Tulsa forward
6–4 | Junior | UNC 2023–24 (1 season)
Roster situation — One of four forwards competing for time
Season statistics — 30 games, 2.3 points, 43.6 FG%, 4–10 3FG, 69.7 FT%, 2.3 rebounds, 8 blocks, 12 steals
Team record: 19–12
Season ended with loss in American Conference tournament
Ian Jackson, St. John’s guard
6–5, 195 pounds | Sophomore | UNC 2024–25 (1 season)
Roster situation — Starter, sharing time in a point-guard-by-committee mix
Season statistics — 36 games, 19 starts, 9.4 points, 40.9 FG%, 34.3 3P%, 90.0 FT%, 2.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists
Team record: 30–7; Rank: No. 13
Friday: 80–75 loss in East Regional Sweet 16 in Washington vs. No. 1 Duke — Didn’t start; 16 minutes, 5 points, 2–8 FG, 1–7 3FG, 2 rebounds, 2 fouls, 2 assists
Season ended with loss to Duke
Puff Johnson, Ohio State
6–8, 190 pounds | Graduate | UNC 2020–23 (3 seasons)
Roster situation — Reserve
Team record: 21–13
Season statistics — 9 games, 1 start, 2.3 points, 33.3 FG%, 3–7 3FG, 6–9 FT, 1.1 rebounds
Season ended with first-round NCAA tournament loss to TCU
Teonni Key, Kentucky forward
6–4 | RS senior | UNC 2022–24 (2 seasons)
Roster situation — Starting forward
Season statistics — 28 games, 28 starts, 11.4 points, 51.2 FG%, 2–15 3FG, 69.8 FT%, 7.5 rebounds, 1.2 blocks
Team record: 25–11; Rank: No. 17
Saturday: 76–54 loss in Fort Worth Regional 1 Sweet 16 vs. No. 3 Texas — Started; 31:31, 10 points, 2–8 FG, 0–1 3FG, 6–6 FT, 9 rebounds, 4 fouls, 2 assists, 2 assists, 3 turnovers, 1 steal, 1 block, -17
Season ended with loss to Texas
Ven-Allen Lubin, N.C. State forward
6–9, 250 pounds | Senior | UNC 2024–25 (1 season)
Roster situation — Starting center
Season statistics — 34 games, 34 starts, 13.6 points, ACC-leading 66.8 FG%, 27.3 3P%, 73.3 FT%, 7.1 rebounds
Team record: 20–14
Season ended with NCAA First Four loss to Texas
Tyler Nickel, Vanderbilt wing
6–7, 220 pounds | Senior | UNC 2022–23 (1 season)
Roster situation — Starting forward
Season statistics — 36 games, 36 starts, 13.5 points, 44.4 FG%, 40.0 3P%, 84.7 FT%, 3.3 rebounds, 1.2 assists
Team record: 27–9: Rank: No. 22
Season ended with loss to No. 4 Nebraska in the second round of the NCAA tournament
Paulina Paris, SMU guard
5–9 | Senior | UNC 2022–24 (2 seasons)
Season statistics — 20 games, 12 starts, 9.6 points, 39.9 FG%, 25.0 3P%, 69.7 FT%, 2.9 rebounds, 1.6 assists
Team record: 9–21, 2–16 ACC
Season ended with left foot injury in February
Will Shaver, Samford center
6–10, 265 pounds | RS junior | UNC 2022–23 (1 season)
Roster situation — Reserve minutes
Season statistics — 30 games, 2.6 points, 47.6 FG%, 33.3 3P%, 59.3 FT%, 2.6 rebounds, 17 blocks, 7 steals
Team record: 18–14
Season ended with loss in Southern Conference tournament
Cade Tyson, Minnesota wing
6–7, 180 pounds | Senior | UNC 2024–25 (1 season)
Roster situation — Starter
Season statistics — 31 games, 32 starts, team-leading 19.6 points, 50.0 FG%, 42.2 3P%, 82.6 FT%, 5.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists
Team record: 15–17
Next game — 10:30 Wednesday at College Basketball Crown in Las Vegas vs. Baylor, FS1 (first game since March 11)
Jalen Washington, Vanderbilt center
6–9, 240 pounds | Senior | UNC 2022–25 (3 seasons)
Roster situation — Backup center
Season statistics — 36 games, 9 starts, 8.9 points, 56.3 FG%, 29.4 3P%, 74.1 FT%, 5.6 rebounds, 1.3 blocks
Team record: 27–9; Rank: No. 22
Season ended with loss to No. 4 Nebraska in the second round of the NCAA tournament
Photo via @ArizonaMBB
