By R.L. Bynum
For the 10th and final time, Caleb Love will go up against Duke, thanks to his heroics on Sunday.
Love, who earned All-Big 12 honors in his fifth and final college season, repeatedly hit mammoth shots down the stretch and scored 29 points and 5 3-poitners in No. 4-seed Arizona’s 87–83 victory over No. 5-seed Oregon in the second round of the NCAA tournament in Seattle.
Love put the game away by making a pair of clutch free throws with 2.2 seconds left to earn a Sweet 16 matchup for No. 21-ranked Arizona (24–12) in Newark, N.J., at 9:39 p.m. Thursday (CBS) against No. 1 Duke.
“It’s a big matchup because it’s the next game,” said Love, who collected 9 rebounds and 4 assists. “It’s the only game that matters. Obviously, our mind was focused on Oregon, and we got it done, and now we’re going to get in the film room and lock in on Duke and what they do. Obviously, they’re a great team, they’re well coached, and we’ll be ready for ‘em when the time comes.”
He has a history of taking care of business against the Blue Devils, notably scoring 28 points and hitting a clutch 3-pointer in the 2022 national semifinals, when North Carolina won 81–77 to end Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s coaching career.
Love was 4–3 against Duke while at Carolina and has split two games against the Blue Devils while at Arizona: scoring 11 points and making clutch free throws in a 78–73 win at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Nov. 10, 2023, but going 1 of 9 and scoring 8 points this season in a 69–55 home loss on Nov. 22.
Love is averaging 20.8 points, 4.6 assists and 3.4 rebounds while shooting 44% from the floor and 36.4% from 3-point range and 96.3% at the free-throw line in the five wins. In the four losses, that drops to 9.8 points, 3.8 assists, 3.3 rebounds, 28% shooting from the floor, 14.8% from 3-point range and 58.3% at the free-throw line.
Love had to rally Arizona against Oregon after the Ducks took a 15-point first-half lead, the largest deficit in an NCAA tournament win in program history.
“Super satisfying,” Love said. “Just knowing that this group, what we went through, the adversity, it’s built us for these moments. Us going down early, we never panicked, we never altered anything. I just think we were so poised throughout that whole game, and nobody was worried about anything but finishing out the game and winning the game.”
Arizona coach Tommy Love was happy to lean on Love against the Wildcats’ former Pac-12 rival.
“Caleb was sensational,” Lloyd said. “We’ve had a lot of conversations, and Caleb has so much potential and he’s so good already. What’s cool is how much better he can get. And his approach today, just staying steady and staying unemotional. I think there was a couple ball-handling errors I probably would have taken back. But I’m picky. I was just really proud of how he came out and played in that moment. It just says so much to me about his development as a player and a person, and he was obviously the best player on the floor today, and he was able to carry us to victory. So thanks to C-Love for that.”
Lloyd said that Love has become a big leader for the Wildcats in his second season in the program and says he’s been “a great gentleman” to coach.
“I think that as a young player, the spotlight was on him in such a way that — the highest of highs and the lowest of lows,” Lloyd said. “I think for a long portion of his career Caleb kind of had to just take care of himself, which I totally get, I totally understand. But this year I’ve really seen him kind of grow into that leader role and be more mature about it. He’s unbelievable with his teammates. I get asked a lot what it’s like to coach Caleb, and I just tell them it’s really simple. I’ve never had one bad experience. Never had one bad experience. I’ve never had one talk-back, never had one bad body language with me, never had anything like that.”
Love, who leads the team with 16.8 points per game while shooting 33.6% from 3-point range, credits his steadiness this season to his faith.
“It plays a big part,” he said. “I give credit to my mom for instilling that in me early as a child. And just trusting in God and keeping my faith in Him that’s what keeps me steady and poised. In every situation, knowing that whatever outcome it is, He’s going to have me covered. And so I give all my credit to God, and my relationship with Him has grown over the course of my college career. And I’ll be honest and say it’s about been up-and-down, but I say this past year I’ve really grown with my faith in Him.”
After shooting 31.7% from 3-point range in his three seasons at UNC, Love has shot 33.4% the last two seasons at Arizona.
Photo via ArizonaMBB
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