By R.L. Bynum
Caleb Love smiled when asked Wednesday what he remembers about the 3-point shot over Mark Williams to give North Carolina a win over Duke in a national semifinal game in 2022.
“I made the shot,” said Love, who is 4–3 against the Blue Devils after his Arizona team lost at home to the Blue Devils a 69–55 on Nov. 22.
He’s been hesitant to say too much ahead of Thursday’s 9:39 p.m. (CBS) Eastern Regional semifinal against No. 1 Duke in Newark, N.J., declining to say much about the matchup after No. 4-seed Arizona’s 87–83 victory over No. 5-seed Oregon in the second round last weekend.
“I didn’t want to give them no fuel or bulletin board material,” Love said. “I just wanted to focus on what this group got to do and not give them anything that they can feed off of.”
That’s one reason why Love has played down the matchup and hasn’t talked much about that shot three years ago that ended Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s career.
“It really has no relevance to this game coming up. I just want to focus on the game plan that we have set. I want my focus to be with this group,” said Love, who earned All-Big 12 honors in his fifth and final college season, leading the team in scoring at 16.8 points per game while shooting 33.6% from 3-point range.
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 five wins over Duke. 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.
“We’ve been so locked in since we got here, since we found out we’ve got to play Duke,” Love said. We’re not shying away from anything, and we’re not running away from the fact that this is another game and that this is a game that we have to win. “
While he doesn’t want to talk about that shot in New Orleans, he’s never been shy about attempting a big shot. He says that’s a big reason why he’s able to have success against Duke, including scoring 11 points and making clutch free throws in a 78–73 win at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Nov. 10, 2023.
“I just think that’s me not being afraid of the moment and me trying to impose my will, kind of like St. Louis swagger to the game,” Love said. “Me being from St. Louis, I’m not afraid of anything, anybody. I think just me channeling that, my inner St. Louis in me.”
He knows from their November meeting that this Duke team is different from the one he helped UNC beat in 2022, because the Blue Devils have the tallest team in the country.
“They’re physical. They’re long,” Love said. “They’re athletic and things like that. We’ve got to play mind games and things like that to create advantages for ourselves on both ends of the floor. We’ve got to match their physicality of the game, and I think we’ll have success if we do that.”
Duke coach Jon Scheyer says that Love’s game has grown in the last two seasons at Arizona.
“He’s the same player in terms of how he scores and all that. He’s just better at everything,” Scheyer said. “I think that’s a credit to his growth and the job that him and his teammates, coaching staff, everybody that’s helped him.
“He’s scoring off the bounce, scoring off catch and shoot, to the rim. He’s continued to develop all around as a player,” Scheyer said. “But I mentioned the passing. I think that’s been noticeable, and who he is all around.”
There are no players on Duke’s roster who were part of that 2022 Final Four matchup, but Love is aware of how dangerous Tyrese Proctor is.
“He’s been hot from three, and he’s a great defender,” Love said. “We’ve just got to handle that with care as far as running him off the line and making him do other things, kind of shifting the ball to other guys that we want with the ball in their hands and things like that. He’s a great player. We’ve obviously had matchup after matchup, and I’m just looking forward to [Thursday].”
Whether Love’s college career ends Thursday or later in the NCAA tournament, his long five-year career will soon end. He said that it hasn’t always been easy.
“I think it’s definitely been a journey. My journey has been a lot of adversity, a lot of ups and downs, and everything in between,” Love said. “But I think it’s made me who I am as a person and a player. I’ve grown so much over the course of my college career, not only on the court but off the court.
“I’ve learned so much, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” he said. “But we are here now, and I thank God for keeping me, and I trust in Him that every situation, He’s going to have me covered.”
Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd talked at length about his recruitment of Love and how the veteran guard has worked out in his program. Here is his full answer:
“It happened really fast, to be honest with you. We were at a position — I liked our pieces coming back, but I just felt like we needed an influx of scoring and shooting.
“I talked to Caleb initially, and then a couple days later he committed to Michigan. I think it was just a cordial phone call, it was nice. And then obviously something happened with admissions at Michigan and an opportunity popped up, and we had a lot more clarity of what we needed.
“Coach [Steve Robinson] had recruited him at Carolina, so there’s a relationship there, and we jumped on a few phone calls, and it went good, and we thought it was going to be a fit on both sides.
“I thought it was such a good fit, I thought he was going to commit without visiting because I was down in Puerto Vallarta on vacation. It was a tough ending to the season, so my son and I were down there a few days ahead of my wife and our daughters because they were finishing up school.
“Obviously, family vacations in our business are a big deal, and I remember talking to the Love family, and there was two days they could visit, and it was right in the middle of the vacation. I’m like, hey, I am down in México on vacation with my family, but there’s an opportunity for you guys to visit if you want, not thinking yeah, we’re good, we’re going to come. Oh, we’d love to visit.
“So my wife flew down and right when she landed, I said I’m going back to Tucson for another day. So, it was a pretty funny story, but it was an awesome trip. Went back, had a great visit with them, and he committed. Listen, it’s been an awesome experience.
“I know a lot of people want to talk about Caleb, and I’m obviously more focused on the team all the time. And I understand why they want to talk to him, because it’s an interesting story.
“It’s been an awesome experience, and it’s something I would do 100 times over again. And I think if I do it again, I could even do it better and help him out more. He’s an awesome person. I have not seen many 22-, 23-year-olds that have had to endure what he’s had to endure in his life, and he continues to show up every day.
“And I’ve never had a bad experience with him with attitude, body language, talking back, anything like that. That’s the real Caleb Love. I get to know the real Caleb Love. You guys know a perception of what Caleb Love is in what you see on the court.
“I think a lot of the assessments of him are unfair, but that’s the reality he has to live, and he’s handled it really well.”
Photo via @ArizonaMBB
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