Caleb Love goes down swinging for Arizona with 35 points in Sweet 16 loss to Duke

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Caleb Love once put away Duke at the Final Four — and ended coach Mike Krzyzewski’s career.

Three years later and two rounds earlier, Cooper Flagg and the Blue Devils stuck it to Love in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament and spoiled his college finale.

Love thumped his chest on 3s — and he hit a few. He cut through defenders and helped Arizona gamely keep pace with Flagg and top-seeded Duke.

None of it — not 35 points in 40 minutes — was enough to extend his career and Arizona’s season.

Flagg finished with 30 points, seven assists, six rebounds and three blocks Thursday night in a 100-93 victory that pulled the Blue Devils within one win of the Final Four.

And sent Love and his teammates packing.

But not without a few parting words of appreciation for Love and what he brought to the team after he transferred from North Carolina — where he stuck a fork in Coach K’s career — and led Arizona all the way to a No. 4 seed in March Madness.

One by one, teammates Jaden Bradley and Henri Veesaar and coach Tommy Lloyd all emptied their hearts and said that — despite any perceived baggage Love may have brought from Chapel Hill — he was their guy in the locker room, and on the court.

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“I just want to say something,” Veesaar said, unprompted after answering a question on Flagg. “Anybody ever thinks he’s not a good teammate, it’s not true. He’s the best teammate we had. He’s one of the better persons I’ve ever met. He’s pushed me so much over the last two years, I’m so grateful for him.

“In the tournament, I was struggling, he talked to me. He came up to me after I missed the free throw because we had been — he made me practice free throws after that game. After that he just came up to me, hey, we worked way too hard, you got this. After that I didn’t miss a free throw, I made seven in a row.”

Bradley jumped to Love’s defense, too.

“You don’t see the workouts and the stuff we do off the court. Y’all don’t see that,” he said. “He really took all of us under his wing. He’s a leader. He’s been through so much and taught us all so much. So definitely going to learn a lot, miss playing with him. He’s just a great guy.”

Love also got the most help against Duke from Bradley, who finished with 15 points. Love finished with 35 points, one short of his career high, including a streak of 15 straight for his Wildcats (24-13) during a ferocious second-half run that cut a 19-point deficit to five with 1:56 left.

Even with the loss, Love said there was nowhere else he wanted to play but with the Wildcats.

“I went through a lot transferring from my other school, and they took me under their wing, and they accepted me for who I was,” Love said. “I just want to give all my thanks to them because without them, I wouldn’t be here, and I wouldn’t be the player that I’ve grown to be.”

The player who also scored 27 points in the second half of North Carolina’s Sweet 16 win on the way to that 2022 Final Four was suddenly seen as someone who shot too much, couldn’t come up big anymore and was bogging down the Tar Heels.

Into the transfer portal he went. A move to Michigan got submarined by problems with the admissions department. Lloyd was on a postseason family trip in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, when Love called, saying he wanted to visit campus.

Love narrowed his transfer targets to three schools before choosing to play at Arizona over Gonzaga and Texas.

Lloyd sold him on the Wildcats. He was one of the last to hug it out with Love as the Wildcats exited March.

“I hope everybody takes a step back, whether they’ve been a hater or whatever or pile on, and give this guy a real chance because he’s special,” Lloyd said. “This is what I know. When he gets there, the right team is going to wrap their arms around him and they’re going to see they’ve got a guy who’s been through it. Been through it, and he’s come out the other side of it better.”

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