Arizona guard Caleb Love said it’s “been a minute” since he’s had this great stretch of games on the offensive end.
Arizona fans probably think that’s too long. In fact, not since his sophomore year, he said, and, of course, “it feels good, but it feels even better when we’re winning.”
And, Arizona is, after beating Texas Christian, 90-81, in McKale Center for its third straight win to move to 7-5 overall. Arizona is now 42-1 when it scores 90 or more points under coach Tommy Lloyd.
On Monday, in Arizona’s Big 12 Conference opener, Love had 33 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and 0 turnovers.
Those winning numbers felt more like lottery numbers.
“I’ll take it every day,” Lloyd said.
So will all involved. When Love is on, Arizona is on … or so it seems. In the last three games, Love has had 80 combined points after struggling in much of the early non-conference schedule. It’s the most points in a three-game stretch in his career.
When asked if Lloyd had asked him to re-adjust his playing style – after last year taking control and this year sitting back a bit – Love said, that’s not the case.
“He just wants me to play within the offense and play off my teammates and play with my teammates,” Love said. “That’s what I’ve been doing. My teammates have been putting me in position to get easy baskets, and I’ve just been feeding off them. I’ve been sharing the ball as well with them.”
Lloyd agreed. He also has stuck with him – saying the same thing every time when asked about any conversations that have taken place to get Love going. He said it’s his job to “stick with him. He’s my guy; he’s our guy and I’m going to hang with him through the good and bad times. I know his teammates believe in him.”
More importantly, Love believes in Love, Lloyd said. He’s confident in his abilities and knows what he’s capable of. Monday was one of those nights. In fact, his 37-7-7 line was one of only two like it in the last 20 years in all of college basketball. Oddly enough, former UA player Ivan Radenovic had one as well.
“Sometimes I think one thing not talked about enough is, when you’re a guy with his stature, then you have to come back to college,” Lloyd said, “it’s not easy and there’s a lot of emotions involved. And when you come back, you want to do it great; you want to do it perfect, and when it doesn’t (go that way), it’s a gut punch.
“I think he showed a lot of character in how he’s handled it, how he’s responded to a situation that, there’s expectations, and it hasn’t gone well, for him to come out and play the way he did, just the way he carried himself, was great. But you know what, there’s another challenge waiting next week. That’s the thing, we got to keep it going.”
And it’s not just a “we thing” it’s a team thing. And the others held up their bargain.
Jaden Bradley had 10 points and six assists, KJ Lewis had eight points and eight assists and three steals, Henri Veesaar had 15 points and four assists and Tobe Awaka (absent for much of the game) closed with three huge baskets in the final minutes. He had nine points.
“We’ve just been playing great offense,” Love said. “When we move the ball, we’re at our best. My teammates played well. We hit big shot after big shot, big play after big play. Even though they were throwing their punches, we were throwing ours. Ours was hitting harder. We played a complete game today, and I’m proud of my teammates.”
