Arizona Basketball

Love rekindled: Caleb shines in Oklahoma to get UA back on track

On Tuesday night, Arizona re-found Love.

Actually, Love found Love or the meaning of it when it comes to the basketball court. He – Caleb Love – had been MIA for some time. And Arizona can’t afford that if it hopes to gain or maintain any traction in the Big 12 Conference.

Tuesday in Stillwater, Oklahoma, Love had a lot to do with Arizona’s success, but doesn’t he on most nights?

He had 27 points, hitting 10 of 17 shots which included four 3-pointers in Arizona’s 92-78 win, one which gave coach Tommy Lloyd his 100th victory in 126 games. Also, with the 27 points, Love went over the 2,400-point mark for his career.

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“Our guys love Caleb,” Lloyd on his postgame radio show. “We love Caleb, and I hope our fans love Caleb like the way he should be loved. He’s one of us. We’re going to hang with him. Not only is it the right thing to do, because he’s a great dude. But, hey, he’s a heck of a player.”

Tuesday, he rekindled that Love of the recent past. Well, some of the recent past when his shots fell more often than not. He had been inconsistent all year, despite being pegged as an All-American to begin the season.

Tuesday, he played like one.

“My teammates and coaches trust in me,” Love said at the postgame press conference. “I wanted to come out here and play as best as I could on both ends of the floor. Obviously, I haven’t been holding up on my end on the offensive end, but at the end of the day, I know that my teammates and my coaches are rocking with me whether I play good or bad, and that’s all that really matters to me …”


Tuesday, Arizona got good Love. Figure that in the previous two games, he had just 17 points combined. Last year’s Pac-12 player of the year entered the game as he Big 12’s 11th best scorer, averaging 14.9 points per game. At Arizona, he had been averaging 17.2 points per game. In the previous three of four games, he hadn’t reached double-digit scoring, after reaching it four straight games (one in which he had 33 points).

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Those are the numbers UA is looking for. In fact, UA’s Brian Jefferies relayed a story on air that Tommy Lloyd told Love that the team needed him to step up. It was one of the many meetings the team had in this long trip to Texas Tech and Oklahoma State.

“I gotta adjust on the fly, knowing that I’m probably gonna get the best defender on the other team guarding me,” Love said. “I got to adjust to that and I got to be there for my teammates as many ways as possible. One thing I could control is my effort and my energy. Giving energy to my teammates as well and supporting them when I can. One thing that coach has been on me about is smiling. I probably had like, 30 smiles today, so that was something that I was proud of.”

It helped UA move to 12-6 overall and 6-1 in the conference, good enough to stay near the top of the conference race.

Love’s much-needed performance overshadowed Arizona’s overall good play, given UA was in foul trouble most of the first half before it took off in the second half.

“I felt like we were in a good place,” Lloyd said. “We didn’t play great against a tough Texas Tech team. We needed to respond. And I thought our guys did it, and it was beautiful that it didn’t come easy. We had to hang in there. Really proud of these guys.”

And pleased with the performance of Trey Townsend, who had a UA career-high 19 points in 21 minutes. He was one of those in early foul trouble.

“Obviously, the past few Big 12 games, I haven’t really played up to the expectations that people have of me, (and that) I had of myself,” Townsend said. “I’ve had some good talks with my teammates and the staff, and I really just wanted to come  and just give 100 percent effort, and then everything else that would come with that.

“I just wanted to make sure I could control what I can control. I can’t control if I make every shot, or if I get an assist if someone makes their shots, but I can control how hard I’m running around, checking out people. I guess the basketball gods rewarded me for the effort side of things and the ball started going in the hoop.”

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