The Duke Blue Devils won’t avenge their 2022 Final Four loss with a regular-season game, but closing the lengthy rivalry against [autotag]Caleb Love[/autotag] with a victory probably still feels sweet.
Love, a former North Carolina Tar Heels star, scored just eight points in his ninth (and likely final) game against the Blue Devils on Friday, a 69-55 Duke victory.
Love made just three of his 13 shots for the game, including one 3-pointer on nine attempts. He added four rebounds and four assists, but he missed three straight triples in a 90-second span midway through the second half.
A three-year UNC starter who transferred to Arizona ahead of the 2023-24 season, Love won five of his previous eight battles with Duke. He averaged 16.9 points, 4.3 assists, and 3.3 rebounds in those games, but his eight points on Friday tied his lowest in any matchup with the Blue Devils.
Now a fifth-year senior with the Wildcats, Love is averaging 10.3 points, 3.3 assists, and 3.3 rebounds per game while shooting 32.0% from the floor and 21.4% from 3-point range this season. Arizona is 2-2 after back-to-back losses.