Tag: Caleb Love

Arizona’s strong form continues to bolster Wisconsin basketball’s resume

Arizona’s strong form continues to bolster Wisconsin basketball’s resume

After dropping just six points against the Wisconsin Badgers on Nov. 15, Arizona star guard Caleb Love came alive against No. 3 Iowa State on Monday.

Searching for its first signature win of the 2024-25 season, the unranked Wildcats faced a 71-68 deficit with just 2.2 seconds remaining. Love, who had scored 11 points prior to the game’s final sequence, received the inbounds pass with thousands of Wildcat fans praying for a miracle.

Luckily for them, the veteran guard delivered.

From 60 feet away, Love nailed a buzzer-beating three-pointer to tie the contest at 71 apiece and send the game into overtime. In that five-minute period, the former North Carolina Tar Heel added eight more points to his total to finish with 22 on the night.

 

The win was easily the most impressive for Arizona all season and immediately bolstered its likelihood of returning to national hierarchies. Iowa State, which had dropped just two games prior to Monday’s game, falls to 17-3 with the heartbreaking loss.

Most notably for Wisconsin fans, the team’s early-season win over the Wildcats, which held the No. 9 position in the AP Poll at the time, looks much more impressive.

In that game, Wisconsin star wing John Tonje dropped a career-best 41 points  off 21-of-22 from the free throw line to set the tone for the Badgers’ 2024-25 season. Love, the hero on Monday, accounted for only six.

All four of Wisconsin’s losses prior have now arrived against teams in the top 20 of the NCAA NET Ranking.

This could prove even more beneficial if the Badgers defeat Maryland in College Park on Jan. 29 and Northwestern on Feb. 1. If Greg Gard’s group accomplishes that, fans should expect Wisconsin to continue to rise near the nation’s top 10.

Duke basketball stays outside the top 10 of the AP Poll despite Arizona win

The Duke Blue Devils only moved up one spot in the AP Poll on Monday, but they can reshape the rankings this coming week.

The Associated Press released its updated AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll on Monday, and the Blue Devils only moved up one spot to No. 11 despite a big victory.

[autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] scored 24 points during the Friday night win over Arizona, and the Wildcats only scored 55 points thanks to Duke’s 43-30 advantage on the glass. Despite leaving McKale Memorial Center with a top-25 victory, however, the voters wanted to see more before putting the Blue Devils back in the top 10.

If Flagg and his teammates want to move back toward the top spot, however, they’ll have chances in the next two weeks. The Blue Devils face No. 1 Kansas in Las Vegas on Tuesday, a game that some analytics websites actually favor Duke in, and the No. 4 Auburn Tigers travel to Cameron Indoor Stadium on December 4.

Despite the questions voters seem to still have after the early loss, there was a moral victory for the Blue Devils on Monday. The North Carolina Tar Heels dropped two spots to No. 11 in the updated rankings, making Duke the top team in the ACC once again.

The best Duke basketball photos from Friday’s victory over the Arizona Wildcats

Check out the best photos from the Duke basketball victory over Arizona on Friday night.

The Duke Blue Devils walked out of McKale Memorial Center with a 69-55 victory over the No. 17 Arizona Wildcats on Friday night, their first top-25 win of the season.

[autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] continued his impressive freshman season with 24 points, including 16 in the second half. The 6-foot-9 freshman phenom added six rebounds, three assists, two blocks, and a steal to his final tally, and he once again took over the game for Duke in the second half. From 12:31 to 5:20 left in the game, Flagg scored all 10 of the team’s points to fend off an Arizona comeback attempt.

Fellow five-star freshman [autotag]Kon Knueppel[/autotag] made three 3-pointers in the second half to end with 13, but Blue Devils fans probably drew the most satisfaction from the struggles of one Arizona star. Caleb Love, a former North Carolina Tar Heels star who beat Duke five times in his first eight career meetings, ended with eight points after he missed eight of his nine 3-point attempts in the loss.

Here are the best photos from Friday’s victory in the desert.

Caleb Love manages just eight points in his final regular-season game against Duke

In what will likely be his last of nine career meetings with the Duke Blue Devils, Caleb Love failed to reach double-digits on Friday.

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.

How many points did Cooper Flagg score against Arizona?

Here’s how Duke freshman phenom Cooper Flagg performed against the Arizona Wildcats on Friday.

[autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] and the Duke Blue Devils won their last game before Friday’s battle with the Arizona Wildcats, but it still felt like they needed a bounce-back win.

Despite Flagg’s 26 points against the Kentucky Wildcats last Tuesday, the Blue Devils lost for the first time in 2024-25 after being outscored 24-11 over the final 10 minutes. A Saturday win over Wofford (that actually set a school record for the fewest points allowed in the shot clock era) likely numbed the pain a little, but until Duke beat a proper ranked opponent, the questions about that game in Atlanta would linger.

Luckily, head coach [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag] made sure the school scheduled plenty of top teams in the non-conference slate. Three of the team’s following four games sit within the top 25 of the USA TODAY Sports men’s basketball coaches poll, including Friday’s road game against the Arizona Wildcats.

Did Flagg and his teammates find a way to bounce back? Here’s a quick recap.

Cooper Flagg points scored vs. Arizona:

Flagg finished with 24 points against the Wildcats, 16 of which came after halftime. He made 10 of his 22 shots for the game, including two of his five 3-point looks, and pulled down six rebounds. He added three assists, two blocks, and a steal to his final line.

Did Duke win?

The Blue Devils added their first top-25 win of the season to their resume with a 69-55 victory over Arizona. Caleb Love, a former North Carolina Tar Heels star who won five of his previous eight matchups with Duke, only managed eight points after missing eight of his nine 3-point tries.

Cooper Flagg’s next game:

The Duke Blue Devils will return to the court on Tuesday night against the No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks, a neutral-site game in Las Vegas.

Duke basketball defeats Caleb Love and Arizona thanks to Cooper Flagg’s 24 points

Cooper Flagg and the Duke Blue Devils picked up their first top-25 victory on Friday night with a 69-55 win over Arizona in Tucson.

The Duke Blue Devils avenged last season’s loss to Arizona on Friday night, defeating the Wildcats 69-55 in their own building behind a 24-point performance from star freshman [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag].

Arizona entered Friday night as one of the nation’s best rebounding teams, averaging 51.3 per game while giving up just 27.0, but the Blue Devils used their height to revert that trend in a big way. Every single member of the Duke rotation stands at least 6-foot-5, and forwards like Flagg, [autotag]Khaman Maluach[/autotag], and Maliq Brown helped create an early advantage on the board.

The Blue Devils finished with 22 rebounds in the opening half while Arizona pulled down just 14. Despite the Wildcats recovering more than half of their misses for second-chance possessions in the first three games, they only grabbed one offensive rebound while shooting 11/26 (42.3%) from the floor.

Brown and Tulane transfer Sion James each finished the half with five boards, and three other Duke players snagged at least two. Duke ended the game with a 43-30 advantage on the glass, and the Blue Devils scored 14 second-chance points to Arizona’s eight.

One of Duke’s other big trends from last week’s loss to the Kentucky Wildcats stemmed from its 3-point shooting. Despite making more than 41% of their triples against their other three opponents, the Blue Devils went 4/24 (16.7%) in Atlanta during the five-point loss.

Tyrese Proctor buried two straight triples in the opening four minutes, and the rest of the team woke up over the closing stretch. The Blue Devils made five of their 13 second-half attempts from distance, including a trio from freshman [autotag]Kon Knueppel[/autotag], to finish the game at 38.5%.

After a slow start, the Wisconsin native looked like the ACC Rookie of the Week from the first two games after the break. The biggest of his three 3-pointers came with 3:56 on the clock when he hesitated for a moment before splashing a shot from a few feet behind the line, a dagger that turned the game into a 61-49 contest in Duke’s favor.

Flagg’s offensive dominance, however, was a trend that didn’t reverse from the Kentucky loss. After scoring 12 of Duke’s last 14 points against the Wildcats, the 17-year-old rattled off another long stretch as the engine on Friday. Flagg made a layup with 12:31 left on the clock to kick off a seven-minute stretch in which he scored all 10 of the team’s points, including a knockdown 3-pointer at the 8:20 mark.

Flagg scored 16 of his 24 points after halftime. Oh, and former North Carolina Tar Heels star Caleb Love? He made just three of his 13 shots, including one of his nine 3-point attempts, to finish with eight points.

Duke won’t get to bask in its first ranked win of the season for long. The Blue Devils head to Las Vegas for a Tuesday battle with the No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks.

Duke basketball game against Arizona on Friday night officially sold out

The Arizona Wildcats announced their Friday night game against Duke basketball is sold out.

The Duke Blue Devils will play Arizona in the Wildcats’ home stadium on Friday night, and they’ll take the court at McKale Memorial Center in front of a packed crowd.

According to a photo from the Blue Devils official team account on Friday afternoon, the Wildcats declared the game sold out nine full hours before tipoff.

Both teams hope to come back from a loss in their most recent game against prominent opponents. Arizona lost a 103-88 game to the Wisconsin Badgers last week after John Tonje scored 41 points, making four of his six 3-point attempts and 21 of his 22 free throws.

Duke, on the other hand, gave up a nine-point halftime lead against the Kentucky Wildcats in Atlanta last Tuesday. Superstar freshman [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag], still just 17 years old, scored 12 of the team’s last 14 points to finish with a game-high 26, but two turnovers on the last two possessions set up the winning free throws on the other end.

The Blue Devils will also face former North Carolina Tar Heels star Caleb Love for the ninth time. Love, who transferred to Arizona ahead of the 2023-24 season, most notably scored 28 points when UNC beat the Blue Devils in the Final Four three seasons ago, ending legendary coach [autotag]Mike Krzyzewski[/autotag]’s career. He’s won five of the previous eight battles with Duke, averaging 16.9 points, 4.3 assists, 3.3 rebounds, and 0.8 steals in those contests.

How has Caleb Love played against the Duke Blue Devils across his career?

With one last battle against Caleb Love on the horizon, how has the former UNC star played against Duke in eight career games?

The Duke Blue Devils get one final chance at comeuppance against one of their most prominent rivals on Friday night. While the Arizona Wildcats are a worthy adversary, all of the attention in Durham will be focused on taking down former North Carolina Tar Heels guard Caleb Love.

Love spent three seasons with UNC before he transferred to Tucson ahead of the 2023-24 season, and he’s been a thorn in the Cameron Crazies’ side for years.

He played the villain in two of the biggest games in program history in 2022, scoring 22 points to defeat legendary coach [autotag]Mike Krzyzewski[/autotag] in his final home game before notching 28 points in a Final Four victory over the Blue Devils just one month later. He returned to Cameron Indoor Stadium with his new school last November and once again emerged with a win, as he’s done in five of his eight career games against the Blue Devils.

Love averaged 16.9 points, 4.3 assists, 3.3 rebounds, and 0.8 steals in those games, but if Duke basketball fans want a silver lining, he’s been remarkably inefficient in those outings. He’s made just 11 of his 46 attempts (23.9%) from distance over the last seven meetings, and he’s shot a measly 29/84 (34.5%) from the floor in the last six. With the fifth-year senior shooting 35.1% this season and making just 26.3% of his 3-pointers, there’s little reason to think that trend changes on Friday.

No regular-season victory can erase the torment Love exacted on the Blue Devils a few years ago, but it would be undeniably sweet to end the rivalry with one last win.

How has Arizona basketball star Caleb Love performed ahead of Duke’s Friday matchup?

With Duke set to face Arizona this week, how has former UNC Tar Heels star Caleb Love performed to start the season?

On Friday, Duke basketball will face former North Carolina Tar Heels guard [autotag]Caleb Love[/autotag] once again in a road game against the Arizona Wildcats.

Love spent three seasons in Chapel Hill before transferring to the Wildcats, most notably scoring 28 points to send the Blue Devils home in the 2022 Final Four. He returned to Cameron Indoor Stadium in 2023 with his new team, helping Arizona pull off a 78-73 victory.

In 2024, however, the matchup will be between two teams coming off of tough losses in the last week. For Duke, it was a Tuesday loss to Kentucky Wildcats, while Arizona lost to the Wisconsin Badgers.

Through three games this season, Love has averaged 11.0 points, 3.0 assists, and 3.0 rebounds while shooting 35.1% from the floor. Let’s break down his performance in the first three games.

Against the Canisius Golden Griffins to open the season, Love played 21 minutes, going 7/15 (46.7%) from the field to finish with 17 points. He was 3/8 (37.5%) from 3-point range and grabbed four rebounds with six assists, both season-highs.

Against Old Dominion, Love played 23 minutes and scored 10 points after he shot 4/9 (44.4%) from the field. He went 2/5 (40.0%) from deep with three rebounds and one assist.

Finally, against the Badgers, Love had the worst performance of his season thus far. He played 25 minutes, a season-high, but only managed six points after he went 2-13 (15.4%) from the field. He missed all six of his 3-point looks, but he did add two rebounds, two assists, and two steals.

Wisconsin basketball vs. Arizona: Full matchup preview for Friday’s game

Wisconsin basketball vs. Arizona: Full matchup preview for Friday’s game

Wisconsin basketball (3-0) returns to the hardwood for its fourth game of the 2024-25 slate on Friday night for a matchup against the Arizona Wildcats (2-0).

The Badgers enter the contest after a 87-56 win over Appalachian State last Sunday. The performance was easily UW’s most impressive of the season — the Badgers rattled off a 23-0 scoring surge in the first half to virtually seal the triumph at the Kohl Center.

Arizona, meanwhile, is 2-0 to start the year with an average margin of victory of 43.5 points per game. Its most recent win arrived in a 58-point triumph over Old Dominion on Nov. 9.

Led by guard Caleb Love, Arizona rosters seven players who score at least nine points per game. The Wildcats hold the No. 9 ranking in the nation and have become one of the top programs across the entire sport.

Tip-off is set for 9:00 p.m. ET, 8:00 p.m. CT on Peacock. Before that point, here is a full preview of how the Badgers and Wildcats match up:

Statistical Preview

KenPom Rating:

  • Wisconsin: No. 39 overall (No. 34 offense, No. 63 defense)
  • Arizona: No. 7 (No. 11 offense, No. 12 defense)

ESPN BPI

  • Wisconsin: No. 27 overall (13.2) — No. 5 in the Big Ten
  • Arizona: No. 4 overall (19.4) — No. 2 in the Big 12

2024-25 Averages:

  • Wisconsin: 83.7 points per game (47% shooting, 37 % from three), 61.3 points allowed per game (42% shooting allowed, 38% from three)
  • Arizona: 97.5 points per game (50% shooting, 32% from three), 54 points allowed per game (37% shooting allowed, 29% from three)

ESPN Matchup Predictor:

  • Arizona 62.1% chance to win, Wisconsin 37.9%

Wisconsin Key Players

  • G John Blackwell (12.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1 steal on 39% shooting)
  • G Max Klesmit (16 points, 1.0 rebound, 2.0 assists, 3.0 steals on 43% shooting)
  • Wing John Tonje (17.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists on 55% shooting)
  • C Steven Crowl (10 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists on 48% shooting)
  • F Nolan Winter (10.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1 assist on 70% shooting)

Arizona Key Players

  • G Caleb Love (13.5 points, 3.5 rebounds on 46% shooting)
  • F Tobe Awaka (11.0 points, 12.0 rebounds, 1.0 blocks on 69% shooting)
  • G Jaden Bradley (11.0 points, 2.5 rebounds, 50% shooting)
  • G KJ Lewis (11.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.5 steals, 1.5 blocks on 56% shooting)
  • F Carter Bryant (9 points, 2.5 rebounds, on 58% shooting)

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Prediction, betting odds

Spread: Arizona favored by 4 1/2

Moneyline: Arizona minus-115, Wisconsin plus-105

Over/Under: 152 1/2

All College Basketball Odds via BetMGM.

Wisconsin has played extremely well in all three second halves of their first three games of the 2024-25 season. Backed by 17.7 points per contest from transfer wing John Tonje, the Badgers have put together an extremely efficient season from all three levels of the hardwood. UW also opened its season with two 7-footers down low in Steven Crowl and Nolan Winter, a potentially lethal threat against smaller lineups.

Unfortunately for UW, Arizona accounts for 51 rebounds per game and leans on a well-rounded attack from nearly every player in its rotation. In fact, seven players muster at least nine points per appearance.

Prediction: Arizona 92, Wisconsin 78

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