Former University of North Carolina guard Caleb Love got the better of old rival Duke once again on Friday, helping lead the No. 12 Arizona Wildcats to a 78-73 road win over the No. 2 Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, North Carolina.
According to the Associated Press (h/t ESPN), Love noted that while he thought about his lengthy history with Duke, his main focus was on getting the job done: "Obviously it was on my mind for a little minute. As soon as I had seen they were on the schedule, my eyes got bigger. But we came in and handled business. That's all that matters."
Love continued to be a thorn in the side of Duke fans after previously leading the UNC Tar Heels to a win over the Blue Devils in legendary head coach Mike Krzyzewski's final home game in 2022, followed by North Carolina taking down Duke in the Final Four of the 2022 NCAA tournament, which proved to be the last game of Coach K's illustrious career.
The AP reported that Love was the subject of a ton of vitriol from Blue Devils fans who remembered how he performed against them while at UNC, but Love's comments suggested it did little to throw him off his game, saying: "I've been in environments like this. I've played in big-time games, big-time environments. So I'm kind of used to it. I wanted to come into this game, and I didn't want to make it about me. I wanted to make this about my team."
Overall, Love had a poor individual performance Friday by his standards, finishing with just 11 points on 3-of-10 shooting to go along with three assists, three rebounds, two steals and a game-high six turnovers.
It was far cry from the 22 points, five assists and five rebounds Love had against Duke in the 2022 ACC tournament quarterfinals, and the 28 points he hung on the Blue Devils in the 2022 Final Four, but Love still got the last laugh with the Wildcats coming out on top.
While Love is now a Wildcat, he wrote "Tar Heel 4L" on the heel of his shoes prior to Friday's game, according to the Associated Press.
In 101 games over three seasons at UNC, Love was a legitimate star, averaging 14.6 points, 3.3 assists, 3.3 rebounds, 2.0 three-pointers made and 1.0 steal per contest.
However, he made the decision to transfer to Arizona following a disappointing 2022-23 season that saw the Tar Heels go just 20-13 and miss the NCAA tournament after being the national runner-up the previous year.
Moving to Arizona already seems to be paying dividends, as the Wildcats are off to a 2-0 start and own a victory over one of the top teams in the nation.
Now that Love has yet another huge win against Duke under his belt, he can shift his focus toward getting his own game on track when the Wildcats host Southern on Monday.
