As college basketball fans continue to enjoy the most exciting part of the season, teams have begun to fall very quickly. There are now just 12 teams remaining after the Duke Blue Devils, Florida Gators, Texas Tech Red Raiders, and Alabama Crimson Tide punched their ticket to the Elite Eight. Despite the loss to Duke, Arizona’s Caleb Love had a great game.
Caleb Love Breaks NCAA Record vs. Duke
The Sweet 16 part of the NCAA March Madness tournament began on Thursday with four games. All of the games delivered as truly the best of the best remain.
One of the night’s big games saw the No. 4 ranked Arizona Wildcats face off with the No. 1 ranked Duke Blue Devils, and despite the score, Love broke a 31-year-old NCAA record.
The Wildcats took the Blue Devils down to the wire but ultimately lost 100-93. Duke’s freshman phenom, Cooper Flagg, led the way with 30 points and picked up six rebounds and seven assists in the process. Alongside Flagg, Kon Knueppel scored 20 points, more than doing his part in the Blue Devils’ victory.
“That’s one of the best tournament performances I’ve ever coached or been a part of,” said coach Jon Scheyer on Flagg’s performance, who has seen plenty when it comes to the NCAA March Madness tournament.
While Arizona was bummed to not move on to the Elite Eight, it wasn’t all bad for them. Love became the first player in 31 years to finish with 35 points and zero turnovers against a No. 1 seed. The last person to do this? Michael Finley in 1994.
“He’s had an amazing career, and I’m so excited for his future,” Arizona’s head coach Tommy Lloyd said on Love’s impressive performance. “He was tremendous today. He’s going to wake up tomorrow, and he’s going to smile. He has a lot to look forward to and so I’m really, really proud of him.”
Love led his team in points, having a fantastic shooting game. He finished connecting on 11 of his 21 shot attempts, including draining five of his 11 shots from beyond the arc. Unfortunately for Love, only two other players scored in the double digits for Arizona, Jaden Bradley (15) and Henri Veesaar (13).
KEEP READING: Caleb Love NBA Draft Projections
What makes this performance that much more special is that it could have happened in Love’s final game of his collegiate career. It remains to be seen where he goes from here, but he has officially entered the history books with his fantastic performance against the Blue Devils, even in defeat.
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