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Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Michael Kadlick

Caleb Love Puts Together Incredible Performance Despite Arizona's Loss to Duke

Love put together an outstanding performance against Duke in the Sweet Sixteen. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

After taking down the Akron Zips and the Oregon Ducks on their way to the Sweet 16, the Arizona Wildcats' NCAA tournament run came to an unfortunate close on Thursday night with a 100-93 loss to Cooper Flagg and the Duke Blue Devils.

Despite the defeat, Wildcats guard Caleb Love put on a brilliant performance, shooting 11-of-21 from the field while scoring 35 points—his high on the season.

While Love, now a graduate student at Arizona, was the Pac-12 Player of the Year in '24 and named All-Big 12 in '25, many remember the 23-year-old for his days in the ACC as a UNC Tar Heel. During time at Chapel Hill, the guard sported a 5-4 record against the Blue Devils, highlighted by a dagger three-pointer over the rivals that sent them to the 2022 national championship.

Although the loss on Thursday night puts him at 5-5 against Duke in his career, his performance in Newark had many lauding the star. Here's a look at some reactions across social media:

With the victory, Duke moves onto the Elite Eight where they'll take on the Alabama Crimson Tide—who set an NCAA record in their matchup vs. BYU—on Saturday in Newark.


More March Madness on Sports Illustrated


This article was originally published on www.si.com as Caleb Love Puts Together Incredible Performance Despite Arizona's Loss to Duke.

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