STILLWATER, Okla. — Unlike the other 18,000 people stuffed inside Oklahoma City’s sold-out Paycom Center on Sunday night, Caleb Love wasn’t just kicking back to enjoy an NBA game.
He was studying it. The Arizona guard zeroed in especially on Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, his eyes following the NBA’s leading scorer everywhere on the court.
“He’s one of my favorite players to watch in the league,” Love said Tuesday, after scoring 27 points to help Arizona beat Oklahoma State. “Anytime I can go to a game, I’m definitely trying to learn something, not just watching the game for the highlights.”
This time, it was actually a requirement that Love do so. Saying he aims to “use everything as a learning opportunity,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd had the Wildcats stop over in Oklahoma City on Sunday between games at Texas Tech and Oklahoma State.
He worked the Wildcats out on the Oklahoma City G League court earlier Sunday — having called in a favor from a longtime friend, Thunder GM Sam Presti — then gave them a different kind of work to do in the evening: Watching the Thunder face the Brooklyn Nets.
“Coach had us do a little homework assignment on what we see out there, and how we can translate that game to our game,” Love said. “It was us just trying to learn from OKC and how they ran things. It looked so easy out there. They were making the game look simple.”
In a 127-101 win, the Thunder held the Nets to just 42.5% shooting while hitting 55.2%, setting up 37 of its 48 field goals with assists.
Gilgeous-Alexander had a game-high 27 points, but also a game-high 10 assists, a game-high four steals … and maybe a game-high in good vibes generated.
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, right, looks to shoot over Brooklyn Nets forward Noah Clowney, left, during the first half Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025, in Oklahoma City.
“I was locked in on Shai and how easy he made the game look, how he was making his teammates look better,” Love said. “That’s how I want to play. Not Shai (exactly) but in a sense where I’m giving back to my teammates, and I’m giving energy and smiling on the court and things like that.”
The Thunder flowed. Gilgeous-Alexander flowed.
Then, on Tuesday, Love flowed.
By adding five rebounds and three assists to his 27 points, hitting 4 of 9 3-pointers, it was pretty clear Love did pretty well on his homework. He said watching Gilgeous-Alexander “for sure” inspired his performance Tuesday.
“I definitely want to produce night in and night out,” Love said. “I’m trying to let the weight off of my shoulders a little bit, because I know my teammates are with me regardless of how I play. ... I was playing free out there. I was having fun, and that’s all that matters.”
Of course, it hasn’t been that way much of the season. Carrying the burden of being a preseason AP all-American and Arizona’s only returning starter, Love has bounced up and down through the first half of the season, often taking the Wildcats with him.
Love leads the Wildcats in scoring with a 15.6-point average per game but is shooting just 30.9% from 3-point range and has been held to single-digits in four of UA’s six losses.
But on one of those down nights, exactly two weeks earlier, Love worked on one of his other goals.
In that game, struggling in UA’s 75-66 win at West Virginia, Love was taken out during most of the second half but hardly stayed on the bench. Guard KJ Lewis, who led the Wildcats with 21 points that night, went out of his way to cite Love for being a “great teammate” who had basically turned into a cheerleader.
Arizona guard Caleb Love (1) is defended by West Virginia guard Sencire Harris (10) during the second half Jan. 7, 2025, in Morgantown, W.Va.
“If it’s not going my way, I’ve still got to give it to them,” Love said. “I’ve still got to support them because I know they go through certain things not only on the court, but off the court, as well.”
On Tuesday, it was the Wildcats’ turn to cheer Love and forward Trey Townsend, both of whom were coming off a mostly rough start to Big 12 play. Love had been held to single digits in three of the Wildcats’ previous four games, while Townsend was shooting just 34.9% and averaging 7.0 points over six previous Big 12 games.
On Tuesday, Townsend hit 7 of 8 shots and hit all four free throws he took while tying his season high of 19 points, helping UA survive inside in a game where centers Tobe Awaka and Henri Veesaar were both mired in foul trouble. Awaka fouled out after just 15 minutes and backup center Veesaar had four fouls in 12 minutes.
“Obviously, the few Big 12 games, I haven’t really played up to the expectations that people had of me, that I had of myself,” Townsend said Tuesday. “But I’ve had some good talks with my teammates and the staff. And I really just wanted to come today and just give 100% effort, and then everything else would come with that.”
Love described it pretty much the same way, saying he’s been focused on what he can control, notably playing with effort and supporting teammates.
“And something that coach has been on me about is smiling,” Love said. “You know, I probably had like 30 smiles today. So that was something I was proud of.”
