Duke again? Caleb Love makes it happen, pouring in 29 points to help Arizona beat Oregon 87-83 to reach Sweet 16

SEATTLE — Caleb Love is off to play Duke again for the 10th time in his college career, and the third time with the Arizona Wildcats.

If he doesn't like that, it's his fault.

Love scored 20 of his game-high 29 points in the second half to lead Arizona over Oregon 87-83 in a second round NCAA Tournament game Sunday and into a Sweet 16 game with Duke on Thursday in Newark, New Jersey.

"I want to" play Duke again, Love said, cracking a wide grin, "but it is crazy how many times I've seen them."

While Love famously threw down 28 points to help North Carolina beat Duke in the 2022 Final Four semifinals, the fourth-seeded Wildcats (24-12) won at Duke early last season after Love hit four game-clinching free throws in the final 18 seconds but lost to the Blue Devils early this season.

Now, thanks to Love's heroics, plus 14 rebounds from Tobe Awaka, four clutch free throws in the final nine seconds from Anthony Dell'Orso and a variety of other key contributions, the Wildcats will get another shot at the top-seeded Blue Devils (33-3), who are also the No. 1 ranked team and No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament field.

Love had nine points on 4-for-11 shooting in the first half, helping Arizona erase an early 19-4 deficit, then exploded in the second half with 20 points on 6-for-7 shooting that included 4 of 5 from 3-point range. He also had six rebounds and two assists after halftime.

"It's just Caleb being Caleb," UA point guard Jaden Bradley said. " Everybody's gonna have ups and downs, but you know Caleb, when he's on, he's on. We kept feeding him, we trusted him. And he had some big time shots and also some big time plays on defense."

Already having tied the Oregon arena single-game scoring record with 36 points last season, Love scored his 29 points this time on 10-for-18 shooting, while Tobe Awaka had 12 points and 14 rebounds inside. Point guard Jaden Bradley had 12 points while hanging on late against constant pressure from the Oregon defense, while wings KJ Lewis and Anthony Dell'Orso each added another 12 points.

Dell'Orso's 12 points included 4-for-4 free throw shooting in the final nine seconds, after he took inbounds passes both times from Lewis and secured the ball as he was fouled, then hit 2 of 2 free throws each time.

Both at the nine-second and five-second mark, Dell'Orso's free throws moved the Wildcats' lead from just one to three points, the last putting UA ahead 85-82 with five seconds left. 

"It's a step by step," Dell'Orso said. "Obviously, you've got to get the ball in and once it's in, my priority is catch it and don't lose it. Once you get fouled, it's like `Alright, it's over now. Just make the free throws.' "

After Oregon's Jackson Shelstad intentionally missed the second of two free throws with two seconds left, but Love picked up the rebound and was fouled. Love then hit two free throws for the final score, kicking off a celebration from the several thousand UA fans in attendance -- and the local Washington fans who also mostly appeared to be rooting against the Ducks.

That sort of celebration might have been hard to imagine after the first five minutes and 11 seconds Sunday, when Oregon took a 19-4 lead. Over that span, the Wildcats shot 1 for 6, committed three turnovers that led to seven Oregon points and allowed the Ducks to shoot 3 of 4 from 3-point range.

UA coach Tommy Lloyd did not call an early timeout, with the Wildcats trailing 17-4 when a media timeout was called with 15:11 left, but Lloyd said he wasn't panicking.

"I just think we wanted to stay steady," Lloyd said. "I knew there was so much time in the game and so many possessions, you just didn't want to dig a deeper hole.

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"I felt like if we cut it to nine then seven -- I mean, I've been in so many of those games where I've been on the other end of 'em. You almost feel like it's inevitable that a good team's going to come back on you."

The Wildcats were that team Sunday. They wound up taking a 42-38 halftime lead, with Awaka’s 11 first half rebounds helping UA outrebound the Ducks 23-19. UA also wound up holding Oregon to just 2-for-8 3-point shooting over the final 15 minutes.

For the game, UA allowed Oregon to shoot 47.1% but outrebounded the Ducks 44-37 and hit 10 of 20 3-pointers, including Love's 5-for-7 mark.

Arizona caught up thanks mostly to two big first half runs. The Wildcats went on a 13-2 run in the middle of the first half to pull within three points, 26-23, when Love hit a 3-pointer in the left corner.

After Oregon’s TJ Bamba hit a 3 at the shot clock buzzer to put Oregon ahead 31-23, the Wildcats went on another run, outscoring the Ducks 12-2 over a three-minute span.

UA took a 32-31 lead on a layup from Bradley and went ahead 35-33 on a 3 from Dell’Orso. The Wildcats wound up committing only one turnover over the final 15 minutes of the first half.

In the second half, the Wildcats didn't let up, going on an 8-0 run to take a 54-43 lead with 16:48 left, when Dell’Orso hit a 3-pointer from the right corner. Dell’Orso turned toward the crowd and tugged on the “Arizona” part of his jersey in celebration.

But the game was far from over at that point.

Oregon called a timeout five seconds later and a minute after it ended, the Ducks rattled off seven straight points to cut Arizona’s lead to 56-52 on a 3-pointer from Shelstad with 14:18 left.

But Love hit a 3-pointer and dished an assist to Veesaar as he drove the left baseline, with Veesaar throwing down a dunk that gave UA a 61-53 lead. Those scores more than helped UA overcome a technical foul Lewis received for hanging on the rim when he missed a dunk and tried to throw it in; the tech allowed Barthelemy to take one free throw that he made.

Among other late highlights, Love blew past Oregon center Nate Bittle for a dunk that put the Wildcats up 77-70 and later hit a 3 points to give UA an 80-73 lead with 2:01 left.

With UA later up by three and just 20 seconds left, Shelstad drove in for an uncontested layup to cut the Wildcats' lead to one with 10 seconds left, while he and Dell'Orso took turns from the free-throw line: Dell'Orso hit all four he took while Shelstad made the first three of four, with his final miss winding up in Love's hands.

"Those free throws were huge," Lloyd said of Dell'Orso. "You step into a game where you haven't been playing much down the stretch and then do that. And then Caleb was sensational. We've had a lot of conversations, and Caleb has so much potential and he's so good already. What's cool is how much better he can get."

"Super satisfying. Just knowing that this group, what we went through, the adversity, it's built us for these moments."

Photos: Arizona squeak by Oregon 87-83, round of 32 NCAA Tournament