North Carolina transfer Caleb Love commits to Arizona Wildcats

Early in the NCAA Tournament last season, it was clear both Arizona Wildcats and Caleb Love were missing something.

Ousted in the first round by 15th-seeded Princeton, the Wildcats needed an experienced, get-me-the-ball-and-get-out-of-the-way type of scorer who could make it happen under pressure. And Love, a focal point — and lightning rod — for a preseason No. 1 team that didn’t even make the tournament, needed a new, better-fitting home.

Both issues may have been solved Tuesday when Love announced he had committed to the Wildcats.

Love, a former five-star prospect who considered Arizona under then-coach Sean Miller out of high school in St. Louis, earlier this spring announced a transfer to Michigan. He then decommitted earlier this month after reportedly lacking enough academic credits before announcing his new decision via social media on Tuesday.

“I now present to you… Savage Mode 2 #BearDown” Love posted.

Love’s decision ended Arizona’s spring recruiting frenzy on a resounding note, giving the Wildcats a starter and potential leading scorer who could help them challenge for Pac-12 and NCAA titles next season.

While starting 32 of 33 games last season at UNC, Love led the Tar Heels in scoring with an average of 16.7 points and became an honorable mention all-ACC pick for the second straight season. He also averaged 3.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists but was an inefficient 3-point shooter, taking nearly half of his shots beyond the arc while hitting them at a 29.9% rate.

As a junior in 2021-22, however, Love averaged 15.9 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists while playing a starring role in No. 8-seeded UNC’s surprising run to the national championship game. He scored 30 points in a Sweet 16 win over UCLA and 28 in the Final Four semifinals over Duke, helping end the career of legendary Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Coincidentally, Arizona’s second game of next season will be at Duke, when the Wildcats figure to be much more prepared now with quality depth at every position.

“Caleb is a tremendously talented guard who has significant experience playing college basketball at a high level,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said in UA’s statement confirming Love’s addition. “We look forward to helping Caleb grow his game at Arizona.”

Lloyd’s challenge will be in figuring how to work Love’s game into an uptempo, pass-happy offense where his perimeter players also include rising sophomore Kylan Boswell, Alabama transfer Jaden Bradley and rising senior Pelle Larsson. The Wildcats also have two incoming freshmen guards, KJ Lewis and Conrad Martinez.

While Larsson can play a number of positions, the Wildcats also have big wing players that include rising senior rising sophomore Filip Borovicanin and incoming freshman Paulius Murauskas. San Diego State transfer Keshad Johnson is a combo forward who may take over Azuolas Tubelis’ starting spot at power forward, while UA has a deep core of big men in starting center Oumar Ballo, Henri Veesaar, Dylan Anderson and Motiejus Krivas.

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All that suggests the Wildcats could deploy a larger rotation than the seven guys Lloyd relied on mostly last season, a possible factor that led to UA losing three of its final six regular season games and its first-round NCAA Tournament game when both point guard Kerr Kriisa (separated shoulder) and Ballo (broken hand) fought significant injuries.

Both Boswell and Ballo welcomed the news of Love’s decision, both of them posting videos of him to their Instagram stories.

“@caleb they ain’t ready for it,” Boswell posted, while Ballo said, “welcome home brother.”

For Lloyd, meanwhile, Love’s decision was a vindication of sorts after he went well into the spring in a precarious spot, prompting concern from fans already upset about the Princeton loss. Losing four starters from last season, including Tubelis to the NBA and Kriisa to West Virginia, Lloyd nevertheless told the Star last month that he wasn’t worried.

“I think we’re in great shape,” Lloyd said then. “I mean, college basketball is different today than it was three, five or 10 years ago. So I feel we’re in a good position. I love the pieces we’ve got. Maybe I have some insight to some other pieces coming that others don’t. So I’m sleeping good.”

Already having made significant inroads under the radar at that point with his three incoming international players who committed this month — Krivas, Murauskas and Martinez — Lloyd also landed three well-regarded players out of the transfer portal: Bradley from Alabama, Johnson from San Diego State and Love from North Carolina as May went on.

Arizona now has the maximum of 13 scholarship players, although it hasn’t officially confirmed the additions of Martinez and Murauskas. UA was penalized for the loss of one scholarship for one season because of its NCAA infractions case that was settled last December, but the school has acted as if carrying 12 last season satisfied that requirement (both the Independent Accountability Resolution Process, which handed down the sanction, and UA have declined comment).

“As we near the completion of the roster for the upcoming season, we feel great about how everything has come together,” Lloyd said in his statement. “Now, it’s time for the real work to start!”

Rim shots

• Former Arizona guard Courtney Ramey worked out for the Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday, three days after former Wildcat teammate Cedric Henderson did. Ramey has not participated in any of the major predraft camps this spring but did play in last spring’s Portsmouth Invitational predraft camp, which led to a three-game suspension last season because it was not a certified NCAA event. Ramey was a starter for 3½ seasons at Texas before starting all 32 games he played for Arizona last season as a grad transfer. He averaged 10.5 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.6 assists while shooting 40.3% from 3-point range.
• Former Arizona guard Kriisa posted a pitch for West Virginia’s NIL collective to social media while standing among sheep in his home country in Estonia, allowing him to avoid risking his US student visa if he actively works in the US. “Mountaineer Nation, it’s Kerr Kriisa, checking in from Estonia, as you can see,” Kriisa said. “Country Roads Trust is very close to reaching its goal. Come help me and my fellow student-athletes who attend West Virginia University with NIL opportunities.”