Early technical may have doomed Caleb Love and Arizona Wildcats in loss at Wisconsin

MADISON, Wis. — Less than five minutes into Arizona’s 103-88 loss at Wisconsin on Friday, a pair of whistles suggested the Wildcats might already be doomed.

Guard Caleb Love was called for a shooting foul trying to defend Wisconsin’s John Blackwell near the basket, and then, when the two players began animatedly discussing the matter, Love extended his right arm for a light shove on his opponent.

That was two fouls on Arizona’s preseason all-American, more than 35 minutes left to play, and four ensuing Wisconsin free throws that expanded the Badgers’ lead from 9-8 to 13-8.

Love never really recovered, finishing with just six points in 25 minutes before he fouled out with five minutes left, and the Wildcats suffered along with him.

UA did manage to fully erase what became an 18-point first-half deficit, tying the game at 65 early in the second half, but double-digit scoring efforts from Jaden Bradley (22), Trey Townsend (17) and KJ Lewis (15) weren’t enough as Wisconsin built back a double-digit lead late in the game.

By then, Love was playing with four fouls and eventually fouled out for the first time since his freshman season of 2020-21, a moment he skidded toward since that early technical.

“Caleb can’t put himself in a position where early in the game he gets a technical foul,” Lloyd said at his postgame news conference. “He can’t get baited into anything. I haven’t seen the clip so I have no idea what happened but if it was justified — and I’m sure it was, since the officials called it — you just can’t put yourself in that position to pick up two fouls early in the game.”

It was exactly the sort of position Wisconsin had hoped Love would get in. Bradley said he thought the Badgers were aiming to “take him out of the game early,” and he was right.

Wisconsin coach Greg Gard credited veteran associate head coach Joe Krabbenhoft for that game plan, which involved rotating Blackwell, guard Max Klesmit, Jack Janicki and others in constantly shadowing Love.

“I think (Krabbenhoft) knew which hand everybody opened the bathroom door with,” Gard said. “There wasn’t much that went undetected.

“We didn’t want to let (Love) get into rhythm, as he’s a terrific player, and getting him in foul trouble helped. That’s the best way to slow down a scorer — have him sitting on the bench.”

Love left the game for over five minutes after the technical and, while he didn’t pick up another over eight more minutes he played in the half, his normal offense wasn’t there. Love shot just 1 for 5 before halftime, missing two 3-pointers, and then missed another four 3s after halftime.

He fouled out with 4:57 left in the game, just before Wisconsin finished taking that 65-65 tie and turning it into a 15-point lead that ultimately proved to be the Badgers’ winning margin. Love wound up making just 2 of 13 field goals — missing all six 3s he tried — and fouled out with 4:57 left.

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“They’re too good that they weren’t going to make a run back at some point,” Gard said. “So we did a better job of making looks hard for him. He didn’t have many easy ones. That’s a credit to our players.”

Bradley said the Badgers were “face-guarding” Love constantly but also said the rest of the Wildcats could have helped him out more.

“We’ve got to do a better job of getting Caleb involved, just getting everybody involved,” Bradley said. “I think we just missed a lot of shots we normally made. That was just it.”

Love wasn’t the only Wildcat in foul trouble, either. Center Tobe Awaka fouled out after just 20 minutes, while three other players had four fouls each — including freshman Carter Bryant, who played just 13 minutes off the bench.

Wisconsin actually only committed one less foul than UA (31) but had only one player foul out — center Steven Crowl, who lasted 31 minutes — and two others with four fouls each. They also shot 48.1% from the field and hit 12 of 27 3-pointers, hardly discombobulated by all that fouling.

“We came to the mini huddle every time talking about that we can’t control it,” Wisconsin guard Max Klesmit said. “We can’t determine what a ref is going to call a foul or not. It’s ‘next play.’ … We pulled everybody together and said the team that’s going to complain about all the foul calling first is going to lose. That’s the team that’s going to kind of fade and give in.”

Overall, Arizona shot just 37.8% from the field and was just 4 of 23 (17.4%) from 3-point range. Notably, the Wildcats also recorded assists on just six of their 28 field goals.

It was the fourth straight Arizona loss in which Love had struggled offensively. He had 13 points in Arizona’s Sweet 16 loss to Clemson last season but was 0 for 9 from 3-point range.

Before that, Love had just six points in the Wildcats’ 67-59 loss to Oregon in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals and just two points (with five turnovers) in UA’s 78-65 loss at USC on the final day of the regular season.

Still, as he did last season anytime Love struggled or someone questioned his performance, Lloyd offered plenty of support.

“Caleb is going to be fine,” Lloyd said. “I love that kid with all my heart. I love how he’s been able to deal with adversity and struggles.

“Listen, that kid has done more with adversity and struggles than most of us have done in our lives. Combined. So I’m all in on that kid, and you know what? He’s going to have a great year, and he’s the guy I want leading my program.”