Arizona portal additions Keshad Johnson, Caleb Love paying off with poise, production

Over the 51 seconds that Keshad Johnson sat out with four fouls last Thursday, Michigan State whittled what was once a 15-point Arizona lead down from seven to two.

Time was ticking away. Five minutes remained, with a national Fox audience and about 8,000 fans at Acrisure Arena watching to see if the Wildcats would fully collapse or whether they would make something happen to pull off another Top 25 win.

It was the kind of moment Tommy Lloyd might have imagined when he recruited Johnson and fellow veteran Caleb Love out of the transfer portal last spring. Which may explain why the UA coach sat out Love for a grand total of 22 seconds in the first half and didn't take out Johnson after the brief break that followed his fourth foul.

The Wildcats needed both players' poise and production.

“These dudes both played in national championships, and they’ve been through the wars,” Lloyd said. “I'm just lucky to coach them. We're thankful they're on our side. They’ve both had success at their previous place, but they've 100% bought into our culture.

“Key just reminded me — he's a dog. And I know that Caleb is a dog. I know that.”

Together, the veterans sent the message again Thursday, as they both did with clutch plays in UA's 78-73 win at Duke on Nov. 10.

Johnson, an engine in San Diego State’s unexpected dance into last season’s NCAA title game, and Love, who powered North Carolina’s march to the same place a year before, came through this time to help the Wildcats hang on for a 74-68 win over the Spartans.

“Being in those situations, you know for a fact like it's hard to win those games,” Johnson said. “Whatever you got to do, you’ve got to get it done.”

So they did, often together.

After Michigan State took a three-point lead with 3:58 left, Love hit a jumper 11 seconds later but missed a layup with 3:02 left. Johnson then stepped in to rebound Love's miss and put it in.

That gave UA a 67-66 lead, and the Wildcats never trailed again.

“We hung with it and just found a way to make winning plays down the stretch,” Lloyd said, sitting in front of a postgame interview table with Love and Johnson. “It’s not coaching. It was these two guys here next to me. They did an incredible job down the end.

“I kind of ran out of ideas of plays to run and I always tell the guys at the end of these games, it's amazing how often they come into simple fundamentals -- whether it's a jump stop that leads to a back cut or a shot fake that you get fouled on, or just stepping up and making a shot when the defense breaks down. But a lot of times it's offensive rebounding, and, and I think that was evident today.”

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

Sometimes, it’s also just plain old defense.

After Arizona took a 71-66 lead on an 18-foot jumper from Jaden Bradley with 1:23 left, Love missed a jumper and a 3-pointer in the final minute, then made just 1 of 2 free throws with 24 seconds left.

But on MSU’s ensuing possession, Johnson blocked a layup by Michigan State’s Tyson Walker with 16 seconds left.

Then, when MSU retained possession and Tre Holloman tried to loft an inbounds pass to A.J. Hoggard, it was Love's turn for defensive heroics.

Love broke early off his assignment near the basket, appearing to anticipate that Holloman's pass was heading to Hoggard on the perimeter. Then, when Hoggard reached up to secure the ball, Love swiped it, spun around carefully down the sideline at midcourt and then tossed it over to freshman KJ Lewis, who raced in for a dunk.

Dagger.

As Lloyd indicated, Love’s big-game experience suggested he might have the composure and determination to come up with that sort of thing. In the 2022 NCAA tournament, Love dropped 31 points on UCLA in the Sweet 16 plus another 28 on Duke in North Carolina's semifinal win a week later.

Earlier this month, Love not only hit a pair of clutch free throws in the final seconds of UA’s win at Duke but also stole the ball from Duke’s Ryan Young with five seconds to go — and dished to Lewis for a breakaway dunk much like the one against Michigan State.

But it wasn’t all about being there in games before, Love said. It was also a matter of practice and trust.

“He knows what he's doing. He trusts us on out on the floor,” Love said of Lloyd. “And you know what, when you see your head coach not panicking, why would you panic? We're in those situations. We practice those situations day in and day out in practice, and so we're comfortable in those type of situations.”

The Wildcats can also look at each other, at their veterans, and see no panic. In practices, routine games and Top 25 matchups that are going down to the wire.

“Honestly, I would say it’s just the trust that we have in Tommy's gameplan and the trust that we have in one another,” Johnson said. That's "just really what leads to a win like this. We are well-connected. The strength that we have, the bond that we have, that’s the result that we get in these tough games.

“Like I say, I know I can go all out because my brothers got my back and I know I got their backs.”