Longtime Duke rival Caleb Love delivers in clutch to help Arizona beat Blue Devils 78-73 at Cameron Indoor

DURHAM, North Carolina — Caleb Love wore a pair of bright yellow headphones that shut out the Cameron Crazies during pregame warmups Friday. Then he took care of them himself.

The longtime Duke nemesis, who played for North Carolina before transferring to Arizona this season, played a clutch role in helping the 12th-ranked Wildcats pull out a 78-73 win over No. 2 Duke on Friday at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Love hit a 35-foot bomb as time expired in the first half and then made four game-clinching free throws in the final 17.4 seconds — and dished a final assist with one second left.

All that gave him license to spend the final moments waving from midcourt to the since-silenced Duke students, a wide grin plastered on his face.

"I just said 'Goodbye,' you know?" Love said. "It's over with."

But by no means was it only Love's game. The fourth-year guard actually struggled at times Friday, missing his other four 3-pointers and going 3 for 10 from the field. Yet the Wildcats gave him plenty of support, especially with veteran play down the stretch.

UA's four other starters all scored in double figures and, while both teams shot comparably, Arizona also outrebounded Duke 45-33, scoring 13 second-chance points on 15 offensive rebounds.

Grad transfer forward Keshad Johnson, who led the Wildcats with 14 points, took a dish from Love with about 50 seconds left, went up for an inside basket and drew a foul from Duke star Kyle Filipowski in the process. He converted the and-one with 46 seconds left for what became a go-ahead three-point play, putting UA ahead 70-69.

"Caleb got into kind of a tough spot down there and he got on two feet, which was awesome, and found Key," Lloyd said. "Key had missed a bunch of layups that just kind of rolled off and on that one we maybe got lucky and got an and-one on it."

Certainly, that was Filipowski's view. He raised his hand up high in front of an official, pleading that he went straight up and did not foul Johnson, but the foul led to a one-point edge that Arizona held on to the rest of the way.

From there, a turnover from Duke guard Tyrese Proctor with 27 seconds left led to Love getting fouled and sent to the line for his free throws. Then, after Duke's Mark Mitchell made a layup to pull Duke within 72-71, Pelle Larsson and Duke's Jeremy Roach threw in two free throws each.

That left Arizona to inbound with five seconds left, with the Wildcats leading 74-73. The ball went to Love, who drew an instant foul from Proctor and went to the line again.

It was the sort of thing that could have been written for Lloyd, if he believed in such a thing.

"I'm not a scripter," Lloyd said. But "I'm not surprised he made them. He deserved that moment. I thought he was playing a little quick on some stuff and I can imagine it's a pretty emotional moment for him. He's a competitive guy. But for him to calmly step up and go 4-for-4 from the line down the stretch says a lot about him as a competitor."

Just in case those final two free throws weren't enough for Love to celebrate, he also took in a desperation Duke pass in the final seconds, then dished it to freshman KJ Lewis, who drove in for a dagger dunk with one second left.

Exclamation point.

"It was great," Love said. "Then to see KJ dunk the ball like he did was a great moment.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

"It was very satisfying. It's always gonna be tough coming in here, hostile environment, and this was a great team, coached by a great coach."

Only it might not have felt that way to second-year Duke coach Jon Scheyer, who lost his first game at Cameron, and in front of former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, no less.

"They're a very good team but … I didn't think we played our best despite that," Scheyer said. "I think the biggest thing for me is we didn't play together. That's hard for me to swallow."

The Wildcats had no such issues. They not only lifted Love into a position where he could win the game on a less-than-efficient night but also overcame other struggles, such as a missed 3-pointer and two missed free throws from Jaden Bradely around the three-minute mark that could have given them more breathing room.

Arizona also went without point guard Kylan Boswell in the final five seconds, with the sophomore point guard hobbling around with what Lloyd said he thought were cramps.

More than anything, though, the Wildcats held off Duke over and over and over again. UA took a 41-33 halftime lead thanks to Love's 35-foot bomb, but Duke gradually cut the Wildcats' lead early in the second half and went ahead 54-52 with 12:46 left.

After the Wildcats took a six-point lead with just under 10 minutes to go, Mark Mitchell scored inside and Proctor hit a 3, and the game stayed within one possession the rest of the way… at least until Love caught the late Blue Devil pass and shipped it to Lewis.

They hung on, in one of the toughest places in college basketball for a visiting team to hang on.

"We knew we were gonna have to take punches," Lloyd said. "My message to the guys was real simple: Play with poise. Then I said, `Why do you think I want you guys to play with poise? -- 'well, make good decisions, don't panic, don't let the crowd get to you?'

"I said, 'No. Play with poise because you're the better team. Trust that you're the better team over 40 minutes."

Photos: No. 12 Arizona men's basketball takes down No. 2 Duke 78-73