• By Bruce Pascoe Arizona Daily Star

After dropping 33 points on TCU in Arizona’s 90-81 win Monday, guard Caleb Love discusses his role and the Wildcats' ball movement.

Well, that’s more like it.

The Arizona Wildcats finally looked like the team we expected them to be in their Big 12 debut Monday night.

Michael Lev is a senior writer/columnist for the Arizona Daily Star, Tucson.com and The Wildcaster.

Arizona defeated a pesky TCU squad 90-81 at McKale Center. It was the Wildcats’ first victory over a power-conference opponent in six tries.

The Cats shared the ball (28 assists on 33 made field goals). They played hard on defense (seven steals, 46% field-goal percentage against). And Caleb Love — who’s supposed to be their best player but hasn’t always been — played perhaps the best game of his five-year college career.

“Even though they were throwing their punches, we were throwing ours. And ours were hitting harder,” Love said. “We played a complete game today.”

Here are my top five takeaways from that game:

1. Nothing but Love for Caleb

There’s actually quantifiable proof that this was indeed the best game of Love’s career.

Arizona guard Caleb Love (1) runs back downcourt after landing a 3-pointer in the first half during a game against TCU at McKale Center in on Monday, Dec. 30, 2024.

Per Sports-Reference.com (via colleague Brian Pedersen of AZ Desert Swarm), Love became just the third Division I player in the past 20 years to post a line of at least 33 points, seven rebounds and seven assists with zero turnovers. Former Wildcat Ivan Radenovic was one of the other two.

Love also was highly efficient, which hasn’t exactly been a trademark of his: He made 11 of 17 field goals, including 5 of 11 from 3-point range, and all six foul shots. It’d be hard for anyone to play better.

Love appears to be turning around a season that had been bafflingly subpar through Dec. 14. I wrote an entire column about Love’s slump, which began late last season.

Since then, he has averaged 26.7 points on 58.7% shooting over a sizzling three-game stretch. He also has averaged 5.7 free throw attempts, up from 1.3 in the first nine games.

Love credited his teammates, God and his mom, whom he called his “spirit warrior.” He looked aggressive and confident from the get-go Monday, scoring the game’s first five points and seven of Arizona’s first nine. He never took his foot off the gas either, which is exactly what you want to see from your alpha.

Tommy Lloyd liked what he saw; how could he not? But Lloyd also emphasized that Love has to do it consistently.

“He’s one of the best players in the country,” Lloyd said. “But to be one of the best players in the country, you gotta do it on a night-in and night-out basis. Hopefully that’s what we’re trending towards.”

Love isn’t going to shoot 58.7% the rest of the season. But if he plays the way he did Monday — with assuredness and assertiveness — he’ll continue to excel. And so, most likely, will the Wildcats.

2. Oh (yeah) Henri!

Monday’s game also might have been the best of Henri Veesaar’s college career.

TCU guard Noah Reynolds (21), center Malick Diallo (32) and Arizona forward Henri Veesaar (13) all grab for the rebound in the second half during a game at McKale Center on Monday, Dec. 30, 2024. Arizona won 90-81.

His 15 points were one shy of his career high. (The latter came against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi; does that even count?) His six field goals were a career best. (He missed only once.) So were his four assists. He chipped in six rebounds and a blocked shot.

Arizona is going to need more of that with the news that 7-2 center Motiejus Krivas will miss the rest of the season because of a foot injury. That leaves the Wildcats with two 7-footers — Veesaar and freshman Emmanuel Stephen, who’s no longer redshirting but didn’t get any minutes Monday.

What I liked best about Veesaar’s performance vs. the Horned Frogs was that he played like a 7-footer. Yes, he went 1 for 2 from 3. But he made his presence felt in the paint on both ends of the floor.

One second-half sequence in particular showed what Veesaar is capable of. He knocked down a 15-foot baseline jumper. At the other end, he affected a shot, got the rebound and made the outlet pass that led to a KJ Lewis basket. Veesaar then scored Arizona’s next five points on a floater in the lane and a 3-pointer.

After missing all of last season, Veesaar might be putting it all together. He’s gotten stronger and smarter, and Lloyd said he has shot the ball “really well” in workouts and practices.

“It’s been a steady growth since the summer. I’m super proud of his development,” Lewis said.

“We pour belief into each other. He’s getting that from everybody, that we believe in his abilities. Tonight is just a sample of what he can do.”

3. Fave five

Lloyd used nine players vs. TCU. Five had plus-minus ratings of plus-10 or greater: Love, Lewis, Veesaar, Jaden Bradley and Carter Bryant. The other four players finished minus-1 or worse.

Without knowing those numbers, I jotted down a note during the game: Arizona’s best quintet by season’s end just might be Love, Lewis, Veesaar, Bradley and Bryant.

Love, Lewis and Bradley are no-brainers. They’re the Wildcats’ best and most important players.

Arizona forward Henri Veesaar (13) and guard KJ Lewis (5) defend TCU forward David Punch (15) in the first half during a game at McKale Center on Monday, Dec. 30, 2024.

Veesaar and Bryant lack the experience that starters Tobe Awaka and Trey Townsend provide, but their ceilings are much higher.

Veesaar is showing signs of becoming a modern-day center who can control the lane on defense and play the pick-and-pop game on offense. Bryant is oozing with potential. The freshman was the only Wildcat to notch a 3-pointer, a block and a steal vs. the Horned Frogs. He has an NBA frame at 6-8, 225. He’s just still in that unbroken-colt phase (see two traveling violations).

“It’s all learning,” Lloyd said. “Carter has two things in spades: great character and great potential. I will bet on those things every day.

“But they just take a little bit of time. I think we’re getting closer to seeing what a more finished product of Carter is going to look like.”

I don’t foresee Lloyd taking Awaka or Townsend out of the starting lineup. But I can envision a time when Veesaar and Carter are closing games alongside Love, Lewis and Bradley.

4. Finishing strong

Arizona guard Caleb Love (1) takes a shot for a technical foul in the second half against TCU at McKale Center on Monday, Dec. 30, 2024. Arizona won 90-81.

Fun fact: Monday marked the first time this season that Arizona won a game decided by fewer than 10 points. The Wildcats had been 0-3.

They had a chance to win all three of those games — especially UCLA, whom they led 51-40 with 8:46 to go before an unfathomable collapse.

What enabled Arizona to close out TCU? It started with a 3-pointer by Bryant that made it 84-75. Lewis then had a steal that led to an Awaka layup. Love and Bradley each sank two free throws.

I just named five players who made plays down the stretch. The theme of the night was connectivity, something Arizona clearly lacked earlier in the season.

“We just stay poised,” Love said. “That’s how we controlled the game.

“We were tight in our huddles. The message was stay poised, stay together and we gotta be the most connected team ... and that’s exactly what we did.

Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd expresses his opinion over a call to a referee in the second half against TCU at McKale Center on Monday, Dec. 30, 2024. Arizona won 90-81.

“I think that’s the key to us winning games, especially tight games in the Big 12, where it’s going to be tough.”

5. Medium Monday

It’s only going to get tougher from here.

TCU is a middle-of-the-pack team in the Big 12. The Horned Frogs were 74th in the KenPom ratings entering Monday’s slate of games; six other Big 12 teams were in the top 22.

Arizona’s next opponent, Cincinnati, slipped a bit after losing at Kansas State. The opponent after that, West Virginia, is ranked 50th but already beat the UA on a neutral court. Now the Wildcats have to go to Morgantown.

This is the first of three sets of back-to-back road games on Arizona’s Big 12 schedule. The minimum goal for each is a split. The Wildcats might be capable of more if they continue to grow.

Arizona is 1-4 in games played anywhere other than McKale this season. Their road slate includes games at Texas Tech (KenPom’s No. 15 team), Baylor (21), Iowa State (5) and Kansas (9).

Despite Monday’s promising result, I’m withholding judgment on whether the Wildcats are ready for the Big 12 gauntlet. TCU was missing two key players in Frankie Collins and Brendan Wenzel. Arizona also had the benefit of its home crowd, which wasn’t at full throat with the student body on winter break but still brought it when the Wildcats needed it.

Lloyd, wisely, isn’t taking anything for granted.

“I’m gonna go in eyes wide open,” he said. “I’m not gonna assume (anything). Every game is gonna be hard. And we’re gonna have to play good to be competitive. I’ll make those assumptions. Anything beyond that we’re gonna have to earn, and that’s how we’re gonna approach it.”

Become a #ThisIsTucson member! Your contribution helps our team bring you stories that keep you connected to the community. Become a member today.

Contact sports reporter/columnist Michael Lev at mlev@tucson.com. On X (Twitter): @michaeljlev. On Bluesky: @michaeljlev.bsky.social