Familiarity Could Be Good (Or Bad) for Arizona Wildcats Star Against Duke
It has been hard to get out of the gates cleanly for many of the top teams in college basketball this year, and that has been no different for the Arizona Wildcats.
After starting the year ranked as the 10th-best team in the nation, the Wildcats have fallen to 17th after a 103-88 loss on the road to the Wisconsin Badgers.
It was not a good showing from the stars on the team, most significantly from fifth-year guard Caleb Love.
Through the first two games of the season, Love averaged 13.5 points with 3.5 each of assists and rebounds in 22.0 minutes while only tallying one total personal foul. In the contest with the Badgers, the veteran totaled only six points on 2-of-13 shooting with two each of assists and rebounds in 25 minutes before fouling out.
While it was not the best showing of Love's career, he has a chance to make up for it in their game against the Duke Blue Devils on Friday night.
Many look at this as the game of the week, and it is easy to see why as both teams are firmly in the top 25, with the Blue Devils landing at 12th in the AP Poll.
Love has a long history against Duke, stemming from his time with the North Carolina Tar Heels, which has seen him play in eight contests against the blue blood program.
In those games, Love has averaged 16.9 points per game on 39.3 percent shooting with 4.2 assists and 3.2 rebounds across 34.3 minutes. His teams have gone 5-3 in those matchups, including 1-0 with Arizona.
After such a bad showing in his last outing, the familiarity with the Blue Devils could play in his favor to get him back on track with the success that he has had against the program over the years.
At the same time, that familiarity could prove detrimental to Love and the Wildcats' chances at victory Friday night and could see the team fall to 2-2 on the year.
In fact, in his last three matchups against Duke, Love has averaged only 11.3 points on 29.7 percent shooting with 3.3 each of assists and rebounds across 34.6 minutes.
It will be an entertaining matchup regardless of the final outcome, and seeing the veteran Caleb Love against the freshman phenom Cooper Flagg will be one of the highlights of the season.
Arizona will need the Love from his first five contests against the Blue Devils if they want a chance at winning their matchup Friday night.
