Arizona Wildcats Need Caleb Love To Rise to Occasion To Turn Season Around
The Arizona Wildcats haven’t gotten off to the kind of start that they were hoping for in the 2024-25 college basketball season.
They entered the campaign as the No. 10 ranked team in the preseason but quickly began dropping in the rankings. With a record of 4-4, they are currently unranked.
There will be ample opportunities for them to climb back into the top 25 since the Big 12 is loaded with ranked teams and tough competition, but for Arizona to navigate that schedule and find success, they need better performances from their star guard, Caleb Love.
When he opted to forgo the NBA draft and return to Tucson for one more campaign, it was seen as a major boost for the program.
Four starters from last season’s team were already on the move, whether it was graduation, transferring or going to the pros.
Having the Pac-12 Player of the Year returning to the lineup was a huge boost, but to this point, he hasn’t come close to replicating the level of production he provided in his first campaign at Arizona.
Through eight games this year, Love is averaging 14.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.4 steals in 29.5 minutes per game. His role has adjusted slightly with KJ Lewis and Jaden Bradley both starting alongside him at times this campaign, but where his production has really slipped is in shooting efficiency.
He is making only 37.2% of his shots overall and 29.5% from 3-point range.
Unfortunately for the Wildcats, when the lights have been brightest, their star has faltered.
Thus far, the team has played against four Quad 1 opponents; the Wisconsin Badgers, Duke Blue Devils, Oklahoma Sooners and West Virginia Mountaineers.
They have lost all four contests and a major reason for that has been Love’s struggles.
As shared by Neil Payne of ESPN, he has been ice-cold shooting the ball against the upper-echelon competition the team has faced thus far.
“And Love, in particular, has struggled in those games, with an uncharacteristic 41.1% on True Shooting while hitting just 22% of his 3-pointers,” he wrote.
He was 1-for-15 on 3-point attempts against Wisconsin and Duke.
One glaring difference in his shot diet this season compared to recent is that he isn’t getting to the foul line very often.
Love is averaging 1.5 free throw attempts per game, well below his career average of 3.6.
In Years 2-4 of his collegiate career, he averaged at least 3.9 free throws per game.
Getting to the charity stripe gives a player a chance to see the ball go through the basket and get into a rhythm. He hasn’t been affording himself that opportunity, despite the rest of his shooting attempts being relatively in line with his career numbers.
Could that be partly a scheme change with so many new faces in the lineup?
It is certainly possible, but head coach Tommy Lloyd has to figure out a way to get his best player on track.
As the most experienced player on the team, Love is integral to the team’s success. They will go as far as he can carry them, and to this point, he hasn’t offered much.
But, a player of his talent level being down for too long would be surprising.
He has shown signs of breaking out in recent games, with a season-high 24 points scored against West Virginia.
If he can bring that more consistently, the Wildcats will find a rhythm in what will be a daunting Big 12 schedule.
