Love At His Best When Tar Heels Needed It Most
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BLACKSBURG, VA – The film room has become Caleb Love’s friend of late. More than it was earlier in the season.
Love recently went through a horrendous shooting slump, something he started climbing out of in a rout of Florida State last weekend. But his sloppy work with the ball was among the major eyesores from North Carolina’s surprising loss at home to Pittsburgh on Wednesday night, and it had actually become part of a recent trend for the sophomore guard.
So, Love watched film of himself. Ball protection is paramount when facing Virginia Tech and its sometimes-stifling halfcourt defense, which was the task at hand for the Tar Heels on Saturday. And it paid off.
That, plus his self-assuredness, and being fueled by the hostile surroundings in UNC’s 65-57 victory over the Hokies inside raucous Cassell Coliseum. Finding reasons the Tar Heels earned the crucial win is easy, and the list rather lengthy. But it just might have to start with Love. He was sensational Saturday, maybe even at his very best in two seasons as a Tar Heel.
“This was his best game as a Carolina basketball player,” UNC Coach Hubert Davis said. “He played well against Duke (43 points in two games) last year. To me, this was the best that I have ever seen him play. He had a great understanding of when to pass and when to shoot. He made great decisions.”
Love finished with 21 points and a career-high seven assists. He was 6-for-12 from the floor, including 3-for-8 from three-point range, and he had just two turnovers. He was unselfish, got his teammates involved, and only appeared to rush things a couple of times.
Love was a floor general, which was a big part of his mission heading in.
“Virginia Tech is a solid defensive team in the half court, you’re not really going to score on a first pass or second pass, you’ve got to break the defense down,” he said. “So, I got downhill and I broke the defense down and found the open man, and it was successful.”
The St Louis native chose a pretty good time to step into one of his top performances as a Tar Heel.
Carolina (19-8, 11-5 ACC) was coming off a devastating loss at home to Pittsburgh on Wednesday night and desperate for a noteworthy win to enhance its NCAA resume. The Hokies entered the contest ranked No. 37 in the NET, so this was a Quad 1 win, and given that UNC was 0-7 in such games when this one tipped off, Love guiding the Heels to a win here was enormous progress in their quest to land in the NCAA Tournament.
To get there, however, the Tar Heels simply need to play a higher level more consistently than they have all season, and Love might be the team’s most important player in making that happen.
North Carolina is 11-0 when Love hands out at least five assists. It is 8-8 when he doesn’t. That is rather simple math.
“I’ve just been watching a lot of film on the bad shots I was taking and the turnovers I done had, and seeing where I can get better and what I can do to get this team over the hump,” Love said.
Senior wing Leaky Black says Love’s confidence is “off the charts” and he’s never surprised when his teammate rises up and performs as he did in this frenzied environment. And maybe the atmosphere here served as part of Love’s fuel, too.
Late in a win at Louisville a few weeks ago, Love had some words for Cardinals fans that had been riding him all night. He did the same thing with the Clemson crowd 11 days ago at Littlejohn Coliseum. And he had some fun with the Virginia Tech students, too. A lot of fun.
“Just like, ‘Let me hear you, let me hear you,’ because they was talking all game,” Love said, wearing the biggest smile he’s flashed in a while. “You live for those moments and you love those type of games.”
And Carolina lives and loves to see Love when he dials in and performs at this very high level.