Caleb Khristopher Love (born September 27, 2001) is an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

player for the Arizona Wildcats of the Pac-12 Conference. He spent his first three seasons at

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

, where he was a starter and key piece of the team's 2022 Final Four run.

High school career

Love attended

Christian Brothers College High School Christian Brothers College High School (CBC High School) is a Lasallian Catholic college preparatory school for young men in Town and Country, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Louis and ...

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, and was coached by Justin Tatum, father of NBA player

Jayson Tatum Jayson Christopher Tatum Sr. (; born March 3, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A McDonald's All-American in high school in Missouri, he played college baske ...

. He averaged 18.9 points and 4.3 rebounds per game as a junior as he transitioned to point guard. He led the school to the Class 5 runner-up to

Rock Bridge High School Rock Bridge High School is a public high school located in southern Columbia, Missouri, United States. The school serves grades 9 through 12 and is one of four High Schools in Columbia Public Schools. It is located next to the Columbia Area Care ...

. Love scored a career-high 42 points against East St. Louis High School as a senior and also scored 40 points against

Cardinal Ritter High School Cardinal Ritter High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school on West 30th Street in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis. It was founded in 1964 and serves the west side of the Indianapoli ...

. As a senior, he averaged 26.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.6 steals per game and led the team to the Class 5 Final Four. Love was named Mr. Show-Me Basketball and Gatorade Player of the Year in Missouri. He was named

McDonald's All-American McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hamburger s ...

, becoming the second player from Christian Brothers to be so honored after

Larry Hughes Larry Darnell Hughes Sr. (born January 23, 1979) is an American former professional basketball player. Hughes played for eight different teams during his 14-year career in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Hughes attended Saint Louis Un ...

in 1997.

Recruiting

Love was ranked the No. 2 point guard and No. 7 player overall in the class of 2020 by

247Sports 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on college recruiting, athletic recruitment in college football and college basketball, basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount Global, Paramount. The website hosts a larg ...

. He committed to playing college basketball for

on October 1, 2019, choosing the Tar Heels over

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

and

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

, among others. Love was attracted to North Carolina because of coach Roy Williams and the opportunity to play lead guard.

College career

North Carolina

Freshman

In his college debut, Love led all scorers with 17 points and posted four assists and two steals in a 79–60 win over the

College of Charleston The College of Charleston (CofC or Charleston) is a public university in Charleston, South Carolina. Founded in 1770 and chartered in 1785, it is the oldest university in South Carolina, the 13th oldest institution of higher learning in the Unit ...

. On January 20, 2021, Love scored 20 points in a 80–73 win over Wake Forest. On January 25, 2021, Love was named ACC Freshman of the week. On February 6, 2021, Love scored a career-high 25 points and 7 assist in a 91–87 victory over rival

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

. On February 8, 2021, Love earned his second Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Freshman of the week honor. He was named to the ACC All-Freshman Team after averaging 10.5 points and 3.5 assists per game. Following the season, longtime Tar Heel head coach Roy Williams retired. After deliberating, Love decided to return to

Chapel Hill Chapel Hill or Chapelhill may refer to: Places Antarctica * Chapel Hill (Antarctica) Australia *Chapel Hill, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane *Chapel Hill, South Australia, in the Mount Barker council area Canada * Chapel Hill, Ottawa, a neighbo ...

for his sophomore season. He averaged 10.5 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 3.6 assists in his freshman season.

Sophomore

In head coach

Hubert Davis Hubert Ira Davis Jr. (born May 17, 1970) is an American college basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels men's team. Before his coaching career, Davis played for North Carolina from 19 ...

' first season in charge after the retirement of Williams, Love was a key piece of a starting lineup that became known as the "Iron Five." The lineup included himself, R. J. Davis,

Leaky Black Rechon Malik "Leaky" Black (born June 14, 1999) is an American basketball player for the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA), on a two-way contract with the Greensboro Swarm of the NBA G League. He played collegiately fo ...

, Oklahoma transfer

Brady Manek Brady Reece Manek (born September 4, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for the Perth Wildcats of the National Basketball League (NBL). He played college basketball for the Oklahoma Sooners and the North Carolina Tar Heels. Ear ...

, and

Armando Bacot Armando Linwood Bacot Jr. (born March 6, 2000) is an American college basketball player for the North Carolina Tar Heels of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). He holds the program records for double-doubles and career rebounds. High school ca ...

. In what began as an up-and-down season for both Love and the rest of the team, the "Iron Five" became crucial to the team's success down the stretch in their run to the National Championship game. In total on the season, Love set career highs in three point field goal percentage, games played, and starts, starting all but one of the 39 games played that season. He averaged 15.9 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game on the season, averaging 37.1% from the floor and 36% from beyond the three-point line. In the 2022 NCAA tournament, Love scored 27 of his career-high 30 points in the second half of a 73–66 win over fourth-seeded

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

in the Sweet Sixteen. In the following Final Four matchup with the

Duke Blue Devils The Duke Blue Devils are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Duke University, located in Durham, North Carolina. Duke's athletics department features 27 varsity teams that all compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association ...

, Love scored 28 points, including a late three-point shot seen as pivotal in the Tar Heels' 81–77 victory. In the Finals, he rolled his ankle and was shooting poorly, but still had a chance to tie the game despite

coming back in the second half. He missed a closely guarded step-back three-pointer, and UNC lost the title. He finished the game with 13 points on 5-of-24 shooting.

Junior

After the late-season success of the season prior, Love, Black, R.J. Davis, and Bacot all decided to return for the 2022-23 season. Despite a pre-season No.1 ranking and massive expectations, the season went awry quickly for Love and his teammates. Still, Love was a key piece of the starting lineup, and started 32 of the 33 games the team played (his lone appearance off the bench came on UNC's senior night, where tradition dictates that the starting lineup consist of all seniors on the team). The Tar Heels stumbled to a 20–13 record in Hubert Davis' second season. Love, despite shooting worse from the foul line and three-point line in his junior season, set new career highs in overall field-goal percentage (37.8%), points per game (16.7), and rebounds per game (3.7). Following the season, Love entered the transfer portal, announcing his intentions to play elsewhere his senior year.

Senior

After much speculation, Love originally committed to play his senior season at

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

. However, just over a month later after committing to Michigan, Love decommitted from the Wolverines and headed back into transfer portal, reportedly due to an issue with transfer credits. He announced his commitment to the Arizona Wildcats via social media on May 30, 2023.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 29 , , 25 , , 27.7 , , .316 , , .266 , , .808 , , 2.6 , , 3.6 , , 1.2 , , .3 , , 10.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 39 , , 38 , , 34.2 , , .371 , , .360 , , .863 , , 3.4 , , 3.6 , , .9 , , .2 , , 15.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2022–23 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 32 , , 35.8 , , .378 , , .299 , , .765 , , 3.7 , , 2.8 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , 16.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , , 101 , , 95 , , 32.8 , , .360 , , .317 , , .815 , , 3.3 , , 3.3 , , 1.0 , , .3 , , 14.6

References

External links

North Carolina Tar Heels bioUSA Basketball bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Love, Caleb 2001 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from St. Louis McDonald's High School All-Americans North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball players Point guards Shooting guards