Caleb Love

Caleb Khristopher Love (born September 27, 2001) is an American college basketball player for the Arizona Wildcats of the Pac-12 Conference. He spent his first three seasons at North Carolina, 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 in St. Louis, Missouri, and was coached by Justin Tatum, father of NBA player Jayson Tatum. 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. 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. 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, becoming the second player from Christian Brothers to be so honored after Larry Hughes in 1997.

Recruiting
Love was ranked the No. 2 point guard and No. 7 player overall in the class of 2020 by 247Sports. He committed to playing college basketball for North Carolina on October 1, 2019, choosing the Tar Heels over Missouri, Louisville and Kansas, among others. Love was attracted to North Carolina because of coach Roy Williams and the opportunity to play lead guard.

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. 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 then career-high 25 points and 7 assist in a 91–87 victory over rival Duke. 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 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' 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, Oklahoma transfer Brady Manek, and Armando Bacot. 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 then career-high 30 points in the second half of a 73–66 win over fourth-seeded UCLA in the Sweet Sixteen. In the following Final Four matchup with the Duke Blue Devils, 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 Kansas 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. 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.

Love made his Wildcat debut on November 6, 2023, scoring 12 points and dishing out four assists in a 122–59 victory over Morgan State. Love made his return to Cameron Indoor Stadium on November 10 and beat No. 2 Duke 78–73, snapping their 17-game home winning streak. On December 16, Love had a game-high 29 points and six rebounds in a 92–84 loss to No. 3 Purdue, marking Arizona's first loss of the season. On January 6 against Utah, Love had 23 points, six rebounds, and six assists on 60% from the field in a 92–73 victory. The next game against Washington State, Love finished with 28 points and eight rebounds in a tight 73–70 road loss. On January 27, Love went 12-for-18 from the field and scored a career-high 36 points in a 87–78 road victory against Oregon. His 36 points tied the single-game scoring record at Matthew Knight Arena. On February 8, Love recorded his first career double-double in a triple overtime road victory against Utah, finishing with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Against Washington on February 24, Love poured in 28 points and reached 2,000 collegiate points in a 91–75 win.

On March 12, 2024, Love was awarded the final Pac-12 Player of the Year Award and became the tenth Arizona Wildcat to win the award. Love averaged a team-high 18.7 points on 43% from the field and 35.2% from three-point range. He added 4.9 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.2 steals in 32.2 minutes played. He helped Arizona earn the No. 2 seed in the West region of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. They advanced to the Sweet 16, where they lost to No. 6 Clemson 77–72, with Love missing all nine of his three-point attempts.

Graduate
Love announced via his social media accounts on May 29, 2024 that he would withdraw from the 2024 NBA Draft and return to Arizona for his graduate season.