Caleb Love put together a tremendous season with Arizona, one that earned him Pac-12 Player of the Year honors. It didn’t end well, though, with arguably the worst shooting performance of his career in the Sweet 16 loss to Clemson.
Not exactly the way one wants to end their career. And it just might not be.
Love has declared for the NBA Draft for the second time, but as he did after his junior year at North Carolina he’s retained his college eligibility. He has until May 29 to decide whether to remain in the draft or withdraw and return to the UA for a second season.
God’s plan… pic.twitter.com/yo8QlWcGqB
— Caleb Love (@caleb2love) April 16, 2024
The 6-foot-4 Love led the UA in scoring at 18 points per game, the highest average of his career, adding a career-best 4.8 rebounds per game along with 3.4 assists and 1.2 steals. He shot 41.3 percent, also a career best, making 50.2 percent of his 2-pointers and 33.2 percent of his 3s.
Love, who passed 2,000 career points while with the Wildcats, made 92 3s in 2023-24 to rank 7th in single-season school history. But he missed all nine 3-point tries against Clemson, going 5 of 18 overall, and over the final six games of the season shot 28.6 percent overall and 20 percent from 3.
Not currently projected to be taken in June’s NBA Draft, a fifth college season—the first, in 2020-21, doesn’t count towards his eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic—could see Love take on even more of a leadership role than he did this past year when he was one of four senior starters.
The Wildcats only have five scholarship players from the 2023-24 team still on the roster, the only upperclassmen being junior guard Jaden Bradley and redshirt sophomore center Henri Veesaar. There will be at least four freshman on the team next season, possibly more.