If a UNC men’s basketball turnaround is imminent, Caleb Love will be a big reason why
Roy Williams posted up against the pushed-back seats in the Dean E. Smith Center last month to observe North Carolina practice as the retired head coach. As Caleb Love came off the floor, he pulled the sophomore guard aside for a brief word.
At times last season, it seemed as if Williams was as tough on Love as he’d been on any of his former players. Williams joked that he was glad Love was “actually finishing at the rim and not just throwing something up,” before he got serious.
“He told me how proud he is of me and that he’s been hearing great things about me, as far as my leap,” Love said.
The leap. It’s somewhat of a coaching cliche that players generally make their biggest improvements between their freshman and sophomore seasons.
In his case, it’s not overstated to say Carolina needs Love to make that leap.
College basketball is still a guards’ game. Rarely can an elite team win big without great point guard play. Love believes he can be that kind of guard for UNC in an offensive system from new coach Hubert Davis that is tailored to his strength of getting to the basket.
“Roy played with two bigs, and there wasn’t as much space (near the rim),” Love said. “But this year, we’re going to have a lot of space playing four out, one in. There’s gonna be a lot more (room) to operate.”
Love was ranked 15th in the 247 Sports composite rankings for the Class of 2020. Of the 14 players rated ahead of him, 12 were picked in the NBA Draft. Center Moussa Cisse, who transferred from Memphis to Oklahoma State, is the only other one of those players still in college. (Kentucky’s Terence Clarke had declared for the draft but was killed in a car accident.)
Sophomore guard Kerwin Walton has watched Love become the hardest worker on the team. Love is usually in the gym for a morning workout; he comes in early for more before practice, then stays after practice to get more shots up. Walton said Love is “going to be 10 times better than he was last year.”
”People probably have written him off already, people have said all these negative things about him,” Walton said. “And he’s just taking all of that and he’s putting it into motivation. He’s a lot hungrier than he was last year. Now, he’s got something to prove as an individual and for our team.”
Love was affected more than most in the COVID-19 pandemic preventing players from arriving during the summer of 2020 and begin working out and playing pickup games with the team. He’d never played point guard full time and needed to get acclimated to the pace of Williams’ system.
That explains why Love didn’t always play up to his pro potential last season. He was second on the team in scoring, averaging 10.5 points per game. But he shot just 26% from 3-point range, which was the worst on the team for any player with more than 50 attempts.
He led the team with 104 assists and had the fifth highest assist rate among ACC freshmen, according to Ken Pomeroy. But his 24.6 turnover rate was the highest for a UNC starting point guard since Marcus Paige (25.6) unexpectedly became the starter the 2012-13 season due to Kendall Marshall’s early departure to the NBA.
Davis believes Love is poised to have a breakout year thanks to what he experienced last year and the work he put in during the off-season. He’s become a better 3-point shooter.
“Now that we have this spacing and balance with his strength and athleticism, he can get to the cup anytime he wants to,” Davis said. “I think he’s gonna lead the league in free throw attempts, because he can get to the basket and can score and get fouled.”
That would be a good thing for Carolina because Love shot 80% from the free throw line. Last season, Love was fourth on the team in free throw attempts behind frontcourt players Armando Bacot, Day’Ron Sharpe and Garrison Brooks.
If Carolina is powered by Love this season, it’ll be a cliche the Heels can all embrace.