Love powers Heels into Elite 8
PHILADELPHIA — UCLA star Johnny Juzang had his head slumped in his hands well after midnight Friday, as teammate Jules Bernard explained with somber resignation how North Carolina extended its NCAA Tournament run while extinguishing the Bruins' season.
“In this tournament, one hot player can send you home,” Bernard said.
Caleb Love summoned a flamethrowing awakening and erupted for 27 of his career-high 30 points during the second half, dispensing the latest batch of March magic for the Tar Heels, who overcame UCLA 73-66 with a clutch finish in the East Regional semifinals at Wells Fargo Center.
Armando Bacot (14 points, 15 rebounds), Brady Manek (13 points, eight rebounds) and RJ Davis (12 points, seven rebounds) added key contributions, but it was Love, the sophomore guard, who emerged in fully confident, shotmaking form after a struggling start to move North Carolina one victory shy of stamping its eventful tournament journey with a trip to the Final Four.
His back-to-back 3-pointers in the game's final 1:41 vaulted the Tar Heels from trailing 64-61 to leading 67-64 and ahead to stay, as North Carolina closed on a 12-2 run.
“I think for all of us, we just tried to get out of his way and let him work,” Bacot said, praising Love and the takeover gear he found.
The eighth-seeded Tar Heels (27-9) meet Cinderella next in the Elite Eight. They face 15th-seeded Saint Peter's, the tournament darling, at 5:05 p.m. Sunday in the regional final.
North Carolina escaped Baylor, the regional's No. 1 seed and reigning NCAA champion, last weekend, before conquering fellow college basketball royalty on Friday night in UCLA, which reached the Final Four last season. In upstart
Saint Peter's, the Tar Heels will encounter the first No. 15 seed to crack the Elite Eight in tournament history.
“They're here for a reason,” North Carolina coach Hubert Davis said of the surprising Peacocks, “because they're an incredible team, but they're also incredibly tied together. Tremendous chemistry. On Sunday, it'll be our toughest game of the year.”
Bernard's 16 points, Tyger Campbell's 15 points and Juzang's 14 points topped fourth-seeded UCLA (27-8) on Friday night. Jaime Jaquez Jr., playing through a sprained ankle, had 10 points on just 5-for-18 shooting from the field for the Bruins. UCLA worked at its preferred measured pace, operating methodically and putting a heightened premium on North Carolina's opportunities.
Love obliged by supplying the performance of his young life. Just 1-for-8 from the field with three points by halftime, he caught fire and went 10-for-16 the rest of the way, burying five of his six
3-pointers during the second half, each of those long balls serving to breathe precious belief into the Tar Heels.
He had been a helpless bystander last weekend, fouling out while North Carolina's 25-point lead crumbled against Baylor. Love watched the final 6:15 of regulation from the bench at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, and all five minutes of overtime as the Tar Heels barely survived, behind a careerbest 30 points from backcourt mate RJ Davis.
Love seized the moment on this night, stage presence that brought North Carolina back from five-point deficits on three occasions in the second half. He was 2 of 10 from the field for the game at one juncture, but he said a racing layup past Campbell in transition and two tough driving finishes through contact from Bernard served to light the fuse on critical 3-point connections that were to come.
“Coach Davis just wanted me to attack the basket,” Love said. “He feels that I'm at my best when I'm going downhill. I got a few layups getting downhill and then the outside shot started to fall. Once you get those, see them go through, your rhythm is there.”
UCLA led 60-56 with less the 51/2 minutes remaining and 64-61 in the game's final two minutes, and North Carolina delivered winning answers.
Manek shook off some frustration and drilled his only bucket of the second half, a 3-pointer on a feed from Davis, putting the Tar Heels ahead 61-60. Later, the 6-foot-10, 240-pound Bacot tracked down the bouncing rebound of a Love missed 3, a hustling sequence that proved pivotal. UCLA coach Mick Cronin called it “the turning point of the game” and said “obviously that's going to keep me up at night.”
North Carolina trailed by three when Bacot went falling out of bounds underneath, retrieving the ball and flinging it from the baseline out beyond the 3point line. It went to Love, who nailed the first of his enormous pair of late launches to tie the game at 64-64.
“I don't know what would have happened if I didn't get that board,” Bacot said. “I just was trying to really keep the play alive, and throw the ball up hoping that somebody would get it. And it was great that Caleb had the instincts to find the ball, and then to hit a big 3 after was huge.”
Love's go-ahead 3 on the Tar Heels' next possession had him skipping and flexing in celebration, and North Carolina led 67-64 with 63 seconds left. Bacot's tip-in offensive rebound upped the lead to 69-64 with 15.5 seconds to go.
“We've been in those situations before, late situations where a play needs to be made,” Hubert Davis said, mentioning stressful victories the Tar Heels claimed against Louisville, Syracuse, Duke, Virginia Tech and other opponents this season. “We've always stepped up to the challenge, whether it's worked out for us or not.”