A newcomer to Duke basketball received a challenge in the form of an insult.
Early in the 2020 recruiting cycle, Duke basketball coaches observed the current UNC basketball freshman, Caleb Love. However, they never officially entered the race.
Proceed to Saturday night.
Mike Krzyzewski and his team watched the 6-foot-tall guard set the Blue Devils (7-7, 5-5 ACC) on fire with 25 points and seven assists while shooting 4 in 5 over the bow.
In short, love proved to be the dominant factor in Tar Heels (12-6, 7-4 ACC) winning a 91-87 victory over his archenemies in Durham.
Going back a few years, the initial interest in Love from the Blue Devils came as no surprise. After all, Justin Tatum, father of Duke basketball player Jayson Tatum, trained five-star preparation at Christian Brothers College in St. Louis.
In addition, Love’s father, Dennis, later suggested St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports columnist Benjamin Hochman said that Coach K and his gang could easily have pushed his son to the end of Tobacco Road:
“Caleb’s dream school was Duke. And Coach K came here. We thought it would happen. And then, that didn’t happen. “
Why not? The older love explained:
“Jeremy Roach… Jeremy is committed to Duke. They were still recruiting him, but Caleb made it clear that he wanted to be a point guard, even though he can play outside the ball. So, we knew it wasn’t going to work … And he said to me, ‘I need that offer from North Carolina’ ”.
Tweeting trash to Duke’s basketball guard
Two hours after winning the Duke, Caleb Love took to Twitter to hit his chest and apparently mock the guy who grabbed the offer he originally wanted most. Now, through his production on his debut at Cameron Indoor Stadium and the following fired shots tweet – including a photo of Jeremy Roach protecting him – Tar Heel secured his page on historic rivalry:
Wild tweet.
Of course, love could have acted as if it had been there before. That said, there is no denying that he won the right to express his emotions in light of his sensational departure at Coach K Court.
Still, to be fair to Roach, despite the defeat, his first performance against the UNC was not a total disappointment. No, the ex-five star from Virginia, who finished nine places below Love in 23rd place in the final 247 Sports 2020 Composite, totaled 16 points and five assists of his own. In addition, although he contributed to some open looks from Tar Heels, he ended up with three steals.
Of course, looking ahead while looking again at Caleb Love’s tweet, Jeremy Roach should have no motivation issues when he and the Blue Devils travel eight miles to the Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill on March 6.
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