‘I’m playing to win’: Caleb Love’s scoring adds up in victories as UNC visits Notre Dame

CHAPEL HILL — Caleb Love isn’t overly consumed with how or why the math has tended to add up this particular way, and he’s not arguing with the results, either.

When he’s scoring, among the many pleasing developments, North Carolina is winning.

The Tar Heels meet Notre Dame in an Atlantic Coast Conference basketball road assignment on Wednesday night with the opportunity to improve to 3-0 in league play, and Love is coming off his fifth 22-point performance of the season, all delivered during victories.

The sophomore guard ranks as North Carolina’s leading scorer on the season at 15.6 points per game, and that number has climbed to 16.5 points per game in the team’s 10 wins.

“I don’t really pay it no mind,” Love said. “I’m just being aggressive. You can count on me to compete and be aggressive every game, and if I get those points I get those points. But I’m playing to win, that’s all that is. I’m playing to win and playing for my team.”

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After providing two 20-point scoring outings across 29 games during his inconsistent freshman season, Love has produced five such efforts through 13 games this season. He has supplied 22 points in each of them, defeats of Loyola (Md.), College of Charleston, Michigan, Elon and Boston College.

His final bucket Sunday at Boston College gave the Tar Heels (10-3 overall, 2-0 ACC) a 36-point lead, their largest of the afternoon, moments before first-year coach Hubert Davis emptied his bench for the game’s concluding 6½ minutes — leaving Love sitting on the 22-point mark again.

“Man, I don’t know what it is,” he said, smiling wide, “but I laughed at Coach. I’m like, ‘I was at 22, Coach,’ and he took me out. But it’s all good, we’ve got to get the young guys some run, and it was good to see them out there learning and getting better.”

Love also leads North Carolina’s team in assists (3.5 per game), successful 3-pointers (27), steals (17) and free throws (42-for-50) on the season.

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His production from 3-point range, an issue last season as a freshman, has become a weapon across the first two months of this season. He has connected on 19-for-37 beyond the arc during the last seven games, and he’s sinking 43.5 percent of his 3-point launches on the season.

Last season, Love’s 31.6-percent shooting from the field hit a historical bottom as the all-time lowest mark in North Carolina history among Tar Heels players who have made at least 100 career field goals.

But now, he’s one of the primary reasons the Tar Heels rank No. 7 nationally in 3-point accuracy at 40 percent on the season. He went 3-for-3 on 3-pointers in the second half Sunday at Boston College, to finish 4-for-6 from deep in North Carolina’s blowout of the Eagles.

“Just open looks,” he said, after the 91-65 beatdown in Boston. “My teammates were finding me and we were sharing the ball a lot, the whole game we were sharing the ball. Coach had said that if we move the ball, then we’re going to get open shots, and that’s what happened. I got open shots because my teammates created for me.”

Tip-off

Who: North Carolina (10-3, 2-0) at Notre Dame (7-5, 1-1)

When: 9 p.m. Wednesday (ESPN2)

Where: Purcell Pavilion, South Bend, Ind.

Series: North Carolina leads 27-8 and has won nine of the last 10 meetings. The Tar Heels lead 11-4 since Notre Dame joined the ACC in the 2013-14 season.

Up next: North Carolina plays host to Virginia on Saturday afternoon in Chapel Hill, the third game for the Tar Heels in a stretch of seven days

Adam Smith is a sports reporter for the Burlington Times-News and USA TODAY Network. You can reach him by email at asmith@thetimesnews.com or @adam_smithTN on Twitter.

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This article originally appeared on Times-News: UNC basketball: Caleb Love’s points add up in wins ahead of Notre Dame