When Duke arrived at Newark’s Prudential Arena for its Sweet 16 game against Arizona, it saw a familiar face on the floor, and not a friendly one.
Oh, and Caleb Love was there too.
For five years, Love has been a thorn in the side of the Blue Devils. Teams with Love on the floor, first UNC, then Arizona, had won five of nine games against Duke. Love hit a game-winning three-pointer against the Blue Devils in the 2022 Final Four, then hit a dagger of a shot to lead U of A to a rare win at Cameron Indoor by a non-conference foe to start the 2024 season.
No, the Blue Devils were expecting Love to show up in Newark. The surprise guest that caused Duke hearts to drop was referee Lee Cassell.
The veteran ACC official has a long history with Duke, and an inconsistent love affair with his own whistle. While he calls plenty of fouls, leading to some long, uneven games, he also swallows his whistle at inopportune moments. He got on Duke’s black list in 2023, when he didn’t call an obvious foul on Kyle Filipowski at the end of regulation, leading to a UVA win in overtime—the ACC later put out a statement admitting the officiating error.
This year, Cassell worked eight Duke games. Three of them lasted well over two hours, including a 2:24 marathon in the ACC Tournament semifinals. The shortest was a 1:57 affair.
In games not officiated by Cassell, Duke was whistled for 14.8 fouls, 2.1 fewer than opponents. In Cassell games, Duke was called for 16.2 fouls, opponents 16.5. The free throw numbers show a similar disparity. A 19.4 to 12.5 edge in non-Cassell games shrinks to 19.0 to 15.2 when he’s on the floor.
Despite calling less than a quarter of Duke’s games this year, a third of the times a Duke player fouled out this season took place under his whistle.
It’s safe to say Cassell is in the Blue Devils’ heads. As was the case seven previous times this season, the Duke coaching staff kept up a constant diatribe against Cassell throughout Thursday’s game. Three Blue Devils battled foul trouble, including Patrick Ngongba, who fouled out. Arizona shot more free throws and was whistled for fewer fouls. And the game, which tipped at 10:03, ended well after midnight.
“It was a physical game,” said Duke’s Kon Knueppel, who scored 20 points. “A couple of our bigs were fouling a little bit too much and were a little handsy. So, … I’ll leave it at that.”
Duke’s other nemesis also lived up to his past history. Love refused to let Arizona go down, or Duke win, scoring 21 points in the second half on the way to 35 points for the game. He hit 11 shots, including five three-pointers.
Love helped lead Arizona back from a 19-point deficit, cutting the Duke lead to five in the closing minutes. At one point, he scored 15 straight Arizona points over a four-minute stretch, scoring on six of seven Wildcat possessions. He also added a steal and offensive rebound over that stretch.
“He was tremendous today,” said Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd, “and he’s going to wake up tomorrow and he’s going to smile because he has a lot to look forward to. So I’m really, really proud of him.”
Duke had plenty of adversity, but the Blue Devils also had Cooper Flagg.
The freshman scored 30 points, pulled down six rebounds, dished out seven assists and blocked three shots. He was the first player to exceed the 25-5-5-3 stat line in a tourney game since Dwayne Wade in 2003.
“That was one of the best tournament performances I’ve ever coached or been a part of,” said coach Jon Scheyer.
Next, Duke will play Alabama with a spot in the Final Four on the line. The Crimson Tide set an NCAA Tournament record with 25 three-pointers in their Sweet 16 blowout of BYU.
“I see they scored 113 points,” said Scheyer. “That’s a heck of a performance. We know it’s going to be a big-time challenge on Saturday. But we’ll be preparing all night.”
And whoever Duke sees when it comes out of the tunnel, the Blue Devils will be ready. They’ve already gotten past their two biggest hurdles in the same game.
“In a game like today, the ball’s gonna bounce,” said Sion James. “It’s gonna be physical. It’s gonna be ugly, but you’ve got to find a way.”