A clutch sneaker change and a dazzling performance from Caleb Love has UNC headed to the Elite 8

It took North Carolina’s Caleb Love just 48 seconds into the Sweet 16 matchup against UCLA to get insert his name into the scoring column. He proceeded to go radio silent over the next 19:22 minutes (zero points the rest of the half).

What happened over the next 20 minutes was unimaginable.

The Tar Heels and Bruins traded jabs throughout a tightly-contested second half and unexpectedly, in the heat of an intense back-and-forth, Caleb Love stole the show. What happened? Well…

Love poured in 27 second-half points including two absolutely gutsy threes over the final two minutes that tied the game at 64 and then put the Tar Heels on top for good. An offensive rebound putback by Armando Bacot with 22 seconds remaining put UNC up five and essentially put the game out of reach.

But make no mistake, this will forever go down as the Caleb Love game. It was gutsy, fearless stuff that the great ones do when the stakes are high. The UNC faithful must have been LOVIN’ it (pun intended).

I ask again — was it the shoes??

It might have been the shoes.

With Love’s heroics, North Carolina advances to the Elite 8 where it’ll face this year’s Cinderella, Saint Peter’s, on Sunday afternoon.