Yahoo Sports’ Jason Fitz and former Big 12 player of the year Marcus Morris Sr. react to the Wildcats 87-83 victory over the Ducks in the second round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament

Video Transcript

For the 3rd time in the last 4 years, Arizona is headed to the Sweet 16, but Marcus Morris, Jason Fitz, Marcus, this one didn’t look good early.

Oregon jumped out to a big lead and I thought maybe Arizona was gonna get lost in this.

First, let me say this, man, to be down 19 to 4 in the NCAA tournament game, you have to show a ton of poise, a ton of, uh, togetherness, and it has to be somebody that stands out that shows leadership to get them guys to come back in this game.

Caleb Love has been a spark plug for the Arizona Wildcats all season.

The Saint Louis Cat came to play tonight, man.

29.9 boards, and when they needed a big shot, he stepped up and he made it.

Hey, I gotta take my hat off to that kid.

Yeah, and it’s funny.

I got the chance to interview him a couple of weeks ago for Yahoo Sports and talking to him, he talked pretty openly about how much leadership meant to him and why that was a big part of what he wanted to show he could be in Arizona.

And you’re right.

I mean, it showed through the entire game.

In the second half, particularly when they needed a bucket, when they needed to stop, when they needed a presence, it just felt like Caleb was everywhere.

He’s been here before.

He’s, he’s a veteran.

He’s been in college for 5 years.

He’s been played at, he played at North Carolina, some schools that always get to the tournament, right?

And you could just tell when it was time to get a shot, time to make the play, he wanted the ball in his hand.

His coach wanted to get the ball in his hand, he delivered.

That’s a big time game from a big time player, man.

Well, he’s gonna need to be big time because next up is Duke, and we know how good Duke has been.

Can Arizona take down the Blue Devils somehow, some way?

I think it’s going to be a dogfight, but two veteran, not two veteran teams.

One veteran team goes against a younger team, they might have the advantage because they’re older.

They, they have a lot of depth.

They can match the score with a Duke team.

So I mean, I think it’s going to be a lot of fireworks.

I think it’s going to be a close game and I want to see how Arizona responds.

Yeah, and respond is the key word because as you pointed out, when you’ve come back from what they came back from in this game, that can be an empowering thing for the rest of the tournament.

Belief is infectious and Arizona after that win deserves to have a ton of it.