You know, someone who could just take the ball from the perimeter, move everybody out of the way and make something happen in an adverse situation — a drive to the basket, a midrange pullup, a 3 or a drawn foul.

Clutch stuff. The kind that Mathurin did in UA’s tense overtime win over TCU in the second round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament — and the kind that nobody really did in UA’s late-season loss to ASU at McKale Center last year, nor in its first-round NCAA Tournament loss to Princeton.

That may not be problem for the Wildcats this season. As long as Caleb Love mostly takes the right shots, that is.

This is a guy, after all, who basically sent legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski into retirement, scoring 28 points for North Carolina to beat Duke in the 2022 Final Four, a week after dropping 30 on UCLA in the Sweet 16.

“You obviously have to be a good player to do that,” UA men’s basketball coach Tommy Lloyd said. “He’s accomplished, he’s been there and done that, but he’s also been on the other side where things have gotten tough.”

That’s why the Wildcats, who will host New Mexico Highlands in their final exhibition Monday night at 7, could wind up benefiting Love as much as he benefits them.

Love took nearly a quarter of the Tar Heels’ shots last season but connected on just 37.8% — and he took nearly a third of their 3-point shots and hit those at just a 29.9% rate.

In his final home game, against Duke, Love missed all 3-point shots he took and, in a season-ending ACC Tournament loss to Virginia, he was 2 of 10 from 3-point range and missed four of five shots he took inside the arc.

Inefficient, the buzzword goes. Love could hear that all around him, and the criticism carried over to make him one of the most controversial talents of the 2023 transfer portal season.

Lloyd heard it, too, but that didn’t stop him. Not the first time when he chased Love last spring, when Love first chose to transfer to Michigan, nor the second time, when Lloyd successfully signed Love after Michigan did not admit him.

Lloyd said last spring he didn’t think any of his new guys were “jagged edges,” even as Love might have appeared to have been just that with the Tar Heels. They began the season ranked No. 1 in the AP preseason Top 25 poll but failed to make the NCAA Tournament at 20-13 — and Love took the most shots.

“They didn’t have a great year as a team, he was part of it, and he owned it,” Lloyd said. “I know maybe he’s been a little bit of a lightning rod because, when you play at a place like Carolina and you’re preseason No. 1 and it doesn’t work out, there’s going to be some criticism that comes with that. He knows that.”

Since Love arrived in Tucson, Lloyd said he has had some “amazing conversations” with him about how the Wildcats can help Love and how Love can help the Wildcats.

That is, how Love can help the Wildcats win games with his scoring instincts and how the Wildcats can help Love get to the NBA with a more efficient game.

So far, there are signs it might work. While Love struggled from 3-point range during UA’s Middle East exhibition trip, hitting 2 of 16 3-pointers, he averaged 11.0 points, mostly by working the ball inside for better looks at the basket.

Then, in his McKale Center debut on Oct. 20 in an exhibition against Lewis-Clark State, Love shot 9 for 12 from the field and made 3 of 3 3-pointers.

Lloyd said he didn’t think Love could be expected to always be that efficient, but it was clear that Love was working his game into the Wildcats’ system. Love even lofted an assist to Keshad Johnson for an alley-oop dunk instead of taking a 12-footer himself.

“I don’t have to force anything in this system,” Love said. “In this system, you’re gonna get plenty of shots, plenty of opportunities to score and do all those things. I just feel like with me being the experienced player that I am, watching a lot of film and being coached by my coaches or teammates, I know when to make the right read.”

Plus, the the Wildcats’ uptempo ways make it easier for more players to take more shots, record more assists and ultimately have more fun.

During UA’s exhibition swing, the Wildcats not only averaged 112 points over three games but won them by an average of 32.7 points each — and set up 86 of their 126 field goals (68%) with assists.

The Wildcats are running, maybe as much as ever. At North Carolina last season, the Tar Heels ranked No. 51 in adjusted tempo. Arizona was 10th and may be even more uptempo this season, considering the makeup of its perimeter and mobile big men.

“We play a lot faster. We play a lot with a lot more movement and cutting,” Love said. “That’s different than what I’ve been used to. It’s been great knowing you’re going to get easy baskets and not have to force anything because within our offense you can a lot of easy buckets, with guys creating for each other. We’re really just really just hooping — coach Lloyd lets us play with a lot of freedom within his system, and it’s been great.”

While Love said he also wants to facilitate more often, there are times when his coaches and teammates probably will want him on the receiving end of most passes.

“Caleb is naturally really good at scoring,” senior guard Pelle Larsson says. “He’s gonna find ways in this offense (to score). I just try to tell him to be aggressive, that we need him to be aggressive. We need him to take shots. But he’s doing a great job of buying in and he’s here to really bond with us and do it our collective way. So it’s really good.”

In the end, Love says he expects to facilitate and score when needed. He did both in UA’s Oct. 20 win over Lewis-Clark State, adding a team-high seven assists to his 23 points.

Whatever is needed, basically.

“It’s a little bit of both,” Love said. “It’s me finding my teammates, and they did bring me here to score, because that’s what I can do — but at an efficient level. That’s what I’ve been working on this summer this spring, this fall. I feel like I’ve been doing a great job.”

This winter, and into early next spring, is when the grades will really roll in, of course.

Lloyd just asks that past performance is not part of that judgment.

“He’s someone that everyone in college basketball should be rooting for,” Lloyd said. “These young guys deserve multiple opportunities to be successful.”

Arizona said it has not determined if the three injured players who missed the Wildcats’ Oct. 20 exhibition against Lewis-Clark State — Oumar Ballo, Larsson and Motiejus Krivas — will play Monday. UA has not disclosed their injuries.

As with the Lewis-Clark game, the UA-New Mexico Highlands exhibition will only be shown via UA’s livestream. The Wildcats’ Nov. 6 regular-season opener against Morgan State is scheduled to be carried on Pac-12 Networks.