Arizona coach has hilarious reaction to Caleb Love's 'crazy' half-court shot

Tommy Lloyd is a straight shooter.

In fact, LeBron James used those exact words when he was asked why his son, Bryce James, committed to the Arizona Wildcats.

“Straight shooter. Coach Lloyd is a straight shooter," LeBron said when asked about Bryce's commitment earlier this month. "Gave him exactly what they believe in him and what they thought of him as a person and a player. Happy to be a part of Bear Down community now.”

On Monday night, Lloyd gave everyone a glimpse of his honesty. And it was likely the reaction all of us had in the moment.

Caleb Love's 'Amazing' Shot

Trailing Iowa State 71-68 with 2.2 seconds left on Monday night, fifth-year Arizona guard Caleb Love took an inbounds pass from Anthony Dell'Orso, dribbled twice and launched a shot from well beyond half-court just before the buzzer sounded.

Splash.

As the ball rattled through the hoop, the 14,000-plus Arizona fans in the McKale Center erupted into a frenzy and Love was mobbed by his teammates on the court.

Lloyd barely reacted — on the outside.

On the inside, it was a different story.

"Holy s***," Lloyd said when he was asked about his reaction after the game. "We practice half-courters. We actually do for fun. And [Love's] decent at them. I'm probably a little bit better than him at the half-courters. But, I mean, he let it go. And it's on line, and that's all you can do ... don't leave it short. And, and when it went in, it was pretty amazing."

"A desperation three is probably not the chance you're trying to give yourself, but it made for great theater."

Arizona went on to win the game 86-75 in overtime, outscoring a deflated Iowa State team 15-4 in the extra period.

Love finished with 22 points — and 11 came in the final 5:02 of the game. Before the miraculous half-court buzzer-beater, Love was 1-of-11 from the 3-point line.

"Moments like that are crazy," Lloyd said. "You can't script that stuff. I don't know if that's luck, to be honest with you. And maybe a little bit of belief. ... You guys know I love that kid. And I'm here with it, and I'm here for him.

"That's my job. My job is not to run away from the players that I've helped choose to be part of this program. Sometimes it can be as easy as just make a few more shots. But you've got to hang in there. You've got to hang in there. And so for him, to make that shot and then come out in overtime and make the first two threes ... let's hope that takes a ton of pressure off of him and he can move forward here and play great the rest of the year."

FROM BEYOND HALFCOURT TO SEND THE GAME TO OT 🤯

Caleb Love with the IMPOSSIBLE buzzer-beater on No. 3 Iowa State 🚨

(via @espn)pic.twitter.com/X8zcKl7jGa https://t.co/yqJxDgihSh
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