Top Missouri basketball target Caleb Love commits to North Carolina

For the second straight year, Missouri men’s basketball coach Cuonzo Martin will have to build his recruiting class without his top target on board.

Caleb Love, a five-star guard from St. Louis, orally committed to North Carolina on Monday. The Tigers were the other finalist for the 6-foot-3 guard.

For most of the summer, MU was considered a non-factor in Love’s recruitment until the Tigers started to pick up momentum in August. MU hosted Love for his first official visit on Sept. 7, which led him to cut Indiana from his list. After his visit to North Carolina two weeks later, Love chopped Louisville and Kansas from his list of finalists, leaving just MU and UNC.

Martin lost top priority E.J. Liddell in the 2019 class to Ohio State and still managed to build a solid class with Kobe Brown, Mario McKinney and Tray Jackson.

Missouri landed a oral commitment from 7-foot-2 center Jordan Wilmore on Saturday and is in the mix for Josh Christopher among others in the 2020 class.