LAS VEGAS—Arizona hasn’t lost the first game of a season since 2006, but with the opener against the defending national champions it was quite possible that streak could have ended on Monday night. Tommy Lloyd was okay with that.
“I wasn’t really worried about winning or losing today,” Lloyd said shortly after his 13th-ranked Wildcats beat No. 3 Florida 93-87. “I just wanted to come out and compete and get a feel for it. To get the win is great. Now, let’s get on the plane. Let’s get back home. Enjoy some beautiful weather in Tucson tomorrow, relax a little bit and start prepping for Utah Tech and do some self scouting. There’s gonna be a lot of things we can clean up from this game.”
Our game recap can be found here. Below is what Lloyd, guard Jaden Bradley and freshman forward Koa Peat said afterward:
Lloyd on returning to Las Vegas: “Arizona fans have a special relationship with Vegas, and we love coming here. Being the first game of the year, it’s really early. Never played a game on November 3 that counted. To see all our fans around and the excitement for this game, it just kind of helps remind us why we do this. We know at Arizona basketball, we always talk about it, we’re part of something much bigger than ourselves, and we know we have an amazing legacy that we’re honoring all the time. For our guys to come out and put on a show like they did, in an awesome atmosphere, against a really impressive, formidable opponent was pretty special.”
On Bradley not making the Bob Cousy Award preseason watch list: “The Hall of Fame is awesome, but how in the world do they not have Jaden Bradley as one of the top 20 point guards in the country? You guys know, I don’t mess with these lists that much, but JB and I talk about it a little bit. JB is a guy that he doesn’t need anything extra. He doesn’t take up any extra space in the room that he has to. He’s always leaving room for for his teammates to be special, and at the end of the day, he’s just a get it done type of guy. I know there’s add ons to that list, but if there’s any way this guy’s not one of the top two or three point guards in the country, I mean, I’ve been doing this for a while, and then they don’t make them much better than this. He was amazing today.”
On Peat: “Koa, it was a coming out party for him, so to speak. Everyone’s known about him, but no one’s really studied him and watched him. He’s a special player. The way he came out in that atmosphere, and he went against a first team All-American, and that kid’s a heck of a player, and Koa obviously more than held his own.”
On starting Ivan Kharchenkov: “He’s seasoned. He obviously is young, he just turned 19, but he’s played high level basketball. He was coached by a guy named Pablo Laso. You guys might not know that name, but he was also the guy that coached Luca Doncic at Real Madrid. I’ve gotten to know Coach Lasso over the years. A couple years ago Coach Laso was the head coach of Bayern Munich, where Ivan was playing, and so I obviously called to do my homework, and he’s just like Tommy, you’re going to be blown away how ready he is from day one. And he showed flashes of this, but he’s also had some ups and downs and practices, but for him to come out today and before like he did on this stage, was impressive. Because what I’ve been on is you know what about rebounding, and he led us in rebounding tonight. So that shows me he’s a good learner, so it probably gives me the liberty to keep getting on him.”
On falling behind 12 early: “Florida came out, and some of our coverages weren’t great. There’s a lot of things that they do similar to us, and it’s hard to guard, and that’s why we do it. And they did a great job kind of taking advantage of some of that early and getting some deep penetration, and just got a bunch of points at the rim of their bigs. And then our guys kind of settled in and made some adjustments. But I told our guys, these games are crazy and they’re emotional, but they’re long, so take a breath. Tou can get down, you can get up.”
On nearly giving the game away: “Obviously, we got to work on our end-of-game stuff a little bit, we weren’t as clean as we needed to be at the end of the game to close it out. When you have that lead, it’s paramount that you find a way to close out the game and not to give your opponent a chance to tie it. And I think Florida had the ball down three under a minute to go. That’s awesome, it gives us something to work on. So we’re going to focus on that and get to work.”
On only attempting five 3-pointers: “That’s not totally the game plan, but it’s just kind of how they’re guarding you sometimes. But if you shoot five threes and you can attempt 38 free throws, I don’t know. I know you guys are probably all smarter at analytics than I am, but that puts a lot of pressure on a defense, because you know what happens when you shoot a free throw? They fouled you, and those fouls add up, and then they get deeper into the bench. Maybe guys, if they are playing, they’re a little more tentative, they can’t be as aggressive. There’s lots of ways to win a game, and I know a trend is shooting threes. I don’t think we’re going to shoot five threes a game. I mean, obviously I’d like to be in the 20s, if they’re the right threes. And I think we’ll get there over time.”
On the value of this win: “We’re in a great spot, and I like where we’re at, but you know what? But I also know, we got a couple games at home, and then I know there’s this thorn in our side from LA that we’ve got to go over and play in their city in 10 or 11 days from now. I got a lot of respect for them, and we’re not even thinking about that game yet. There’s so many battles to be high and you know what’s really cool, as I’m getting more experience coaching, just enjoy it. Enjoy the battles. Don’t get too worked up, don’t get too stressed out. Just try to figure out what you got to do to win the game. But, man, this is a lot of fun.”
On the frontcourt: “Tobe (Awaka) didn’t have his great game, great game for him, with the work he’s put in, but he’s going to. And Dwayne (Aristode) didn’t probably play as much as he could have, but he’s going to be fine. Tobe, we were down 10, and we put him in the game. We had foul trouble, and he was a big part of why we got back in the game. There’s lots of things that impact winning. And Tobe is a stud, and I know he’s going to be great. Mo (Krivas) is showing progress, and he’s going to grow. Mo has really worked hard and gotten a lot better. He just needs a few games under his belt where he’s the impact guy that we want him to be, and then he’s going to get his real confidence. And obviously Koa is a force. I think Koa is a matchup nightmare every day, and I think you’re going to continue to see more and more from him game. He also had five assists, seven rebounds. Should have been double digits on the boards, but we’ll get there.”
Peat on tapping into his Team USA experience: “I think it really helped me this summer, especially playing with Coach Lloyd. He ran some of the same sets at USA, so coming to U of A in the fall, it was pretty easy to adapt to those. I think me and Coach built a really good relationship this summer, and I’m just excited for the season, and I’m just really happy to be coached by Coach Lloyd.”
On the exhibitions helping prepare him: “I think those helped me a lot for sure, just getting on the floor in McKale, playing a live game. But I think what really helped me was just the practices. We practiced really hard throughout the week leading up to this game. I’m just grateful to have coaches and teammates that put me in positions to be good, and especially JB. He just makes my game so easy.”
Bradley on falling behind by 12: “We just knew Florida was a great team, so we tried not to panic when we got down. We trusted in each other, trusted in the system, two, three ball screens, and we just took what they gave us. We just trusted each other, and we ended up getting that lead.”
On if playing Florida meant Arizona had arrived: “It’s a long season. We just treat every game like it’s a big one. And most importantly, don’t get too high, don’t get too low. And have a great practice Wednesday.”