After record-breaking 23-game start, Arizona men's basketball hit with adversity

The first Arizona rotation player to miss a game this season, Dwayne Aristode was so sick he didn’t even appear on the bench.

Teammate Koa Peat, struggling to hit shots in his previous two games, didn’t get a single one off Saturday against Texas Tech. Then he left the floor for good after just 11 minutes with a lower-leg injury that might have affected his mobility and/or elevation.

UA coach Tommy Lloyd said Aristode could be out “for a short while” with an unspecified illness, while he said of Peat only that he was being evaluated to determine the extent of the injury.

There was also this Saturday: While hosting a notably shallow and undersized team, the Wildcats were still beaten at their own game, or at least neutralized: In their 78-75 overtime loss to No. 16 Texas Tech, Arizona couldn’t outscore the Red Raiders in the paint and barely outrebounded them, 41-39.

So combining all that with UA's Feb. 9 loss at Kansas makes it pretty much official: Adversity, for the first time this season, is hitting the Wildcats, who entered the week 23-0 and ranked No. 1.

How hard it's hitting is difficult to tell, at least in the short run. A four-point loss at No. 9 Kansas is understandable, and an overtime defeat to Texas Tech isn’t quite a shocker.

But the Wildcats face an unknown amount of time without two of their eight key players, and a blueprint may have formed Saturday that their remaining opponents may want to check out.

That is: Neutralize the Wildcats’ formidable interior, however possible, forcing them to take shots further away from the basket and maybe even into that 3-point territory they normally don’t bother much with. Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said his team’s ball-screen defense helped noticeably for that strategy, as did the Red Raiders' tireless effort.

It's about “getting them on their heels and pushing them back a little farther out where they can't turn the corner, they're not getting inside the elbow, and they're not driving down your throat," McCasland said.

“They're not throwing it to Krivas at 7 feet and Awaka (is not) catching it close to the basket. Because when they do, they get fouled and they make them.”

Texas Tech's strategy paid off: Krivas scored below his scoring and shooting percentage averages, with 10 points on 4-for-8 shooting, though Awaka managed 16 points on 5-for-6 shooting while collecting 12 rebounds.

Before he left, Peat had just two points while hitting 2 of 4 free throws and picking up only one rebound.

Lloyd said after the game that he hadn't yet reviewed what UA's shot distances were but said, "Yeah, that's a great tactic — to body us up and make us score over bodies from distance.”

Of course, pulling that off is not easy in practice, bodying up the big bodies of Krivas, Awaka and Peat. But Texas Tech — with a frontline that often goes 6-9, 6-6 and 6-5 — did it.

“Everybody talks about them being undersized, but they're super tough,” Awaka said. "They're one of the toughest teams we've played this whole season ... and (it’s) how aggressive they are.”

Of course, if Arizona had managed to fire in a few more 3-pointers over all that physicality, maybe that could have helped the Wildcats make up for it.

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But UA hasn't relied heavily on 3-point shooting all season, taking only 26.4% of their shots from beyond the arc, while hitting them at a 35.3% rate that ranks just 100th best in Division I.

On Saturday, the Wildcats took only 26.2% of their shots from 3-point range, 16 out of their 61 field-goal attempts, and made just four of those 16.

Texas Tech took half of its 66 shots from beyond the arc and made a third of them.

Aristode’s absence likely had something to do with the difference, as he’s actually the Wildcats’ best 3-point percentage shooter (43.9).

In addition, it probably wasn't enough for Arizona that Anthony Dell’Orso was 1 for 3 from 3-point range, playing only 21 of 45 possible minutes in a game when he appeared to be the most logical guy to soak up Aristode’s playing time.

“I think the plan was to play Delly more,” Lloyd said. “I'm surprised he only ended up with 21 minutes. I'll have to look at that for sure.”

Having had all of its eight rotation players available for every previous game this season — though wing Ivan Kharchenkov left the court during UA’s Nov. 29 game with Norfolk State because of an ankle injury — UA revealed Aristode was out only on Friday night in the official player availability report it sent to the Big 12.

After Saturday’s game, Lloyd said it’s possible Aristode could also miss the Wildcats’ game Wednesday against No. 22 BYU with an illness he declined to specify.

“It’s nothing crazy but something that could keep him out for a short while,” Lloyd said.

Peat’s issue is probably a bigger reason why Texas Tech’s inside plan worked, and why future UA opponents could also benefit: He’s the Wildcats’ second-leading scorer (14.3), shoots 55.8% from two-point range and is part of why the Wildcats rank fourth nationally in offensive rebounding, collecting 8.4% of Arizona’s missed shots when he’s on the floor.

In short, Peat is tough to stop inside, on first and second shots.

Lloyd said the Wildcats still had enough to win without him Saturday, holding a 64-57 lead with 3:29 to go in regulation before that melted down and turned into UA’s overtime loss. He said Peat had a “lower leg deal” and that testing would soon figure out where he’s at.

Whether that means other teams will get a break from Peat wasn’t clear on Saturday. The only thing that is: That UA will host BYU on Wednesday before a potential first-place showdown at No. 3 Houston, which is now in first place in the Big 12, on Feb. 21.

They may need Peat. They may need everybody. Soon.

“It definitely hurts our rotation, but that’s how these seasons go,” Lloyd said of Peat's injury. “It’s kind of funny: You’re seeing a lot of it across the nation this week. These seasons are long. They’re hard. These kids work hard. These games are physical, and it looks like some (teams) are starting to get dinged up a little bit.

“But we’ll bounce back and hopefully we’ll be fully loaded when we need to be.”