Arizona's balance helps Wildcats win games but not individual accolades so far

Seven different players have led Arizona in scoring during games this season, with any five almost routinely hitting double figures, while four different Wildcats have posted double-doubles in their past two games.

That’s some crazy balance.

“It’s just a luxury of having a lot of good players,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd says. “It's a lot of good players.”

But while the Wildcats’ notable collection of diverse talent has propelled them to a 14-0 record and No. 1 ranking heading into their Big 12 home conference opener Wednesday against Kansas State, their collective efforts aren’t often translating back to individual accolades.

Basically, balance (and maybe being located on their conference’s western perimeter) doesn’t pay when voters are looking for a star.

Despite beating five ranked teams and cruising through the nonconference season without a loss, the Wildcats have not received a single solo Big 12 Player of the Week award (Koa Peat was a co-POW after scoring 30 points against Florida).

Also, they have only had four total players named to the conference’s five-player weekly “starting five” honor rolls – out of a total of 45 possible spots over nine weeks so far.

This week was typical. Forward Tobe Awaka had 18 points and 13 rebounds – plus two 3-pointers — off the bench in a road win at Utah on Jan. 3, and UA nominated him for Big 12 Player of the Week.

Guard Brayden Burries also led UA at Utah with 17 points and 11 rebounds, and was nominated for Newcomer of the Week.

Neither player won those awards nor made the “starting five,” which the Big 12 determines by including the Player and Newcomer of the Week, plus the next three top vote-getters.

Instead, Texas Tech’s JT Toppin was named Big 12 Player of the Week after collecting 23 points and 14 rebounds in the Red Raiders’ home win over Oklahoma State, while AJ Dybantsa was named Newcomer of the Week after scoring 24 points in the Cougars’ win at Kansas State.

The “starting five” also included Riley Kugel, who led UCF to a home win over Kansas, and Iowa State’s Joshua Jefferson and Milan Momcilovic, who led the Cyclones to a home win over West Virginia.

For the season, Toppin, Dybantsa, Momcilovic and Jefferson have already received Big 12 Player of the Week awards, while Kansas (Melvin Council), Kansas State (PJ Haggerty) and Houston (Kingston Flemings) have also had players pick one up — and Texas Tech guard Christian Anderson won a solo Player of the Week award on Dec. 22 after sharing the first one with Peat.

Peat was named the AP and NCAA.com national Player of the Week after the Florida game, but he’s the only Wildcat to win either a share of Big 12 Player of the Week or Newcomer of the Week, an award he won after the Florida game and after leading UA to a four-point win at UConn with 16 points and 12 rebounds.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

Other than Peat, the only other two Wildcats to receive “starting five” honors were guard Jaden Bradley, after he had 21 points and clutch play in UA’s win at UConn, and Burries, after he scored 28 points in UA’s win over Alabama on Dec.13.

But of course, different sorts of accolades could be ahead for the Wildcats. Bradley may be playing his way onto the Bob Cousy (point guard) Award midseason list, after he was left off the preseason list, and Peat is already an all-America candidate — and NBA Draft lottery prospect.

The Wildcats have four total players ranked among ESPN’s Top 100 NBA Draft prospects — Peat (8), Burries (41), Motiejus Krivas (49) and Bradley (92), while wing Ivan Kharchenkov ranked No. 52 on ESPN’s November list before dropping out last month and backup center Tobe Awaka has been drawing attention, too.

In the meantime, though, the Wildcats are winning games together because of all that balance.

“We have a great group of guys, character wise,” Awaka said. “I think we do a great job of sharing the ball through and through. .... this team is truly unselfish for sure.”

UA’s collection of talent has also left Lloyd with the ability to stick firmly to his eight-player rotation, knowing something good will come from somewhere pretty much every time.

It’s the opposite of how the Wildcats entered Big 12 play at 6-5 last season, when they were trying to incorporate eventual NBA Draft pick Carter Bryant and Awaka into the rotation while Krivas went in and out with a foot injury.

Balance “allows you to settle in on a rotation, subbing-wise, so you can get the guys rest,” Lloyd said after UA won at Utah. “You don't feel like when a team makes a run that you're afraid to sub. It's happened to me a lot. You're afraid to sub, so you might leave a guy out there for three or four minutes longer than he usually was, and then you run their legs out.

“I just think when you when you have multiple guys who contribute, you're a little more comfortable sticking to a subbing rotation, where guys have certainty and know where their opportunities are going to come.”

It’s a luxury.

“We don't ever want to be a program that's just relying on one guy,” Lloyd said. “We want our good players to love playing with other good players. We want to be a program (in which) guys want to make each other better — ‘I want to help my brother, but I also understand my brother helps me.’

“We want those things to be a core part of our identity.”