If there’s a tension that comes with being a win shy of tying the best start in Arizona men’s basketball history, of being 20-0 heading into a showdown at BYU on Monday, coach Tommy Lloyd managed to turn that into laughter.
For a moment, at least.
A “jinx,” he called it Saturday when the Star brought the subject up after Arizona blew away West Virginia 88-53 at McKale Center.
Lloyd smiled, while chuckles filled the interview room crowd of media and staff.
“I want to go 1-0, just like the other ones before,” Lloyd said. “I know it makes a great story for you, but inside our locker room, it's just not where our focus is.”
Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd watches action against West Virginia during the second half, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, in Tucson.
“I'm not trying to be that old grouchy coach, but that's just the world we're living in right now. It’s 'Great job today. Let's learn from it. On to the next one.'"
That approach worked well enough for the Wildcats during the past week. In destroying both Cincinnati on Wednesday and West Virginia on Saturday, they showed no signs of looking ahead to the 13th-ranked Cougars, or too deeply into their unbeaten record.
"You know, there's a lot of media attention, a lot of focus on us," center Tobe Awaka said. "So it's just knowing that every single team is gonna come in and give us their best shot."
The even-keeled Wildcats moved down both Cincinnati and West Virginia defensively and zigged offensively wherever the opposing defense zagged. Making only 3 of 13 3-pointers on Wednesday against Cincinnati, they instead outscored the Bearcats 48-14 in the paint and, when their inside game was a little more challenged on Saturday, took advantage of some open looks outside to toss in 10 of 23 3s over the Mountaineers.
Arizona guard Jaden Bradley (0) tears the ball out of the arms of West Virginia guard Honor Huff (3) for a steal in the second half of their Big 12 game, Jan. 24, 2026, in Tucson.
“They just present so many challenges for you,” West Virginia coach Ross Hodge said. “You kind of have to make choices and decisions. None of them are great.”
Defensively, after Arizona held Cincinnati to 30.4% shooting Wednesday at McKale, the Wildcats held West Virginia to 34.4%. The Mountaineers' leading scorer, guard Honor Huff, had 10 points while going 2 for 9 from 3-point range.
"They were really physical," Hodge said. "They did a good job of being disruptive with the actions that we tried to run. Their size pretty much negates anything you're going to try to do in the interior.
"I did think, in particular early on, that we actually had some good looks from players that we wanted shooting the ball. If you're going to beat these guys or even give yourself a chance, you're going to have to make those shots."
But on Monday, maybe more so than any team Arizona has faced over the past two months, BYU is the kind of team that can make those shots and win that sort of game, thanks in large part to a guy McKale Center fans know pretty well (Richie Saunders) and another one that much of the entire basketball world does (AJ Dybantsa).
Saunders was the guy who led BYU to a 96-95 win over Arizona at McKale Center last season, when he scored 23 points, including two free throws that resulted from a controversial late foul called on Trey Townsend. This season, Saunders is hitting 3s at a 39.8% rate while also slipping in to make twos 62.4% of the time.
As for Dybantsa? Yeah, you probably know about him. If you read those NBA Mock Drafts that have him going No. 2 behind only Kansas’ Darryn Peterson, or if you just happened to catch a glimpse of the 43 points he dropped on Utah on Saturday.
If you still don’t know about him, Monday’s game oughta do the trick.
“He's gonna do a few things in that game where you’re like, 'Wow,'" Lloyd said. “I mean, just the way he moves is different.”
That isn’t the first thing Lloyd said about Dybantsa, either. Asked about the supremely athletic and skilled 6-9 forward from Massachusetts, Lloyd said the first thing to note was that he was an “incredible talent and great young man.”
That sounds like typical stuff from a coach who doesn’t want to create any extra motivation for an opposing player. But Lloyd isn’t a typical opposing coach in this case.
He was Dybantsa’s coach.
For a month last summer, Lloyd not only watched Dybantsa pick up MVP honors in the FIBA U19 World Cup but also saw how he fit in to a USA team full of all-stars that Lloyd coached to the gold medal.
“He leaves space in the room for the other players to be their best version of themselves, too,” Lloyd said. “A lot of times you get a young talent like him, and he's so talented he can kind of suck the air out of the room, because it all becomes about him and his talent.
“AJ is not like that. AJ not only can be the most talented player on the floor, he can also let their other talented players play really well. I've always been impressed with that.”
On a team that averaged 114.6 points during a seven-game ride to gold, Dybantsa averaged just 14.3. Eight others averaged eight or more points, including a teammate he will face Thursday: Arizona’s Koa Peat averaged 12.6 points for USA last summer.
Arizona's Koa Peat and BYU's AJ Dybantsa (7) celebrate while helping USA beat Germany on Sunday in the gold-medal game of the FIBA U19 World Cup.
“That’s just basketball in general,” Peat said, after calling Dybantsa a good friend he looked forward to facing. “When you have a good team, everyone needs to find their niche. And especially when you're playing for the USA Basketball team, we have one goal, and that's to win.
"I don't think the players really cared about their stats or anything. We just wanted to win.”
So far on their 20-0 start, Arizona players have acted and spoken about themselves in much the same way.
Five guys averaging in double figures, none more than Peat’s 14.7. Veterans and freshmen sharing the stage, all with different skillsets to bring.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for coach Lloyd and this team in particular,” West Virginia's Hodge said after Saturday's game. “It’s probably an under-talked-about story in college basketball, the year that they’re having.”
