Scouting report: No. 4 Arizona Wildcats at Utah Utes

No. 4 Arizona (6-0) at Utah (5-2) Huntsman Center Salt Lake City 6:30 p.m. Pac-12 Networks 1290-AM, Varsity Network

Probable starters

ARIZONA

G Kerr Kriisa (6-3 junior)

G Courtney Ramey (6-3 senior)

F Pelle Larsson (6-5 junior)

F Azuolas Tubelis (6-11 junior)

C Oumar Ballo (7-0 junior)

UTAH

G Gabe Madsen (6-6 sophomore)

G Rollie Worster (6-4 sophomore)

F Marco Anthony (6-6 senior)

F Ben Carlson (6-9 junior)

C Branden Carlson (7-0 junior)

 How they match up

The series: Arizona leads the alltime series 37-31 and is 16-3 against the Utes since Utah joined the Pac-12 in 2011-12. The Wildcats have lost three of their past five games against Utah in Salt Lake City but beat the Utes 97-77 at the Huntsman Center last season.

Utah overview: The youth movement that second-year coach Craig Smith began in the middle of a 10-game losing streak last season might now be paying off, with Utah having beaten Georgia Tech and four low-major opponents so far. The Utes won only four Pac-12 games last season but won three of them in February, including a Bay area road sweep, after veterans such as Riley Battin, Lahat Thione, and Dusan Mahorcic were bumped out of the lineup while Smith turned more to players such as guard Gabe Madsen and Lazar Stefanovic. Now four Utah starters have starting experience from last season, while the fifth starter, Ben Carlson, was a reserve at Wisconsin last season. Carlson is a physical, smart player who will occasionally stray out for 3-pointers while Branden Carlson (no relation) is a double-double threat who averages 2.4 blocks per game.

The Utes’ fifth-leading scorer and a 33.3% 3-point shooter, Stefanovic started on the wing while Marco Anthony missed the first three games of the season with a lower leg injury, then came off the bench against Sam Houston and Georgia Tech. But Anthony moved back in the starting lineup the past two games, adding rebounding, two-point shooting and defense at either forward spot. Madsen is the Utes’ leading 3-point threat, hitting 18 of 47 (38.3%) from beyond the arc. Point guard Rollie Worster, who followed Smith from Utah State in 2021, has a 2-1 assist-turnover ratio and drives inside to hit 58.1% of his two-point shots. The Utes also turn to Cincinnati transfer Mike Saunders for a quicker option at the point.

Defensively, the Utes run mostly a man-to-man defense but have been known to throw out zones and a press on occasion.

Utah opened the season with four straight home games, beating LIU, Cal State Bakersfield and Idaho State before losing to Sam Houston State, 65-55. They then beat Georgia Tech at the Ft. Myers (Fla.) Tip-Off, when Madsen scored 16 points, and lost to Mississippi State in their second game of the Florida event. Utah last played St. Thomas, clubbing the second-year Division I team 95-66.

He said it: “They’re building with guys they obviously like and they’re developing. A lot of the things are similar but they’re better at executing them and they are better coaches and players so that’s always a good thing..”

Worster is “a crafty guard. He has size and he knows how to manipulate the offense. He’s a guy that is very comfortable playing at his pace. And Madsen is an elite shooter. You can’t lose him and he’s obviously always moving like all great shooters.

Anthony is a “a tough guy who plays really hard. A lot of shot fakes. He’s a very stable guy for them. Really helped them last year. He must have had some injuries earlier this year and now he’s back, helping them bring some toughness to the court bring some athleticism.

Branden Carlson is “an athlete. You can’t let him roll behind you. We know that he can pick and pop and he can shoot it a little bit. So we have to be ready for him. I think we’re already played a lot of the top bigs in the country and he is another of them.”

“The kid from Cincinnati (Saunders) is the backup point guard, something they didn’t have last year necessarily. And (power forward) Ben Carlson comes from Wisconsin, so two really good programs obviously. I think they filled a couple of holes that maybe they felt they had in the roster. Those are two guys not only are good and can help right away but they’re multiple year guys. So they’re building.”

— UA assistant coach Riccardo Fois, who scouted the Utes

Key players

Utah

Branden Carlson

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Already a starter for three previous seasons at Utah, Carlson was named second-team all-Pac-12 last season, and he’s playing at a similar level now. Carlson blocks opponents’ shots 9.0% of the time when he’s on the floor and he shoots 54.2% from two-point range.

Arizona

Kerr Kriisa

After a potentially intoxicating week that followed their Maui Invitational win and a rise to No. 4 in the Associated Press Top 25, — and in an arena that may be largely vacant — the Wildcats may need their vocal point guard to keep the heat on. It might help Arizona that the Huntsman Center was the site of Kriisa’s first career triple-double last season, when he had 21 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in UA’s 97-77 win.

Sidelines

Soccer guy

When UA coach Tommy Lloyd noted with a smile that his early Tuesday afternoon news conference was scheduled at the same time as “the biggest soccer match of our lifetimes,” he wasn’t completely joking.

He actually does like absorbing soccer games such as the US team’s 1-0 World Cup defeat of Iran. And taking notes.

“Actually, I love it,” Lloyd said. “I don’t really follow too many sports seriously outside of Arizona basketball. So I’m not saying I’m not a fan of a certain club, but I love these international competitions. I think they’re captivating.

“And I like the game of soccer because I look at the spacing, the timing, the flow, and maybe there’s some carryover to how we’re trying to play. You know, I’m probably closer to a soccer oriented coach than an American football oriented coach.”

Early Pac-12 start

Because the Pac-12 wanted to reach 20 conference games by wrapping two of them for each team around its football championship game when the schedule expanded in 2020-21, this season’s league race already was underway when USC played at Cal on Wednesday.

Not that it makes much difference to Lloyd. The coach was asked if he’d prefer to have all the conference games consolidated, as the Pac-12 generally used to with the 18-game schedule that ran through 2019-20.

“I spent zero time thinking about it,” Lloyd said. “Either way, it’s the next game on the schedule, and it’s how the Pac-12 decided to do it long before I became part of the Pac-12. So I don’t spend any time rehashing their decisions because what’s that do for me?”

For Utah coach Craig Smith, however, it means a quick baptism against the defending league champs. For better or worse.

“I wasn’t shocked,” when the league assigned Utah to play UA,” Smith said, adding later: “You know what? You’ve got to play them twice anyway. So let’s do it right out of the gate. And let’s get better and see what we can do.”

Island-’hopping’

When the Wildcats invited the families of all staffers to come along on their trip to Maui earlier this month, they meant it.

Among the guests were Antonio and Francesca Fois, parents of UA assistant coach Riccardo Fois, who made the trip all the way from the island of Sardinia in Italy. Ricky Fois said they traveled from Rome to Los Angeles, then took a connection to Tucson before joining the team charter from Tucson to Kahului, Hawaii.

While they didn’t exactly get to hang out with their son all the time, things turned out pretty well for the family.

“I was working but they had a great time,” Ricky Fois said. “They were happy to be in Maui. It’s a special tournament with great fans and a great situation. They really enjoyed it and we won, so that made it a little bit better.”

Fois said his parents weren’t able to visit during his five seasons as a Gonzaga staffer, but did take in a few games when he served as the Phoenix Suns’ director of player development before joining the Wildcats last year.

Numbers game

1 — Utah’s Pac-12 rank in points allowed (56.7)

2 — Utah’s rank in field-goal percentage defense (33.7)

7 — Arizona starters or key reserves who are shooting over 52% from the field (Azuolas Tubelis and Oumar Ballo are both shooting over 72%)

— Bruce Pascoe