Tucson vibe was the final selling point for new Arizona basketball commit Jamari Phillips

Already bullish on Arizona as a high school freshman in the spring of 2021, Jamari Phillips really only had to check one more thing about the Wildcats last weekend before becoming their newest commit.

It wasn’t so much about coach Tommy Lloyd, the Wildcats’ locker-room vibe or UA’s style of play. Phillips, a 6-foot-3-inch, four-star combo guard in the class of 2024 at Modesto Christian High School in California, had all those things figured out.

He just had to figure out where the Wildcats lived.

“When I started getting recruited by them, I thought it was nice because Arizona is one of the biggest schools in the Pac-12 — you can’t go wrong with getting recruited by Arizona,” Phillips said Monday, after making his decision public. “But I always thought they were in Phoenix or something. When I found that they were in Tucson, I was like, ‘Where’s Tucson?’

“So I looked it up and I thought, ‘Tucson’s small.’ I was like, ‘I’ll have to go out there and see how it is to really get a feel.’”

So he did. Not only did Phillips wind up taking in Arizona’s biggest win of the year so far, a 75-70 win over Tennessee on Saturday, but he also found things outside of McKale Center weren’t so bad. The Tucson area does have about a million people, and five-figure crowds routinely fill the campus arena for games.

“Everyone was telling me how much of a hometown it is, but they still have a big community and the hugest fan base like on the West Coast,” Phillips said. “I said, ‘That’s really good.’”

As it turned out, the visit was just the finishing touch on a decision Phillips had begun leaning toward since the Wildcats began recruiting him shortly after Lloyd was hired in April 2021.

The only real delay was in the typically methodical and deliberate recruiting style Lloyd has shown since taking over the Wildcats.

“They were having conversations and we kind of got to a point where they wanted to do their study on Jamari and make sure it’s a great fit,” said Jamari’s father, James Phillips. “It was kind of taking longer than what we had liked. So I kind of paused conversations, (saying) ‘Jamari just wants to feel that you guys are really excited about it. If we talk too long and you don’t offer, he’ll get the feeling that you guys aren’t serious.’

“So I said, `I think it’s best that we kind of stop talking. You guys do some more research. And then when you’re absolutely sold that Jamari is the guy, that he’s the fit for your program, then let’s have this conversation.’ “

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That conversation happened in early November, and Phillips posted on Nov. 6 that the Wildcats had offered him a scholarship.

The delay, as it turned out, actually wound up making dad happy. James Phillips said he liked Lloyd’s plans to use his son as a Jalen Suggs-type of guard who could get to mid range, shake off defenders and pull up for a jumper, while playing both guard spots.

At the same time, James Phillips appreciated Lloyd’s recruiting philosophy.

“As a parent, I put a lot on the fact that they’re so selective. That was a positive,” James Phillips said. “They didn’t offer 20 guards in the 2024 class.

“And they’ve done an excellent job since they decided to offer. They were on it. Some schools say, ‘We want to wait til you’re closer, in your senior year, closer to the deadline because we want to be the last school you see,’ but they were like, ‘No, let’s get to it now.’ But they told us that. They said, ‘You know, once we come for him, we’re coming for him. So just be prepared for it.’”

So exactly six weeks after receiving Arizona’s offer, Jamari visited Tucson. He was originally scheduled to do so with another UA 2024 target, club-ball teammate Carter Bryant. James Phillips said a car accident delayed Bryant’s plans — Bryant wasn’t hurt — so Jamari Phillips made the visit by himself.

Phillips spent the weekend getting to know Lloyd and the coaching staff better. He spent time with the players. He watched the Wildcats beat Tennessee.

By the time the visit was over, there was no point in waiting any longer, even if Phillips won’t be able to play for the Wildcats until 2024-25.

“The reason why I picked Arizona is because of the way they told me they were gonna use me, the feel of the whole basketball arena and how much of a brotherhood the team is with the players, the managers and the coaches. I love it,” Phillips said. “And it’s just nice being in Tucson. It’s a nice hometown pretty much, you can say, because everyone treats everyone pretty nice. It’s just great out there. I loved it. So I needed to go there.”