Seen and heard: Tommy Lloyd etches name in history books, Arizona remains perfect at McKale Center

Lloyd in the record books

When No. 5 Arizona routed Morgan State 93-68 on Thursday in the Wildcats’ final nonconference game of the season, it marked the 50th game of Tommy Lloyd’s tenure as head coach of the UA.

Arizona is 45-5 under Lloyd, who became one of four coaches since the 1996-97 season to accomplish that feat, joining Bill Carmody (Princeton), Bill Gurthridge (North Carolina) and Brad Stevens (Butler).

Lloyd is the winningest coach in modern-era college basketball through 50 games.

Wisconsin’s Doc Meanwell holds the best all-time record (49-1) through 50 games, a stretch from 1911-14; former Rider head coach Clair Bee was 45-5 from 1928-31. During Meanwell’s stretch at Wisconsin, Arizona was coached by Frank L. Kleeburger, who went 2-2, and Raymond L. Quigley, who was 10-4 in two seasons.

“I don’t pay any attention or pay any mind to it,” Lloyd said. “I’m incredibly grateful to have this opportunity and I’m incredibly grateful to have coached some great players. I’m looking at my shooting numbers and my averages, they’re pretty low. It’s zero. I’m thankful for those guys, they do a great job and let me coach them — and I’ve been on them. I get on those guys probably a lot more than you guys know. I’m pretty persistent and I know it’s annoying, but it’s what I think takes to help individuals and teams grow. I’m going to stay focused on that. The fifth-best ever, 10th-best ever, it doesn’t matter to. On to the next one.”

Uno!

Arizona forward Pelle Larsson, who recorded nine points and six rebounds on Thursday, wore bright green Nike Zoom Freak 3s from Giannis Antetokounmpo’s line. The shoes are inspired after the card game Uno.

The Milwaukee Bucks star and former NBA Finals MVP has four different Uno shoes, with green, yellow, red and blue as the primary colors.

By the numbers

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42: Arizona is 42-0 under Lloyd when scoring 75 or more points. Forward Azuolas Tubelis and center Oumar Ballo have combined for 42% of Arizona’s points through the first 13 games this season. Tubelis has scored 261 total points; Ballo has 231. The Wildcats have 1,173 total points so far.

27: The Wildcats won their 27th straight home game on Thursday; they’re 25-0 at McKale Center under Lloyd.

5: Tubelis made his first 3-pointer in five games on Thursday. Tubelis finished 2-for-2 from beyond the arc, the first time he’s tallied multiple 3-pointers in a game since his freshman season in 2021, when he had three against Oregon.

2,290: Morgan State’s campus is roughly 2,290 miles away from McKale Center in Baltimore, Maryland.

40: Arizona grabbed 40 rebounds, while Morgan State had 19.

‘Tis the season

The game before Christmas, the Wildcats showed off their holiday spirit with their pregame outfits. UA guard Kerr Kriisa wore a green Christmas sweater featuring Santa Claus. Forward Cedric Henderson Jr. wore maroon-colored Snoopy pajama pants. Members of the UA pep band donned “ugly sweaters” and Wilbur Wildcat was dressed up as Santa, while Wilma was “Mrs. Paws.”

He said it

“We treated this game just like the Tennessee game. We knew how good this team was. I feel like when you start overlooking opponents, that’s how upsets happen, so we didn’t have that mindset of, ‘Oh, we gotta get through these last two games before break.’ We took the mature approach and looked at the game as an opportunity to get better as a team and grow. Those games are games where we can allow (younger players) to grow because we’re going to need them throughout the season. Having a deep bench is how you succeed in March.” — UA guard Courtney Ramey