Arizona's Baltic bigs present as option in Wildcats' season-opening win over Canisius

Upon sitting himself and his obligatory can of Coke down at the McKale Center postgame interview podium late Monday night, UA coach Tommy Lloyd was first asked what he thought of his two big guys.

“Which two?” Lloyd said. “I got a lot of ‘em.”

That’s for sure. During their 93-64 win over Canisius at McKale, the Wildcats received projected starting center Motiejus Krivas back from a foot/ankle injury that kept him out for most of the preseason, while they also had the new services of post transfers Trey Townsend (Oakland) and Tobe Awaka (Tennessee) — and showed off possibly the team’s biggest preseason surprise in 7-foot redshirt sophomore Henri Veesaar.

But it was the eye-opening sight of the Baltic bigs playing together — the 7-2 Krivas of Lithuania and the 7-0 Veesaar of Estonia — that drew that first question.

“It was great,” Lloyd said. “They’ve kind of been through the trials and tribulations so it was great to see them out there together. It’s going to be interesting to see how we can utilize their strengths over the course of the year.”

Lloyd said how much he ultimately plays Krivas and Veesaar together could come down to matchups, though Veesaar has stretch-four capabilities that can complement Krivas’ mostly low-post game.

In any case, just the idea of deploying two 7-footers at the same time is an option Lloyd didn’t really have over his first three seasons at Arizona. It’s also one that comes despite two other 7-footers having dropped off the board: All Pac-12 center Oumar Ballo took off for Indiana after last season, and freshman 7-footer Emmanuel Stephen appears to be leaning toward a redshirt season.

Stephen wore street clothes during Monday's game, though Lloyd said a definitive decision has not been made. Under a current NCAA rule that is now under review, basketball players can’t play in any regular-season games if they want to stay eligible for a non-injury redshirt.

“We're still talking, and it’s not an easy decision,” Lloyd said. “Sometimes, they've been playing their whole lives, and they're excited to be here. But it's my job to kind of help him see reality and think of the big picture a little bit, and also think of the big picture for the program, as well.”

In 2022-23, Lloyd did technically have two 7-footers he could use, and he briefly played Veesaar and Ballo together during what was then Veesaar’s freshman season. But Veesaar slid out of the rotation that December while Lloyd went with the sturdier combo of Ballo and 6-foot-11 forward Azoulas Tubelis, eventually tightening that season’s rotation down to just seven players.

Then, last season, Veesaar took himself off the board when he dislocated an elbow in a preseason golf cart accident. He showed promise behind the scenes after returning to practices in mid-season and now, so far, appears a different player.

“A couple years ago he was a hot name,” Lloyd said of Veesaar at Big 12 media day last month. “He probably could have gone to almost any college in the country. He came to our place, and I was counting on him to contribute his first year, thinking that maybe he was good enough to not need as much time.

“Then he struggled, lost his confidence. He and I had a lot of conversations. We kind of put him on ice for the rest of that year, he was OK with it, and thinking about the next year being better, then he got injured. Now he's in his third year ... He looks like a player this time.”

For Krivas, the trials included an adjustment from European to college basketball last season, knocking against Ballo in practices while serving almost exclusively as his backup in games.

Then, an injury. Krivas kept going over the summer, standing out for his native Lithuania in the U20 EuroBasket tournament last July, and the physical pressure kept building. After practicing for two or three weeks upon returning to Tucson, Krivas said he felt discomfort around his ankle.

Krivas was treated cautiously, gradually building up work in practices this fall, so as to maximize his potential availability when it matters most in the regular-season games ahead.

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When he did return Monday, Krivas played just 10 minutes, appearing to be on some sort of restricted-minutes diet (Lloyd declined to confirm or deny if he was). He picked up nine points and five rebounds during that short time, drawing fouls that took him to the line for 5-of-8 free-throw shooting.

That was “probably the most he's gone up and down consecutively even in practices,” Lloyd said. “So I think he's on target, and we’ll have another good week to kind of see where he's at.

“I think there's a layup or two that I would have liked to see him cash in on. Maybe I want a little bit too much sometimes, but this is the deal: I know that kid's going to be able to deliver. So I have high expectations for him.”

Meanwhile, Veesaar had eight points, two rebounds and two assists over 17 minutes, but picked up a Class A technical foul after Canisius’ Jasman Sangha tugged on him during a drive to the basket.

Veesaar threw an angry look at Sangha before officials went to review the play. They ultimately ejected Sangha with what they ruled a Flagrant 2 foul – but also stuck Veesaar with the technical for an apparently intimidating glare.

That resulted in Veesaar being able to take only two technical free throws instead of four total free throws. Since UA held a 28-point lead after Veesaar hit one of them, the difference was negligible but wasn't hard for Lloyd to imagine the potential impact ahead if a UA player picks up a similar foul in games against Wisconsin, Duke or maybe even Gonzaga (if the teams meet in the Battle 4 Atlantis), not to mention just about any Big 12 game.

It was the second straight game UA had a player receive such a technical, after wing Anthony Dell’Orso received one for staring down a Point Loma player in an Oct. 28 exhibition game.

“Today that might not have mattered, but I'm sure at some point in the season, there's going to be a heated moment on the road. And it’s how do your guys respond?” Lloyd said.

“Listen, it’s a fine line. I mean, I get it: Guys get pissed. Something like that happens and you want to respond, but you’ve also got to calculate winning into the equation.”

Veesaar initially stayed in the game after the incident but eventually left the floor with athletic trainer Justin Kokoskie. Lloyd said after the game that he didn’t think Veesaar was hurt.

At the same time, the Wildcats' big men — and other defenders — also had to deal with Canisius’ attempt to use its smaller size to its advantage, with just about everyone on or floating to the perimeter. The Griffins hit 10 of 26 3-pointers, not enough to endanger the Wildcats’ double-digit leads, but enough to make them think about how to adjust the next time it happens.

That meant, even with a 29-point win, the Wildcats still had plenty to chew on.

“We could do some different stuff for sure to make it easier to cover, but I wanted our guys to figure it out with effort and awareness on the court,” Lloyd said. “I don't know how many times we're going to play fives (centers) that are that dedicated to pick-and-pop, and if they are, we'll have a plan.

“We had a lot of great possessions where we were really aggressive, up on the ball, and whether we slowed down the pass or created a turnover, sometimes they kind of put us in rotation, and maybe one guy didn't rotate. But it was awesome to learn from. Awesome to learn from.”

Photos: Arizona defeats Canisius 93-64 at the McKale Center, men's college basketball