Because Arizona has only lost twice at McKale Center since Tommy Lloyd was hired before the 2021-22 season, it’s not a stretch to figure the Wildcats might have beaten Colorado, USC and Stanford at home no matter what this season.
But USC and Colorado each faced the Wildcats without two of their best players last month, and Stanford was without its leading scorer, freshman guard Kanaan Carlyle, during Arizona’s 82-71 victory over the Cardinal on Sunday because of an unspecified upper-body injury suffered Thursday at ASU.
Yep: No Carlyle, who scored 28 points on Arizona last month at Maples Pavilon. No Tristan da Silva, a returning first-team all-conference forward, nor five-star freshman Cody Williams of Colorado. And no Boogie Ellis, another returning all-leaguer, nor five-star freshman Isaiah Collier of USC.
All against an Arizona team that hasn’t had a single rotation player miss a single game all season.
“Honestly, probably a little bit of it is luck,” Lloyd said, “but we’ve got a great trainer (Justin Kokoskie), and we’ve got a great strength coach (Chris Rounds) and those guys do a great job making sure our guys are ready to play.”
What’s more: Even when the Wildcats finally had a health issue Sunday, with forward Keshad Johnson sustaining a shoulder or arm injury that Lloyd confirmed but would not specify, the coach said it didn’t affect his distribution of minutes.
Stanford's Spencer Jones and Arizona's KJ Lewis, right, battle for the ball during the second half Sunday night. Lewis played 15 minutes in the second half, when UA outscored the Cardinal 48-26.
Having already turned heavily for defensive help from guards Jaden Bradley and KJ Lewis, Lloyd simply continued with that plan. In the second half, when Stanford’s shooting dropped to 28.1% after it hit 47.2% before halftime, Lloyd kept Lewis in for 15 minutes and Bradley for 11 while Johnson played only six after halftime.
Johnson went scoreless over 18 total minutes, collecting three rebounds and dishing an assist while missing both shots he took.
“He did (get hurt), but I don’t think that had anything to do with his minutes tonight,” Lloyd said. “I told Key after the game — in a lot of ways, he’s been our MVP, he’s just such a great guy, great leader behind the scenes — that the way they were defending, I just didn’t think it fit his strengths.
“We put KJ out there, and he started playing well, and Keshad was the first guy to say, `Guys, that’s awesome. I’m so happy we won and I’m so happy you guys balled out.’ “
Lloyd credited Lewis and Bradley for their defense while also noting how Bradley also “does a good job of not taking shots away from other guys who are scorers.”
Bradley finished with five points on 1-for-5 shooting but logged 20 minutes largely because of his defensive play, while Lewis had 13 points on 5-for-8 shooting over 26 minutes.
“Our job coming off the bench is just trying to maintain that energy,” Bradley said after the Stanford game. “Coach always tells us when we get in, make a difference with our energy and our pace and I feel like today our bench was able to do that.”
Or basically, as Lewis put it, “it’s our job to have the starters’ backs.”
Wildcats back in Top 10
After sweeping Cal and Stanford at McKale Center over the weekend, Arizona jumped from No. 11 to No. 8 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.
UConn, Purdue and North Carolina remained 1-2-3 at the top of the poll, while Kansas rose four spots to No. 4 after beating Houston, which dropped to No. 5.
Among teams Arizona has faced this season, Wisconsin dropped from No. 6 to No. 11, Duke dropped from No. 7 to No. 9 after losing to North Carolina, Florida Atlantic stayed at No. 20 and Alabama rose from No. 24 to No. 16.
No other Pac-12 teams were ranked in the poll. Arizona (17-5, 8-3) holds a one-game lead in first place in the Pac-12, but the Wildcats next have to travel to face Utah (15-7, 6-5) on Thursday and Colorado (15-7, 6-5) on Saturday.
In the computers, Arizona is No. 4 in Kenpom and NET, and No. 5 in Torvik rankings. The Wildcats continue to be projected as a No. 2 seed in the West region by ESPN and CBS.
Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd hugs Caleb Love during the second half of UA's win Sunday. The Wildcats moved up to No. 8 in the AP poll thanks to sweeping Cal and Stanford.
Andrews, Rice win weekly awards
Arizona nominated Lewis for the Pac-12’s Freshman of the Week award, but the honor went to Washington State’s Myles Rice for his heroics in the Cougars’ 90-87 overtime win at Washington on Saturday.
Rice collected 18 points, five rebounds and five assists while hitting a game-winning 3-pointer in overtime. Lewis averaged 13.0 points and 3.5 rebounds in UA’s wins over California and Stanford last week while playing a key defensive role.
“KJ’s got amazing instincts defensively,” Lloyd said. “He’s got amazing physical tools and reaction time and he’s not afraid to take a risk — and I don’t want to tame him. I’m good with that. And he’s getting more repetitions now. He has more (of a) database to understand, `OK, maybe this isn’t the time to go for that steal and things like that.’ “
UCLA’s Dylan Andrews was named Pac-12 Player of the Week after averaging 19.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.5 steals in the Bruins’ wins over Oregon State and Oregon.
Arizona nominated Oumar Ballo after he had double-doubles in UA’s wins over Cal and Stanford while shooting 80.0% from the field but 53.3% from the free-throw line.
Time for USA
By agreeing to become USA Baskeball’s U18 coach this summer, Lloyd confirmed he has made a two-year commitment to the organization. He is now scheduled to coach the U18 team in the FIBA AmeriCup this summer and, assuming USA qualifies, to lead what could largely be the same group of players in the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup in 2025.
However, both events are held in mid-summer, requiring about three weeks of training camp, travel and tournament play, a load Lloyd says he can manage. As it is, Lloyd is already known for watching FIBA tournaments as part of his recruiting efforts.
“It’s an absolute honor to be the U18 national team coach,” Lloyd said Sunday. “The USA Basketball guys are great guys. It’s a great program. I’m friends with a lot of them. It’s something that probably, five or 10 years ago, I would have never dreamed possible, so it’s an opportunity I’m gonna take advantage of.
“It’s gonna be fun to participate in one, and it’s not going to hurt Arizona. I’ve got a great staff and it’ll happen at a time when we’re on summer break, so we’ll be all right.”
