In play and in words, Arizona Wildcats' Pelle Larsson appears OK with return to sixth-man role

SEATTLE — Before pulling Pelle Larsson out of his starting lineup three games ago, Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said he sought approval from the junior wing.

Really?

Didn’t Lloyd basically mean something like “I’m the boss and this is what I’m going to do anyway … so what do you think?” Was this just some sort of nice way to phrase a demotion?

Did Larsson really have a choice?

Actually, maybe he did.

“He was never going to do it if I didn’t say it was OK,” Larsson said Thursday, after UA’s 63-58 win at Washington State, in his first interview since being moved to the bench role he excelled in last season. “And honestly, I’ve thought about it too, and to me, it doesn’t really matter. I just want to be out there as much as possible.

“If it doesn’t affect that, then I’m good with it. That was what our conversation was about.”

After UA beat USC 81-66 on Jan. 19 in Larsson’s first game off the bench, this was how Lloyd described the conversation:

“I met with Pelle and I told him I was thinking about doing it,” Lloyd said. “But I wasn’t going to do it if he wasn’t comfortable. He gave me the go ahead and said, `Coach, let’s do it.’ “

While the move was also made in order to light a fire under wing Cedric Henderson by putting him in the starting lineup, Arizona’s win at WSU on Thursday was exactly the sort of result both Lloyd and Larsson were looking for out of the deal.

Larsson brought energy to the Wildcats’ second unit upon entering the game, then filled his box score line with 10 points on 5-for-8 shooting, five rebounds, three assists and a steal.

And 32 minutes — the same number of minutes that Henderson played. Starter’s minutes, basically.

Since Lloyd swapped Henderson for Larsson in his starting lineup, the Wildcats have won three straight big games, beating USC and UCLA at home, while avenging their Jan. 7 loss to WSU on Thursday.

“I still play the same amount of minutes and we’ve had three wins, three good performances by myself and I see no problem with it,” Larsson said. “It’s about how you finish, so I’m just happy to be on the court.”

In those three games, Larsson’s individual stats have actually been slightly better. He’s averaged 11 points, 5.7 rebounds and shot 62.5% over the thee games, compared with season averages of 10.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 42.5% shooting.

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And while Larsson averages 28.4 minutes for the season, he’s actually averaged more (31.0) since coming off the bench.

Meanwhile, there’s evidence that the move has motivated Henderson. The grad transfer from Campbell has averaged just 5.3 points in the last three games, down from a season average of 6.9, but averaged 4.7 rebounds over that span despite averaging just 3.4 on the season.

“It’s still new for both of us and we’re trying things out,” Larsson said. “But I think energy from the start and from the bench has gotten better.”

Especially with the Wildcats’ increasingly short bench, Larsson’s role has been particularly significant. Lloyd used only seven players in the Wildcats’ past two games, with just Larsson and freshman combo guard Kylan Boswell coming off the bench.

That practice that may not be sustainable if the Wildcats run into foul trouble, fatigue or injury down the stretch. Lloyd said he’s monitoring the situation carefully but, as of now, hasn’t found freshman big men Henri Veesaar or Dylan Anderson, nor sophomore wing Adama Bal, trustworthy of playing time in tight games.

“I know we’re gonna have to play more than that at some point,” Lloyd said after the Wildcats beat WSU on Thursday. “But as the game was playing out, I was trying to keep close tabs on the guys and it looked to me like we weren’t overly tired. But we’ll get a feel for how it looks on Saturday.”

One thing appears certain, though, for Arizona’s game Saturday at Washington and likely beyond: No matter how deep the bench goes, Larsson will be staying on it.

There’s only one real drawback in it for Larsson: He won’t be able to defend his Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year award.

Larsson took the honor last season, averaging 7.2 points, 3.4 rebounds over 20.8 average minutes. But Pac-12 rules stipulate that a player can’t start more than a third of conference games and remain eligible for the award.

Larsson didn’t move to the bench until after he started the Wildcats’ first seven Pac-12 games of the season — and rounding down is not permitted.

But Larsson remains eligible for other forms of praise, like the kind Lloyd gave him right after making the move on Jan. 19 against USC.

“I’m gonna give Pelle Larsson a ton of credit,” Lloyd said then. “This wasn’t a reprimand or demotion. I just felt our bench needed something a little more consistent and he gives us some versatility.

“If this can help out both those guys and ultimately it helps out the team, I feel like it was the right decision.”