Wildcats' reserves get an an extended look, show signs of progress

After Filip Borovicanin blew up by averaging 32.3 points and 18.3 rebounds at a European U16 championship in October 2019, he was asked about his favorite moment in one of the games.

“All the moments,” he said.

In a video still posted to YouTube that has attracted about 1,500 views so far, Borovicanin went on to rattle off the various areas in which he had improved, including defense.

Three seasons later, that sort of broad perspective may have helped him with the Arizona Wildcats. Because even though last season he was averaging 20 points, nine rebounds and four assists last for KK Beko in his hometown of Belgrade, Serbia, Borovicanin found even those numbers wouldn’t translate into playing time at the U.S. college level.

At least not on this team.

“I think that to get more minutes and try to improve the game, you will help the team the most on the defensive side,” Borovicanin said Saturday, after UA beat Oregon State 84-52. “We are pretty good on offense. … Offense will come. So I try to give my best energy and try to lock in (defensively on) guys.”

While UA coach Tommy Lloyd went deeper in his bench Saturday than he has since a Dec. 13 blowout win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Borovicanin tied his season-high of seven minutes against OSU. He scored four points, off a 3-pointer and free throw, while also helping UA’s second group keep the Beavers’ shooting under 40% even after the top six Wildcats were done for the night with six minutes left to play.

Borovicanin said it hasn’t really been hard to adjust from playing a standout role to sitting on the bench with Arizona but did say “I’m just really excited” when the opportunity to play does arise.

As it turned out, Borovicanin didn’t need offense to keep earning minutes Saturday. He played well enough to stay on the floor for seven minutes before he hit his first and only field goal, a banked-in 3-pointer from the top of the key with 2:27 to go.

“It is what it is,” Borovicanin said.

Of the other three players on the outside of the seven-man rotation Lloyd had deployed for the Wildcats’ previous four games, sophomore wing Adama Bal went 2 of 3 from 3-point range while earning praise from Lloyd for pulling down an offensive rebound shortly after entering the game.

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Then there were UA’s two freshman bigs: Dylan Anderson had two points and three rebounds in seven minutes while Henri Veesaar — who began falling out of the rotation just after New Year’s — added two points and two rebounds in four minutes.

“I want to play them all the time. But it’s just not how it goes,” Lloyd said. “So tonight for them to get that opportunity, and for them to play pretty well … I think for our young guys overall as a group it’s kind of the best they’ve performed. So I’m happy with that.”

Borovicanin and the Wildcats’ other subs could get more time this week. UA will play at last-place Cal on Thursday night, with a rest-day advantage because the Bears played at Utah on Sunday. Then on Saturday, they’ll face Stanford, which has been surging but also had to play on the road Sunday, at Colorado.

But Lloyd said he wasn’t going to take anything for granted on the road, especially with Stanford playing well, and he also indicated Saturday that he wasn’t going to mess with what works in his rotation.

Lloyd also said he would continue to evaluate whether to go with seven or more players based on how a game is going and, even after saying starters Azuolas Tubelis and Kerr Kriisa told him they would be OK sitting out the second half Saturday after UA built a 26-point halftime lead, Lloyd still went with his top seven players for the first seven minutes after halftime.

“They wanted their teammates to play, because they’re great teammates,” Lloyd said. “I told them, ‘I don’t want to do that because we need to keep our rhythm and keep growing our team.’

“And there’s no disrespect in any opponent. And, hey, I’m sitting there as a head coach thinking Oregon State could come out on a 10-0 run if we don’t have our stuff together.”

All of which means minutes could still be pretty hard to find for the Wildcats outside of the top seven.

Borovicanin, for one, is getting used to it.

“It was hard,” Borovicanin said of UA’s shrinking rotation. “It was hard for me of course to deal with that. But I tried to do my best in practices and coach gave me an opportunity tonight. I tried to do my best.”