Had Pelle Larsson been looking, it might have been a terrifying experience.
Replays showed him sprawled helplessly on the T-Mobile Arena floor against Wichita State last weekend, with all 260 pounds of Oumar Ballo flying overhead, about to fall on the right leg of the Swedish sophomore guard.
Fortunately for Larsson, his eyes were elsewhere until the last second.
“I saw the film after the game, but during the game, I just got hit, fell down and knocked him over,” Larsson said. “Then the next thing I knew 260-pound Oumar was on my leg. So it happened kind of fast, but it was nothing too serious.”
It could have been, of course. Larsson had already broken his foot before the season, and Ballo’s big frame appeared headed for his knee, the sort of thing that can panic even an easygoing coach like UA’s Tommy Lloyd.
“For sure, yeah, that makes me wince,” Lloyd said. “That’s one of those crazy, random situations. But he didn’t say a word to me and I didn’t notice it in his movements or anything.”
Larsson took some other hits in stride, too. He appeared to be poked in the eye while defending a Wichita State inbounds play and hit the floor when he ran into the shoulder of teammate Kerr Kriisa earlier in the same game.
Officials had to wipe blood off the floor after that one.
“I kind of dove for the ball and I think he did the same thing,” Larsson said. “I think his shoulder kind of hit me or something. But that hit wasn’t as big as it seemed either. I was fine after that.”
He moved on, which is just the way Lloyd wants it.
“If you play the way we play, you’re gonna have some bumps and bruises,” Lloyd said. “But I don’t want to see guys wincing in pain, this and that, and Justin (Kokoskie), our trainer, is amazing. If there’s a real issue, he’ll tell me. Justin will tell me if a guy needs to rest. Other than that, I don’t need to know.
“I just tell our guys when we hit the court, we don’t wince. We don’t flinch.”
Larsson said he never played one of his native country’s most popular sports, hockey, but found basketball also “is a pretty physical sport” when played against similar athletes with similar hard-driving effort.
Arizona guard Pelle Larsson drives against North Dakota State’s Grant Nelson and guard Boden Skunberg for an and-one bucket in the second half of their game.
Larsson played all-out under hard-driving coach Larry Krystkowiak last season at Utah, averaging 8.2 points and 2.8 assists per game while working his way into the starting lineup for 18 of 25 games. And Lloyd has found him playing the same way so far this season.
“One thing I’ll tell you about Pelle, he’s tough as nails,” Lloyd said. “I mean, some of those vertical contests he’s doing down there, he’s putting his body on the line. He’s putting guys on his chest, which is pretty impressive.”
The way Larsson explained it this week, it’s the least he can do. Breaking his foot while training with the Swedish national team in August forced Larsson to miss two critical months of preseason workouts. He was cleared just before the Wildcats’ Nov. 8 season opener, throwing him almost immediately into games.
So far this season, Larsson is averaging 4.2 points a game and shooting 35% from the field; he’s committed seven turnovers to his 10 assists so far.
“It’s always tough to get your to get your groove back and your feel for the game after an injury,” Larsson said. “I think that’s been the biggest problem for me so far. I’m not happy with what I’m doing offensively, but I’m happy what I’m doing effort-wise, trying to play hard and trying to focus on doing everything I can to win.
“Maybe sometimes the ball doesn’t go in so you got to focus on other things…taking charges, playing team defense, moving the ball and boxing out a guy. Just simple stuff.”
That’s how Lloyd says he sees it, too.
“Pelle is a really good player — we all know that and he’s kind of been put in a tough situation bouncing back from an injury and literally just kind of easing himself into practice as games started,” Lloyd said. “I think he’s been great defensively. I love his energy. I love his toughness. I know he’s going to be great for us offensively and if waiting for Pelle Larsson to come along is my biggest problem, then I don’t got many problems.”
Besides, Lloyd said, it’s only a matter of time before that turnaround happens.
“I would expect it sooner rather than later,” he said. “One of the cool things when you get in my position is you have a real understanding that struggle is part of the process. So he’s going through a struggle right now. But from some of these breakdowns comes the opportunity for a breakthrough, and his breakthrough is going to happen soon. I’m sure of that.”
