Do the Wildcats need a regular 8th man? Assessing the top candidates for the role

For the moment, and maybe for the long run, a seven-man rotation is the answer for Arizona. Six straight wins, including one over UCLA, and revenge victories over Washington State and Oregon, say so.

But the Wildcats also have a reminder that having a little quality depth on hand can help sustain the good times.

His name is Adama Bal.

The Wildcats actually had an eight-man rotation heading into the Pac-12 Tournament last season when point guard Kerr Kriisa went down with a severely sprained ankle in a quarterfinal game against Stanford.

That prompted UA coach Tommy Lloyd to turn to Bal, the then-freshman wing from France. Bal logged nine minutes against UCLA in the Pac-12 Tournament final, hitting both 3-pointers he took, and played another nine against Wright State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before Kriisa returned in the second round.

“Because I worked, I knew I was ready,” Bal said. “An opportunity came to me, and I just took it.”

Bal said then-standout wing Bennedict Mathurin, a fellow francophone from Quebec, was “talking to me a lot and telling me that if I’m confident, I can really contribute to the team. That was my mindset.”

This season, Mathurin is gone, off to become one of the NBA’s top rookies. But Bal had that year of experience to build on, plus a summer in which he stood out for France’s U20 team.

Yet it hasn’t translated into a permanent spot in the rotation. Bal played regularly through mid-December but logged just five minutes against Tennessee on Dec. 17. He has only played spot minutes since then except in blowout wins.

If he’s the eighth man, he’s a distant eighth man. Even freshman guard Filip Borovicanin went into the game before Bal when the Wildcats beat Oregon State 84-52 last Saturday, though Lloyd cautioned not to read too much into that.

“I built this team for Adama to be in the top eight, and he had a lot of opportunities,” Lloyd said. “He just didn’t play great, didn’t play well enough early. I’ve told him that. I told him `Now, the next time you get your chances, you need to be ready.’ “

Saturday was one of them. Bal took advantage of a 10-minute opportunity against the Beavers to score eight points, hitting two free throws and making two 3-pointers, while also coming up with an assist and a steal.

The Wildcats’ game at Cal on Thursday appears likely to be the next opportunity for Bal and Arizona’s other lightly played reserves to get a shot.

The Bears are 3-20, have lost seven straight games and are expected to have at least two projected starters out of the lineup at Haas Pavilion, including guard Devin Askew (hernia), who scored 25 points for Cal at McKale Center in the Wildcats’ 81-68 win on Dec. 4.

Arizona’s Bay Area trip, which includes a game at Stanford on Saturday, could also be a good reminder of why the Wildcats need some more quality bench depth. Last season at Maples Pavilion, forward Azuolas Tubelis suffered a significant ankle sprain that kept him out at Cal and limited him the following week in a loss at UCLA and a win over ASU.

Oumar Ballo, then playing behind Christian Koloko at center, came off the bench to help the Wildcats make up the difference, dropping 21 points on Stanford and another 15 on Cal three days later.

But Ballo was already in the rotation. Bal wasn’t, and still isn’t.

“It’s just ‘play better,’ “ Lloyd said when asked what obstacles Bal faced toward playing more. “When you’re on the court you have to bring value, and the value isn’t just shot attempts. Value is, `Is the team more efficient when you’re on the floor, or nearly as efficient as the guy you’re subbing in for?’

“We just don’t need to have a drop-off there. So sometimes you change your lineup a little bit and maybe shorten the bench, and it gives you the guys that are playing a little more certainty and allows your team to move forward that way. Then the next step is you’ve got to adjust and give some guys a chance again.”

That’s where the Wildcats appear to be now. Successful with the seven-man rotation but also aware that, in the long run, injuries and foul trouble can quickly make that unsustainable.

“I can’t ignore the fact that having players eight, nine and 10, good enough and ready to contribute, helps your team,” Lloyd said Tuesday. “So I gotta help nurture and develop that a little bit.”

Here’s a closer look at the four guys who could become players eight, nine or 10 with a successful audition this weekend or beyond:

Adama Bal, G, sophomore

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Hometown: LeMans, France

Recruiting cred: Ranked 134 (class of 2021) by 247Sports.

Pac-12 stats: 10 games, 4.9 minutes per game, 1.3 points, 0.7 rebounds

Biggest impact game: Nine points (3 of 3 3-point shooting), two rebounds and a steal vs Indiana on Dec. 10

Lloyd says: “What I said to Adama (after last Saturday’s game vs OSU) was his first play was an effort play — he got an offensive rebound. Then he hit a 3 after that. And I think that’s what he has to understand. He has to put more emphasis on doing all the other things, and then the shooting and the offensive stuff will come within the flow of the game when he has his opportunities.”

Dylan Anderson, C, freshman

Hometown: Gilbert

Recruiting cred: Anderson won both the 2021 and ‘22 Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year awards and was ranked 115th nationally by 247Sports in the class of 2022.

Pac-12 stats: 4 games, 4.5 minutes, 1.5 points, 1.0 rebounds

Biggest impact game: Five points, one rebound and one assist vs Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Dec. 13

Lloyd says: “Dylan has really, really come a long way, and he’s much improved from when he got here in June. Unfortunately, outwardly, people aren’t getting to see the progress, and Dylan probably doesn’t even fully realize the progress he’s made. But the foundation is there for him to become a real basketball player. We had to kind of build and rebuild the foundation.”

Henri Veesaar, F, freshman

Hometown: Tallinn, Estonia

Recruiting cred: ESPN wrote upon Veesaar’s commitment to Arizona in May that he was “arguably the most promising European prospect committing to the college route in the class of 2022.”

Pac-12 stats: 10 games, 5.4 minutes, 1.8 points, 1.1 rebounds

Biggest impact game: Three rebounds, five points and a block against Indiana on Dec. 10

Lloyd says: “We’re doing the same thing with Henry right now (rebuilding his foundation, as with Anderson). It’s the old Nick Saban line: It takes what it takes. So you’ve just kind of got to make sure you’re putting in the time and the energy and staying persistent with it.”

Filip Borovicanin, G, freshman

Hometown: Belgrade, Serbia

Recruiting cred: As a late-spring international signee last year, Borovicanin was not rated but averaged 20 points and nine rebounds for Serbian club KK Beko last season.

Pac-12 stats: 3 games, 3.6 minutes, 1.3 points, 0.0 rebounds

Biggest impact game: Four points (1 of 1 3-point shooting), one assist vs Oregon State on Feb. 4

Lloyd says: “It’s his first year over here, and he’s done a good job hanging with it. He’ll admit — they all end up eventually doing it — that it’s harder than he thought it was going to be. He’s done a nice job in practice. He’s worked hard, and I just wanted to reward him and let him know that I value him as a player” by playing him early against OSU.