After swatting away 10 shots during Arizona’s first two games this season, junior center Christian Koloko is on a pace to blow away Loren Woods’ season school record of 102 blocks.
But to get there, Koloko may need to wear some sort of disguise. Hide somewhere along the baseline. Or to do anything to make opponents forget he’s actually on the floor.
Because teams are already learning quickly that it’s not so good of an idea to drive inside when the 7-foot Cameroonian is under the basket. Even if they get some confidence beforehand by beating an Arizona perimeter defender off the dribble.
“Our guards, they are not scared to let people drive through because we have ‘C-Lo,’” forward Azuolas Tubelis said.
So four times in the first half on Tuesday in Arizona’s 81-52 win over NAU, the Lumberjacks drove inside before Koloko blocked their shot. He blocked just one in the second half.
And on Friday in Arizona’s 104-50 win over UTRGV, Koloko blocked five Vaqueros’ shots in the first half … and none in the second.
“I think they are always gonna try to drive, and at some point in the game, you can see it’s not working,” Koloko said. “They’re gonna have to change the game plan and that’s what we were able to do tonight. If something’s not working, you’re always gonna have a plan B.”
The way UA coach Tommy Lloyd looks at it, forcing a team into a Plan B — or any sort of alternative shot or plan — is a victory. Even if it’s not recorded as a block.
“The blocked shots are great,” Lloyd said. “They can lead to a fast break, but so is a great vertical contest, a missed layup. You know, that’s where a lot of your fast breaks start.”
It is the big picture Lloyd is looking at, the opportunity to send a message to all opponents driving inside.
“He’s probably always been a great shot-blocker and we’ve worked with some things with his vertical contest,” Lloyd said of Koloko. “You’re starting to see our guys are really coming over (to help).
“Like the vertical contest Pelle (Larsson, the sophomore guard who recently returned from a broken foot) had — that was when I knew, ‘OK, he’s close to back.’ He came over and it was a foul but he delivered a blow. It was like, ‘If you’re gonna come down in here, it ain’t gonna be easy.’ So I think ‘C-Lo’ has s just kind of increased his physicality and he’s taken rim-protecting serious.”
Koloko had 25 blocks over 28 games as a freshman reserve in 2019-20 and 35 blocks over 26 games last season, when he started 19 times and averaged 17.4 minutes.
All that experience may have helped lead to a better sense of timing that can’t be easily worked on during practices.
“Timing is a big part of it,” Koloko said. “Once you go get the ball, you can’t just jump every time or you might foul the player. You just have to know how to have good timing and be smart.”
Assistants under salary budget
Lloyd’s three assistant coaches are making $895,000 combined this season, well under the $1.05 million assistant coach salary pool Lloyd received upon being hired.
According to documents obtained by the Star in a public-records request, former North Carolina assistant coach Steve Robinson is earning an annualized $285,000 this season, while former Suns player development director Riccardo Fois is at $275,000. Associate head coach Jack Murphy is making $335,000 as part of a two-year contract that was reworked in May 2020.
Both Robinson and Fois received one-year contracts, meaning they do not have the mitigation clauses in their contracts stipulating that earnings in a subsequent job will offset what UA owes them in the event they are terminated.
Possibly because their fates were uncertain due to NCAA/FBI investigations in recent years, Murphy and previous UA assistants have had two-year contracts with mitigation clauses for recent seasons. That saved UA in the case of Danny Peters, who was under contract to make $275,000 this season but was not retained last spring; he was named an assistant at Xavier. His undisclosed salary there is offsetting what UA owes him.
Both Murphy and Robinson have head coaching experience, while Fois has worked with Gonzaga and the Italian basketball federation. Murphy was the head coach at NAU from 2012-19. Robinson led Tulsa from 1995-97, then spent the next five seasons as Florida State’s head coach.
Miller: ‘You have to bounce back’
On his first “Next Play” podcast with brother Archie Miller, former UA coach Sean Miller described the show as having a literal meaning after both brothers were fired last spring.
“Sometimes as a coach it’s being able to move from something that happened bad, a turnover, your best player getting in foul trouble, a breakdown on defense,” Sean Miller said. “Being able to go from that to the next play is so essential because there are so many plays in the game of basketball that we deal with. And outside of it, what you and I are dealing with right now, it’s next play for us.
“But things happen. You have to bounce back from it, learn from it, grow.”
Neither brother went into any more detail about their situations. Sean Miller was fired by Arizona on April 7 after three and a half years of FBI and NCAA proceedings surrounded his program; Archie was fired by Indiana in March after going 67-58 over four seasons with the Hoosiers.
Archie Miller said the podcast would aim to provide behind-the-scenes type analysis of games this season to help fans and coaches alike “understand some of the things and where they’re coming from.”
Sean Miller then drew laughter from his brother when he mentioned another motivation.
“The other part is, Arch, it gives us something to do,” Sean Miller said. “There’s not a whole lot to do. You play Madden. You look outside and want to play golf. Work out. I mean, repeat, right? So it keeps us in the game. And it’s a game no doubt that you and I love.
“I know if I wasn’t a college coach for a period of time I probably would have been a high school coach, probably for a longer period of time. Because that’s who our dad was (John Miller was a legendary coach at Blackhawk High School outside Pittsburgh), and that’s how we grew up with the game of basketball.”
Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd says the Wildcats committed too many turnovers in Friday's win over UTRGV.
Still work to do
Despite beating UTRGV by 54 points Friday, the sixth-largest margin in Arizona history, there were still a few bugs in the Wildcats’ box score.
For one thing, Arizona had 18 turnovers — 12 of which came in the first half.
Lloyd said he wasn’t happy with that result, saying that playing fast in his system also means playing with sound fundamentals, and that getting “greedy” can lead to difficult plays and turnovers.
UA had played much more to his liking on Tuesday against NAU, committing just six turnovers for the entire game.
“Like I told you, six is an anomaly,” Lloyd said. “Eighteen — it better be an anomaly. We need to be right in the middle of those two. That’s probably the ideal spot.”
Meanwhile, wing Bennedict Mathurin recovered to shoot 4 of 8 field goals in part by making back-to-back 3s in the second half Friday. He missed 15 of his other 19 field goals during the Wildcats’ first two games while adjusting to Lloyd’s less-structured offensive system.
“I don’t think Benn’s ever played in a movement-based system, and the beauty of the system is that rarely are we calling plays for any individual,” Lloyd said. “The plays are happening randomly, so I can’t necessarily dictate who is going to be in the next action or who’s going to get the next screen or we’re going to get a shot here.
“But that’s also what makes it really hard for the defense to figure out. So he’ll get more comfortable in it and he’ll learn how to pick and choose the spots.”
