Arizona basketball aims to balance rest, momentum during long breaks between games

Whether they like it or not, the Arizona Wildcats have a chance to breathe this week.

After traveling to both coasts and Las Vegas to pick up three signature wins over the first three weeks of the season, and playing another four games at McKale Center in November, Arizona men's basketball now has just one game over a 12-day period: At home on Saturday against Auburn.

“It’s been pretty busy,” freshman forward Koa Peat said.

There’s something to be said for rest, especially with wing Ivan Kharchenkov nursing an ankle injury and also for extra workout time. But Arizona has also been riding a wave of momentum with wins over Florida, UCLA and UConn. 

The Wildcats don’t want to lose that either.

“Practice is important and preparation is important but so is having game rhythm,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said Saturday, after the Wildcats beat Norfolk State 98-61 to finish at 7-0 in November. “We’ve just got to figure out that fine balance of what those two things look like.”

Lloyd indicated it’s not all his choice. While the Wildcats have historically played a lighter schedule early in December, in part because the fall semester is closing out. They also have intentionally gone straight from their Christmas break into the conference season since BYU smacked an unsuspecting Arizona team by 30 at McKale in a non-conference game on Dec. 28, 2010.

But this time, Arizona didn’t mix in the midweek game against a mid-major opponent early this month, only scheduling Auburn on Dec. 6 at home and Alabama at Birmingham on Dec. 13. That meant the schedule had to heat up again in late December to complete non-conference play before the Big 12 competition begins.

The Wildcats will cram in four more games around their Christmas break, including a Dec. 22 game with Bethune-Cookman and a Dec. 29 game with South Dakota State.

“Sometimes it’s how your schedule breaks,” Lloyd said. “You end up with some gaps, a week-long gap maybe once because of finals week and maybe another one just because you couldn't find the right game … and you maybe put that game right before Christmas.

“It’s 's a little bit of a tricky matrix, figuring out that schedule.”

In the short term, the break means Lloyd has to figure out how much time off to give his players, and when, this week. They were expected to take two days off before facing Auburn, even though that won’t prevent some of them from coming into the gym on their own.

Especially not Peat, after he went 4-for-9 from the free-throw line against Norfolk State, failing to take full advantage of the Wildcats’ parade of 46 collective trips to the line in that game.

“Right after this, I’m gonna go shoot some free throws,” Peat said during Saturday’s postgame interviews. “Missed too many free throws this game. But we’re gonna keep getting better this week and get ready for Saturday.”

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Perfect Novembers

While the Wildcats’ 7-0 start gave them their fourth undefeated November in Lloyd’s five seasons with them, it was also a pretty good month for a colleague Lloyd has become close to: Brent Brennan’s UA football team went 5-0, with wins over ranked teams in Cincinnati and ASU.

Brennan was introduced to loud applause during a timeout early in the UA-Norflok State game on Saturday.

“I’m really happy for Brent,” Lloyd said. “He's a good friend of mine, he's just a great guy and I know he's been through a lot. So, to see him come out on top just really says something about his character and him as a man. Just really proud of him and what he's done.”

Also in November, the UA triathlon team won the national championship and the school’s women’s basketball team won all six of its home games.

“I'm really proud of my colleagues and the success they're having,” Lloyd said. “There's a lot of work behind the scenes with our administration to make these things happen.

“I'm happy for everyone else's success, but for us in our program, we want to have a long term approach. We want to be playing our best basketball incrementally over the course of the season.”

Lloyd praises Alquist

Before sitting down at the McKale Center interview podium after home games, Lloyd typically wanders into the UA athletic communications office to grab a soda.

When he's done so, longtime UA sports historian Jon Alquist, who passed away last month, was often sitting there, ready to exchange a word or two.

“My relationship with him was pretty fun,” Lloyd said. “I didn't know who this guy was, but every time I came in the media room, I'd get a Coke and sit down. I had this old guy who always had a quip or two for me and always had a smile. Those postgame moments, I really enjoyed, our interactions. Guys like him are important. They're the storytellers.”

Alquist died on the same day that the Wildcats pulled off one of their biggest upsets under Lloyd, a 71-67 win at UConn on Nov. 19.

“I don't know exactly what happened, but it sounds like it was surrounding the UConn game, so I hope he got to the finish line,” Lloyd said. “I hope he got to watch the end of that game.”