Streaking Arizona men's basketball keeps finding more ways to win games

Already having provided solutions all over the court during their fastest start in a decade, the Arizona Wildcats have started answering questions that weren’t even asked.

College basketball’s most efficient rebounder straying 25 feet out from the basket to hit 3-pointers? Twice in 15 minutes? Tobe Awaka did that in the first half of Arizona’s 97-78 win over Utah on Saturday, equaling his entire total of made 3s from last season.

A freshman guard who picked up zero rebounds in UA’s season opener against Florida, and struggled over the first month of the season, putting together a double-double with 11 rebounds? Brayden Burries did that against Utah, too.

“I guess me and him swapped roles today,” Awaka said, cracking a grin as he sat next to Burries at the interview table after the Utah game. “I was just open, felt confident to take the shot. That's really all that it was.

“And coach (Tommy Lloyd) has been on the guards to rebound, and I think Brayden’s done a great job of taking that to heart throughout practice.”

It’s more than that, of course. Lloyd said Awaka, who leads Division I in both offensive (24.1) and defensive (31.1) rebounding percentage, has also worked a lot on his shooting. The fourth-year big man, who spent his first two seasons at Tennessee, is shooting 59.8% from two-point range while making 2 of 5 3s so far this season.

“You can only shoot so many jump hooks,” Lloyd said. “Tobe has really changed his shot over the last year. And to change your shot is something that takes multiple years to get there, because you have to fine tune, fine tune, fine tune, then you have to get game confidence. There's a lot of steps that go into it.

“It’s a real long process. That’s why you don't see many non-shooters develop into shooters. It's hard to stick to it. So I'll give Tobe a ton of credit.”

Burries did, too. While saying he wanted to rebound more often to give UA extra possessions, and help the big men get a head start running downcourt, the freshman guard praised Awaka’s efforts.

“He works on his shot every day after practice, so I have total confidence in him shooting that shot, especially when he's wide open at the top of the key,” Burries said. “I actually like that shot from Tobe.”

Not only has Awaka added a little range to the UA post offense off the bench, but so have starters Motiejus Krivas and Koa Peat. Krivas hit 1 of 2 3s he tried against Alabama on Dec. 13 while Peat has hit one in each of UA’s last two games after missing the first six he took this season.

“Mo shoots the 3 really well from the top, and Koa’s shot has really come along,” Lloyd said.

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After Saturday’s game, Lloyd was asked about if he considered UConn’s success in how it uses big men, and politely reminded everyone that this is something he has long done.

At Arizona, Lloyd inherited Christian Koloko and Azuolas Tubelis but he brought along a project named Oumar Ballo from Gonzaga and helped him become an-all conference player. He recruited 7-footer Henri Veesaar from Estonia and turned him into a highly-valued transfer who left for North Carolina last spring.

Then came Krivas from Lithuania, and Awaka from New York via Tennessee.

“I mean, guys, I've been playing two bigs for a lot of years, and obviously that's a comfort of mine,” Lloyd told the Utah media crowd. “If you look at successful college teams, they're there for the fight, for the physical battle. That’s allowed teams to be consistent at a high level, especially in the tournament. So of course we want to look at that.

“I also understand at the end of the game, you can do all this cute stuff, but if you can't rebound, if you can't put your chest on people on defense, if you can't protect the paint, if you can't put foul pressure and rim pressure on the other team, man, you're living and dying with a lot of jump shots.”

So Arizona is going the other way. While often dominating inside — the Wildcats outrebound opponents by an average of 14.1 per game and shoot 57.9% from two-point range — UA ranks eighth to last out of 365 Division I teams in 3s taken as a percentage of total field goal attempts (28.9).

But when the Wildcats do take them, the odds are pretty good. Even their bigs.

Arizona hits 3s at the 31st best rate in Division I (37.8) and, over the past six games, its three post players have combined to make half of their 10 attempts.

“Are we going to live and die on that?" Lloyd said. "No, but is it nice to have in your back pocket. Am I proud of those guys for having the confidence to call their own number once in a while? For sure. We want our players to play at that confidence and that freedom.”