National spotlight shifts away from Arizona Wildcats after Thanksgiving week games

After winning three big games to start this season and rising to No. 2 in the Associated Press Top 25, the Arizona Wildcats squinted from the national spotlight and attempted to put their heads down somewhat.

“This win here isn't going to mean we're going to be a great team in January or February,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said after Arizona beat UConn on Nov. 19. “The next two weeks of practice and our preparation will have more say in how we're going to be down the line.”

So, with UA's social media sites pumping out a minimal amount of hype since the UConn game, the Wildcats quietly took apart low-rated Denver and Norfolk State last week and then received another gift to help stay under the national radar: The Players Era Festival and other Thanksgiving-week events that pivoted the hype to several other teams.

In the most notable example, Michigan crushed San Diego State and Auburn by 30 points — and Gonzaga by 40 — in the Players Era event, becoming the No. 1 team in the NCAA NET ratings that debuted for the season on Monday.

While the Wolverines didn’t quite bump the Wildcats from the No. 2 spot in the AP poll, settling in right behind UA in the third spot, the Players Era Festival also resulted in the Big 12 buzz meter shifting from Arizona to Iowa State and Kansas.

Both the Cyclones and Jayhawks also won all three games they played in Las Vegas: Iowa State beat St. John’s, Creighton and Syracuse, while Kansas took care of Notre Dame, Syracuse and Tennessee — all without injured guard Darryn Peterson.

Also: Duke beat Arkansas in Chicago and UConn beat Illinois by 13 in New York, all while Arizona stayed home to beat a pair of low-major teams.

“There's a lot of really good teams out there,” Lloyd said Saturday, saying he caught some of the games over the previous few days. “We’ve had some attention-grabbing moments (when) people have maybe anointed us, maybe a little bit too early, and other teams had some attention-grabbing moments and maybe they got anointed.

“But at the end of the day, to be honest with you, none of us know what things look like in 30 days or 60 days or 90 days. So, you’ve got to stay the course.”

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Aristode’s opportunity?

Arizona did not issue an update about wing Ivan Kharchenkov within 48 hours of the ankle injury the German freshman suffered on Saturday against Norfolk State. It's possible that any limitation could result in Anthony Dell’Orso moving back into the starting lineup — and freshman Dwayne Aristode getting more of an opportunity.

An athletic forward from the Netherlands with 3-and-D NBA potential, Aristode has established himself as the eighth and final player in UA’s regular rotation but averaged only 8.3 minutes in the Wildcats’ wins over Florida, UCLA and UConn.

Last week, Aristode averaged 23.5 minutes in UA’s wins over Denver and Norfolk State. He had 17 points and five rebounds while hitting 4 of 8 3-pointers against Denver, then had three points and five rebounds against Norfolk State, although Lloyd expressed disappointment with how Aristode responded to an issue with Norfolk State players.

"He said he was protecting his teammate," Lloyd said. "And my response to him was 'I don't think Koa (Peat) needs a protector. I think he's fine.' The games get chippy, but you've got to stay classy. You have a choice in those moments and the choice should always be stay classy."

Ranked opponents next

After playing Denver and Norfolk State, the Wildcats will next face 20th-ranked Auburn (6-2) on Saturday at McKale Center, then face No. 12 Alabama (5-2) on Dec. 13 in Birmingham, Ala.

Among other UA opponents this season, Houston (7-1) dropped from No. 3 to No. 8 in the AP poll after losing to Tennessee, while BYU (6-1) remained at No. 9, Iowa State (7-0) rose five spots to No. 10, Florida (5-2) dropped from 10 to 15, Texas Tech (6-2) moved up one spot to No. 19, and Kansas (6-2) remained at No. 21.