Christian Koloko taught Michigan — and his mother — a few lessons on the court

If she had been watching soccer matches back home in Cameroon last weekend, Henriette Koloko would have been a pretty good critic.

But instead, she was watching her son play basketball in person for the first time ever on Friday, when the Wildcats missed 13 of their 42 free throws against Wichita State. Christian Koloko was 5 for 8 from the line.

“She doesn’t know much about basketball,” Christian said. “After the game, I went to talk to her and she said we ‘missed a lot of goals.’ We missed a lot of free throws. But she said ‘A lot of goals.’ I was like, ‘No, we call those free throws.’ It was a little bit funny.”

In the next game, there was no need for a lesson. It was obvious to anyone how Koloko and the Wildcats dominated then-No. 4 Michigan 80-62 in the championship game of the Main Event in Las Vegas.

Arizona shot 50% from the field, held Michigan to 1 of 14 3-point shooting and scored 54 points in the paints with Koloko leading the way. The 7-footer known mostly just as “C-Lo” had 22 points, seven rebounds and four blocks.

Oh, and he hit all six free throws he took, too.

Mom had to have been proud of that.

“This is for her,” Christian Koloko said, pointing as he took the microphone briefly during the Wildcats’ on-court celebration Sunday evening at T-Mobile Arena.

In the interview room afterward, Koloko tried to express his emotions. He could not.

“This was the first time she’s seen me,” Koloko said. “It’s just … I don’t know what to say.”

Koloko had less trouble explaining how he’s gone from a 35% free-throw shooter as a freshman in 2019-20 to a 62.5% mark last season and to 77.8% so far this season.

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“My goal this year is to hit in the 80s,” Koloko said. “I just keep working on my free throws after practice and sometimes during practice when we have the time. I know we have guys who are going to pass me the ball. They’re gonna find me, so I gotta be ready to shoot free throws after being fouled and sent to the line.

Koloko also tends to give the ball back to his teammates ... by blocking others’ shots, an average of 4.0 times per game so far.

The first one Sunday was particularly dramatic. After Michigan jumped out to an early 6-2 lead, Koloko reached over and blocked a layup by none other than preseason all-American Hunter Dickinson. Dalen Terry picked up the rebound and lofted it to Bennedict Mathurin over the hoop, with Mathurin throwing in a dunk that gave the Wildcats their first lead of the game.

“I’ve told you guys forever how good I think ‘C-Lo’ is,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said. “I think he’s a problem for anybody. For a while the biggest thing was just making sure he believed it, but I think he believes it now. You’re seeing his effort and I see the way his teammates react to him, and it’s been a really awesome progression to watch.”

Between Koloko’s presence, the big athleticism on the wings with Mathurin and Terry, plus the feistiness of point guard Kerr Kriisa, the Wolverines never made a serious run to get back in the game after trailing by eight at halftime.

Together, they disabled Michigan’s usual below-average tempo, the sort of thing Lloyd had said before the season might be possible. The UA coach repeatedly said setting a fast pace gives a team a chance to dictate the terms of the game.

“Pace is the way we attack teams,” Lloyd said. “We attack teams, breakout pressure, get into our flow, and these guys were built for it. You can just see — you know, Dalen, he told me he was a point guard and now he’s really becoming one.

“Like that last ball-screen read he had, where he dug his heels in the ground, pass faked and then hit ‘C-Lo’ for the dunk. That was elite. Kerr has an understanding, and you see Benn’s growing in that area. It’s so much fun when you have multiple ball handlers and decision makers on the court. It makes it really hard to guard and a fun style to play in.”

Their Main Event success immediately moved Koloko and the Wildcats onto the national stage. They picked up a No. 17 ranking in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, while Koloko was named the Pac-12’s Player of the Week.

Still, Terry said a ranking wouldn’t change anything in the Wildcats’ approach, and Lloyd made it clear he hoped it wouldn’t.

“Arizona basketball earns everything it gets, and that’s the way we want it,” Lloyd said. “We don’t want anything given to us. We’re gonna go take what we’re gonna get and that’s the approach we’re gonna have.

“I’ve been ranked before a lot and I know the journey is about getting better week-by-week and we just played five games in a short time span. We’ve got a bunch of film to go through and a bunch of things to get better at and get ready for Saturday’s game (against Sacramento State).”