Aside from Ivan Kharchenkov's ankle, Arizona basketball had few worries in November

Among the factors behind Arizona’s perfect November, especially when compared with a year earlier, is that everyone has been always available to play.

Banged-up forward Tobe Awaka missed an exhibition game and freshman reserve forward Sidi Gueye had a preseason knee issue but, until starting wing Ivan Kharchenkov missed the second half of Arizona's 98-61 win over Norfolk State on Saturday with an injured ankle, none of the Wildcats' regular rotation players have been sidelined with injuries.

That’s contributed to the stability of a lineup and rotation UA coach Tommy Lloyd identified at the beginning of the Wildcats' 6-0 start, as opposed to the experimenting he was forced to do last season while center Motiejus Krivas struggled with a foot injury.

But while Krivas’ comeback hit another peak Saturday when he tied his career-high 20 points, the Wildcats had to sub in a new starter for the first time this season.

Anthony Dell’Orso popped into UA's second-half starting lineup, after Kharchenkov had left the floor and arena for good.

While driving to the basket late in the first half of Saturday's game, Kharchenkov collided with Norfolk State’s Adrean Newton, twisted forward and appeared to roll his left ankle while falling forward to the immediate right of the basket. Kharchenkov stayed crumpled on the floor for several minutes, stomping his right foot in apparent frustration, while UA athletic trainer Justin Kokoskie assisted him.

Eventually, Kharchenkov limped off the court with light assistance from Kokoskie but he did not return to the McKale floor for the rest of the game.

Afterward, UA coach Tommy Lloyd said he thought Kharchenkov rolled his ankle trying to split a gap in Norfolk State's defense and stepped on a foot. Lloyd said he wasn't sure if he was tested, but Kharchenkov's extended absence from the floor suggested he underwent an X-ray or other tests.

Kharchenkov will have a full week to recover before Arizona plays next, hosting Auburn on Dec. 6, though his status was unclear after Saturday's game.

"Obviously I'm hopeful he'll play next week, but we'll see," Lloyd said.

But even if Kharchenkov can’t, the Wildcats already have an experienced starter in Dell’Orso, who started two seasons at Campbell and most of last season at Arizona, before playing a key reserve role behind Kharchenkov this season.

Not only has Dell’Orso continued to hit over 40% from 3-point range as he did last season, but he carried a streak of 34 made free throws into Saturday’s game and made three more before he finally snapped it at 37 early in the second half.

For the game, Dell’Orso hit 7 of 9 free throws, taking a leading role in the parade of shooters the Wildcats sent to the line.

Thanks in part to a gimmicky Norfolk State defense intended to limit the UA's 3-point shooting, the Wildcats took advantage of the open terrain closer to the basket to score and draw fouls. They wound up scoring 30 more points at the line, going 32 of 46 while Norfolk State shot just nine free throws — and made only two of them.

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“There was a lot of space to operate inside because when you’re kind of face guarding three perimeter players that creates some huge gaps," Lloyd said. "It’s not a standard defense by any means. It makes you a little bit uncomfortable, and you have to figure it out. But we just got the ball inside, at the rim a lot of times, and it put a lot of pressure on them.”

It took about 15 minutes for UA to figure it out.

Having risen to No. 2 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll thanks to wins over Florida, UCLA and UConn earlier in November, the Wildcats missed five of their first six shots while Norfolk State took an 8-7 lead into the first media timeout.

The Spartans (4-5) took six leads in the first half, the last with 6:54 to go when Newton hit a jumper to give Norfolk State a 26-25 lead.

At that point, Norfolk State was shooting 47.6% and had made 4 of 6 3-pointers while UA shot 43.8% but missed both 3-pointers it took, one being the first 3-pointer center Krivas has tried in his college career.

"I didn't have on the basketball bingo card them coming out and playing a line-in-three defense," Lloyd said, referring to the Spartans’ defensive gimmick. "I mean, I've seen the diamond, the whatever, the box-and-one, the triangle-and-two, but they played a line-in-three. So it just took the guys a little bit to figure out what was going on."

Once they did, the Wildcat frontcourt took advantage. Krivas had 20 points and nine rebounds while hitting 6 of 9 free throws, Awaka had 13 points and five rebounds while making 3 of 5 from the line and Koa Peat had 16 points while going to the line nine times — though he made only four of his free throws.

“We knew they play scrappy defense, they play physical … they will come here to win,” Krivas said. “So we knew what's coming.”

Krivas’ 20 points wound up tying the mark he had in his fourth college game, against Belmont at McKale Center early in the 2023-24 season, and was his third double-figure scoring effort in seven games so far this season.

Against Florida, UCLA and UConn combined, Krivas averaged 8.3 points and a 10.0 rebounds a game, counting the 14 rebounds he pulled down at UConn.

“He's really impacted some of our bigger games,” Lloyd said. “I'm really happy with where he's at defensively and on the glass. Those are two areas we really wanted to establish with him. He's always been a good offensive player, so I've never really been panicked there. It's just a matter of him getting some opportunities — us finding him, him finishing shots, making free throws.”

Krivas said it took him a few games to get comfortable this season and, when asked how he felt Saturday, simply said "great."

Already the 7-foot Lithuanian has become comfortable enough that, for the first time in his college career Saturday, he even tried a 3-pointer.

The shot didn’t go in, but Lloyd indicated similar ones might before long.

“He’s really worked on a shooting and I told Mo, 'You just don’t get a lot of opportunities. It doesn't mean you can't shoot one,'" Lloyd said. “I think when you've worked on something really hard, like he has with his shooting, he needs to kind of double down on it right now and work on it some in practice. Maybe it doesn't show in games yet, but when it is game ready, let's really have it game ready."