Tommy Lloyd and the Wildcats have fired off quips, stories and praise about one another on the way to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and Sweet 16 appearance.
The topics range from "nods" to "rat poison," Holiday Inn Express, Fortnite and — of course — haters.
Here's a look at some of the best lines of the year.
“This is what I came down here to try to do. I didn’t have a timeline on it, but why not now?” — Lloyd on winning the Pac-12 regular-season title
“The best decision I’ve ever made in my life.” — Justin Kier on joining UA for his sixth and final college season
“He wants to be the best, and I think that’s why he’s going to be a great NBA player.” — Kier on teammate Bennedict Mathurin
“There were a lot of haters. Now they’re fans, I guess. Welcome to the fan club.” — Kerr Kriisa, after Arizona cracked the top 3 of the AP Poll
“As Nick Saban would say, rat poison. It’s rat poison. This team is sitting around, and everyone is telling them how good they are. They gotta understand what makes them good.” — Lloyd on Arizona being ranked third in the AP Poll
“College basketball is hella fun.” — Kriisa on how he’s adjusted from coming overseas
“They punched us, man … that was a gut-check win.” — Lloyd after Arizona battled back from down 16-3 at ASU to win 91-79
“First one to lose buys dinner.” — Lloyd on text message he got from Adia Barnes in December, when both teams were still undefeated
“It’s a great story now, but after it happened, we got to the hotel and I was like ‘Well, we’re here. Let’s find a way to win this game (vs. Illinois) tomorrow.” — Lloyd on the team Ubering from Indianapolis to Champaign, Illinois, after weather redirected UA’s flight.
“He makes me better. Just how to guard somebody who’s bigger and stronger than me.” — Christian Koloko, on practicing against Oumar Ballo
“I’m not a doctor, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.” — Lloyd on timetable for Pelle Larsson’s recovery from a preseason foot injury
“We’re not trying to move mountains on Twitter … we’re trying to win basketball games.” — Lloyd on why he doesn’t have social media
“We call him 'Mr. Do-Everything.'” — Mathurin after Dalen Terry had 12 rebounds against Washington State
“They didn’t really think I was going to do anything, then I saw the chance and tried to get us going.” — Kriisa on sparking a second-half comeback win vs. Illinois
“That’s a pretty brave thing to do in someone else’s gym.” — Lloyd on Wyoming’s game plan not to guard the 3-point line throughout the game
“It’s high-level basketball.” — Azuolas Tubelis on Arizona’s 8-0 start
“I think of a song in my head and he just, for no reason, starts to sing it. But of course, when he’s dealing with something, I can see if something’s wrong.” — Tautvilas Tubelis, on the connection with his twin brother Azuolas
“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.” — Koloko on postgame interaction with his mom, who was visiting from Cameroon
“Listen, Christian Koloko was freshman year; he’s ‘C-Lo’ now.” — Terry on the evolution of Koloko
“Being able to do that in front of my grandmother. She’s seen me want this so bad … she was there when I was a kid grinding in the street.” — Kier on winning the Pac-12 regular-season title with his grandma in attendance
“I ain't think I could jump that high.” — Terry after his rim-rocking dunk in the second half vs. UCLA in the Pac-12 Championship game
“When I came here, he really welcomed me with open arms ... We just have that bond at practice and off the court. We’re just really good friends.” — Ballo on his relationship with Koloko
“If I go through a slump, it’s not like I’m gonna panic and cry at home. Just take some extra shots, sleep more, play more Fortnite and get back on track.” — Kriisa on breaking out of his 3-point shooting slump after an 0-for-12 game vs. UCLA
“I think it would be fun if they gave me a hard time,” — Larsson on going back to face former team Utah in Salt Lake City
“I’m like, ‘I didn’t have you as being a guy that was faking an injury before he played Utah’. He gave me a dirty look.” — Lloyd, teasing Larsson for neck soreness
“If I would listen to everybody, I would probably be in a mental hospital.” — Kriisa on blocking out outside noise about his game
First-year coach Tommy Lloyd likes to quote Tom Petty and Holiday Inn Express commercials.
“I think you always have worries, right? “But as Tom Petty said, most things I worry about never happen anyhow.” — Lloyd, when asked if he was concerned the Wildcats might be looking behind or ahead of Cal
“We cut nets. Yeah. That's what we do." — Koloko on winning the Pac-12 Tournament
"I'm proud of this group … Going to the Sweet 16 is special." — Lloyd on advancing to the NCAA Tournament's third round
