Banged-up Arizona, ASU to meet at McKale today without the usual rest time

In a pre-COVID Pac-12 world, Azuolas Tubelis would have raised his sprained left ankle up on a restful evening at home Tuesday, not banging it around against UCLA’s Jaime Jaquez and Cody Riley in what was Arizona’s third game of a week-long road trip.

And his teammates probably would have been asleep in the early morning hours on Wednesday, enjoying a long week of preparation before facing ASU on Saturday.

Instead, all the No. 3-ranked Wildcats were packed inside a late-night charter flight that immediately followed their 75-59 loss at No. 7 UCLA on Tuesday.

“It was a tough game and a long road trip,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said Friday. “We got home at three in the morning (Wednesday) and, I mean, that’s getting home. I’m sure we didn’t go to bed at 3:01 either. So Wednesday was a tough day, just to kind of get your bearings back straight.”

Saturday could be a tough day, too, if Tubelis and the Wildcats didn’t recover well enough in time for an early 12:30 p.m. tipoff against the Sun Devils.

Speaking at a news conference before Friday’s practice, Lloyd said Tubelis hadn’t done anything except rehab work to that point and it was hard to tell what sort of shape he would be in against the Sun Devils.

“We’re just trying to get him better and play the long game a little bit more than the than the short-term game,” Lloyd said.

As for the rest of the Wildcats, they were trying to cram in some downtime, too. Guard Dalen Terry said he made sure to stay off his feet and try to “chill” all day Wednesday.

“I hadn’t slept on my bed for a week,” Terry said Friday. “I definitely took some time to myself to sleep and get some rest. But obviously I know we have a game (Saturday), so I still have to prepare for that, watch the film, working out, getting extra shots or whatever.”

Often, the Pac-12 schedule allows teams nearly a full week to rest and prepare before facing their geographic rival, a needed break in a schedule that otherwise has teams run around to play two teams each weekend, often in far-flung locations thanks to the conference’s vast geographic footprint.

“It’s different when you’re used to that two-game rhythm and then every fourth week you have one game (against the rival). You really get a chance to kind of hit reset,” Lloyd said. “I’m not seeing that reset window right now.”

Unless there are future COVID-19 pauses for Arizona or its opponents, Lloyd won’t see an open window the rest of the way, either.

Arizona will have to play only two games next week, but those two games will be against ranked teams at home (UCLA, No. 15 USC). Then the Wildcats will cram in a road game at ASU on Monday, Feb. 7 before taking the Washington State and Washington road trip. And they still have yet to make up a road game at USC, probably early in one of the weeks ahead.

If they played at USC the week of Feb. 14, that would be two three-game weeks in a row. If they play it the week of Feb. 21, it would precede the travel-and-elevation-fraught trip to Utah and Colorado. And if they play it the week of Feb. 28, that would mean a three-game week just before the Pac-12 Tournament.

Nothing is ideal.

“I don’t think I get a choice,” Lloyd said. “That’s how this thing’s played out. We’re going back to play ’SC at some point. Book it. There’s no choice, and fair is fair. I get it. It’s hard on all teams and it’s hard on these players. You’ve just got to deal with it.”

Maybe that’s the consolation for the Wildcats: Everyone else is doing it, too.

Because both UA and ASU had games postponed in Los Angeles over New Year’s weekend when the Bruins and Trojans ran into COVID issues, ASU also had play a make up a game this week, at USC on Monday.

And if the Sun Devils weren’t playing that game, starting forward Alonzo Gaffney wouldn’t have been elbowed in the face against the Trojans, according to ASU coach Bobby Hurley, and suffering a “cheekbone issue” that makes him questionable for Saturday.

“It’s not looking good at the moment,” Hurley said.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

At USC, the Sun Devils were down to just seven scholarship guys, thanks in part to a non-COVID illness that sidelined veteran forward Kimani Lawrence and suspensions to Hurley and guard Jay Heath for their roles in confronting an official at Stanford two days earlier. They also haven’t had standout forward Marcus Bagley available since mid-November, thanks to knee trouble.

So the Sun Devils have issues. The Wildcats have issues. But they’ll have to meet Saturday and, thanks again to the rearranged schedule, in another nine days.

“The way these schedules are stacking up, man, it’s gonna be hard,” Lloyd said. “I’m sure I’m not the only coach saying that but … it’s a lot this time of year.”

Tough-luck Devils

On top of all their personnel issues, the Sun Devils have also lost games to respectable teams by two (San Diego State) and one (San Francisco) while losing by three at Stanford despite having the Cardinal take 32 more free throws than they did.

“We lost a lot of close games, some crazy shots and bad circumstances, and we played a lot of tough teams,” Lawrence said. “I think we’ve gotten a lot better since the start of the season, and there’s still a lot of season left so we still have a chance to turn things around.”

Lloyd said ASU has been playing with great energy, having quick guards, athleticism all the way around and a “scrappy” defense that rates 74th in efficiency.

“The results might not be exactly what they wanted, but they won at Oregon earlier in the year, they won at Creighton and those are two hard places to win,” Lloyd said. “That shows you their potential.”

Australian 2023 guard visiting

Australian class of 2023 point guard Tyrese Proctor is taking an official visit to Arizona this weekend.

Proctor and his companions were seen midday Friday while taking a walking tour of Arizona facilities led by associate head coach Jack Murphy, and Proctor is expected to attend Saturday’s game.

Now playing at NBA Global Academy, a program in multiple countries that also produced UA’s Bennedict Mathurin and Oumar Ballo, Proctor is one of five players Arizona is known to have offered so far in the 2023 class.

Kylan Boswell, Mookie Cook, Matas Buzelis, and KJ Lewis are the others. Boswell visited Arizona in August and is also expected to visit again next month. Boswell told Zagsblog the entire UA staff is communicating with him and that “they’re proving everything they said about playing style and having success with it.”

Bal ‘on uptick’

Freshman guard Adama Bal has played at least briefly in each of UA’s past five games, including six minutes at Stanford and then 10 at Cal last weekend.

Bal has been considered a long-term project with a big upside, but Lloyd said lately that Bal has “been on an uptick” in practice.

“He struggled early at times, and now he’s kind of bouncing back and I think he’s a good player,” Lloyd said. “I wish I had opportunity to get him more opportunities. But right now we’re in a tough conference season and, to be honest with you, I want to protect him a little bit because I think he’s got a real chance to be something pretty special.

“It’s a little bit like keeping that talented pitcher in the Double-A for a little bit and making sure he’s major-league ready when he gets major-league minutes.”