After playing his freshman season in front of cardboard “fans” tied to empty seats, Bennedict Mathurin is still finding out that energy inside McKale Center is a two-way street.
He throws down four electric dunks in UA’s 94-65 win over Wyoming on Wednesday, including one that appeared to literally sweep celebrating teammates Justin Kier and Dalen Terry off their feet. And the crowd of about 12,000 responds wildly, the biggest and loudest it has been since fans were allowed back inside McKale this season.
That, of course, inspires Mathurin to provide more of the same, and pretty soon fans are standing up in anticipation whenever he gets the ball in the open court.
Everyone is having a good time. (Except the Cowboys, or whatever team is getting blown out at the moment).
“To be honest, this was way more fun, to play in front of the crowd and McKale Center in general,” Mathurin said after Wednesday’s game. “I just feel like it gives me like a boost, a bounce even more, and more excitement just to dunk the ball.”
It’s the kind of excitement and flash Mathurin was expected to bring this season, considering his improving play as his freshman season went on in 2020-21, his FIBA play for Canada’s U19 team last summer and his subsequent rise up the NBA Mock Drafts.
Mathurin now rates No. 9 in a HoopsHype’s consensus of major mock drafts and it’s easy to see how his combination of size, athleticism and shooting making him a valuable commodity in NBA scouts’ eyes.
But that’s not all UA coach Tommy Lloyd sees. Mathurin also had five assists and five offensive rebounds on Wednesday against Wyoming, after adding three offensive boards to his 29-point effort on Sunday at Oregon State.
He can down-shift, and improvise, from all that high-revving offense when needed.
“It’s how he slowed down and passed the ball today,” Lloyd said Wednesday. Against Sacramento State on Nov. 27, there were “three times he forced the ball in transition, and turned it over in the first half. And I told Benn, ‘It’s not against the rules for you to push the ball, but you’re so much better when you’re out in front and you’re on the receiving end of the play.’”
Against Wyoming, Mathurin committed a charge nearly eight minutes into the game but otherwise played with restraint when he needed to. As it turned out, as Lloyd noted the offensive foul was Mathurin’s only turnover of the game.
“He had some incredibly mature plays, and his offensive rebounding is a difference maker,” Lloyd said. “It makes him go from a from an average player who your teammates have to serve to now he’s serving the team and he’s making plays on broken plays. That’s really, really hard to play against.”
it’s the latest evolution for Mathurin, who may have had as big an adjustment to Lloyd’s system as any of the returning Wildcats. Where Mathurin became a focal point for Sean Miller’s more structured offense last season, and had plays run specifically for him, he’s had to read, react and improvise more often under Lloyd.
He scored only 34 total points over UA’s first three games, but collected a critical 25 points and 10 rebounds in the Wildcats’ overtime win over Wichita State, which led to the Wildcats’ Main Event championship win against Michigan. Then, after being limited to just six points against Sac State, Mathurin had 29 at Oregon State and 24 against Wyoming.
Lloyd has said Mathurin hadn’t played movement-based systems much before this season and he’s been making better decisions as this season has progressed.
Mathurin said it took some effort to get there.
“My play off the ball was one of my weaknesses,” Mathurin said. “I worked on it a lot in the summer. I’ll just play off the ball and get plays based off my teammates.”
Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd walks off the court with guard Bennedict Mathurin following Wednesday's win over Wyoming in McKale Center. Mathurin says it's "way more fun" to play in front of fans this season.
Not only is that the sort of thing Lloyd and the Wildcats may like to hear but they don’t really need to. They can just see it on their 8-0 start so far this season, sharing the ball, sharing the points, sharing the baskets.
“I just can say that I love this place,” forward Azuolas Tubelis said, sitting next to Mathurin on a postgame interview podium Wednesday. “Because how we move the ball now is just high-level basketball. We just need to keep playing with that pace and we’ll do other things in the future.”
For both Mathurin and Tubelis, who jumped to No. 42 in the HoopsHype consensus mock draft, that future also consists of high-level pro basketball. Maybe sooner rather than later.
But that’s looking ahead of things faster than Lloyd prefers. As it is on the court, there’s a slow road off the court that’s worth looking at, too.
“Sometimes people in the media or in this NBA mock draft world try to anoint these kids and move them along too fast,” Lloyd said. “Benn needs to develop at his own pace. He needs to stay locked and loaded on what he’s doing.
“And he’s getting great results. He’s actually developing into a real, real basketball player and that’s so much fun to watch.”
Rim shots
After beating Wyoming, Arizona moved from No. 3 to No. 1 in the NCAA’s daily NET rankings that were updated Thursday. The Cowboys had been rated No. 11 in the NCAA’s metric, which is based solely on this season’s results.
Lloyd said he didn’t know if reserve forward Kim Aiken would play at Illinois. Aiken was absent from McKale Center on Wednesday for what the UA said were personal reasons.
Guards Kerr Kriisa and Pelle Larsson both briefly left Wednesday’s game with ankle pain, and Lloyd said he was hoping they didn’t run into more soreness before Saturday. “You’re always worried the next day,” Lloyd said. “But Justin (Kokoskie, the UA’s athletic trainer) seems to have a magic touch with that stuff. So you tape it up and you play if you can and not cause further injury — and Justin’s great at that. So I’m trusting him.”
