Bracing for life without center Motiejus Krivas for the long haul, Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd is aiming to pull freshman Emmanuel Stephen out of a redshirt season and mix him into the rotation “at some point.”
He just has to decide when to throw Stephen into the fire.
Because there is a fire.
Not only are the Wildcats just 4-5 heading into their final two nonconference games, their usual offensive flow still broken, but their next opponent thrives by disrupting offenses with a fulltime pressure defense.
In other words, Samford looks to throw teams out of whack in the same way that UCLA does, only with an even more chaotic style. So not only could the Bulldogs stress-test the Wildcats’ offense, but they also might be a lot for Stephen to deal with in what could be his first college game.
As a result, Lloyd said he didn’t have a master plan for when Stephen would first check into a game.
“I’m trying to be mindful,” Lloyd said. “I know he’s eager. I know he’s got a lot of energy. But the last game (UCLA) and this game (Samford) aren’t necessarily warm-up games for a freshman.
Arizona center Emmanuel Stephen (34) dunks the ball during the exhibition game against Point Loma at McKale Center, Oct. 28, 2024.
“I mean, you’re playing against teams where there’s pressure defense, there’s substance to what they do. I want to make sure when he starts off, that he has maybe some good footing to get off to a good start.”
The Wildcats’ talented but raw freshman 7-footer, Stephen could work his way eventually into a key backup role in the post alongside starting center Tobe Awaka and power forwards Trey Townsend and Henri Veesaar.
Krivas was expected to be the Wildcats’ top low-post presence, a projected first-round pick whose return this season was thought to have eased UA’s loss of all-conference center Oumar Ballo, but he’s been limited by what appears to be a stress-related left foot injury since August.
Krivas played pretty much nonstop in the offseason, standing out for Lithuania in the FIBA U20 EuroBasket tournament last July, but said he felt pain in his ankle area after two weeks of workouts at Arizona after returning in late August.
Arizona center Motiejus Krivas sits on the sideline wearing a boot on his left foot before the start of the game against the UCLA Bruins at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Dec. 14, 2024.
Krivas was cleared to open the regular season and played in the Wildcats’ first game, starting on Nov. 22 against Duke but otherwise coming off the bench. Then, he experienced a setback before the Wildcats’ 57-54 loss to UCLA and did not play in that game.
At his weekly media gathering Tuesday, Lloyd said he had “no real update” on Krivas but acknowledged that the plan to return Stephen signaled Krivas could be out for a while. Lloyd said after UA’s loss to UCLA that missing the rest of the season was among the possibilities.
Asked if Krivas could be facing a stress-related injury that doesn’t have a defined timeline, instead requiring continual monitoring, Lloyd nodded.
“Yeah, could be,” Lloyd said. “Well said.”
So, while UA’s medical team monitors Krivas’ health, Lloyd is the one monitoring everyone else’s.
So far, that hasn’t looked good, either.
Citing a number of different issues, including both mental and physical toughness, Lloyd expounded on that point Tuesday.
“When you’re a team with a little bit of a fractured psyche, the belief probably isn’t where you’d want it to be and that’s what we’ve got to fight for,” Lloyd said, referring to Arizona’s loss to UCLA, when the Wildcats’ 13-point lead melted away.
“They took the ball from us 15 times. Those turnovers weren’t crazy passes. They just literally came and took the ball out of our hands. They’re ball hawks, I’ll give them credit, but we’ve got to be tougher than that.
UCLA forward Tyler Bilodeau (34) and guard Kobe Johnson (0) put high pressure on Arizona forward Henri Veesaar (13) at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Dec. 14, 2024.
“You can say the scheme, the concepts, whatever, but the dudes got to hold on to the ball. That’s their responsibility, they’re accountable for that and we didn’t do a great job of it.”
Among other things, the Wildcats’ offensive breakdowns resulted in shooting specialist Anthony Dell’Orso taking only one 3-pointer against the Bruins in 14 minutes. Lloyd said the Bruins made it hard to string together three passes in a row, which obviously can make it tough on a catch-and-shoot guy waiting at the end of that string.
But Dell’Orso said he still has to focus on making the right moves no matter what is going on and said he believed the Wildcats learned from their ineffectiveness against the Bruins.
“Turnovers was the big thing, that’s essentially how we lost,” Dell’Orso said. “But it’s not things that we can’t correct, not things that we can’t watch film and get better at. It’s not a problem. You address it, you make adjustments in practice and then you get ready.”
Coincidentally, Samford is arriving just when the Wildcats are trying to figure out how to hold on to the ball. The Bulldogs were the last nonconference game Arizona scheduled, and potentially their toughest of the one-time guarantee opponents this season.
“That’s hindsight,” Lloyd said of how the schedule turned out. “I can’t pull back after the UCLA game and say `No, we don’t want to play.’ But we’re good for it. We’ll own it. Bring it on.”
Also coincidentally, UA will precede the Samford game with a pregame ceremony in which former UA guard TJ McConnell, the gritty Sean Miller-era point guard who helped lead the Wildcats to Elite Eights in 2014 and 2015, will be inducted into UA’s Ring of Honor.
“You know, our team needs a little TJ McConnell right now,” Lloyd said. “They could use a little of his heart, his toughness, his grit, his will to win. We could use some of that. So maybe things are all coming together for a reason.”
