MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Saying he thought Carter Bryant and KJ Lewis threw snowballs at him Monday, Jaden Bradley considered firing one back before reality set in.
“My hands were too cold,” Bradley said.
Besides, snowstorms like the kind that welcomed Arizona into West Virginia, where the Wildcats will face the Mountaineers on Tuesday, never did signal playtime for Bradley.
Where he grew up, in Rochester, New York, snow is serious business. Morgantown received over three inches from Sunday evening into Monday morning, with much more expected before the Wildcats play the Mountaineers on Tuesday, but Rochester might get 10 or 20 inches in any one blast.
That’s not kid stuff.
“I’m not a big sled guy,” Bradley said. “Maybe a snowman here or there but, mostly, it was just shoveling it.”
Off the car, too. Bradley said his parents routinely asked him and his brother to “do that snow brush and get the car warm” before going out anywhere following a storm.
He doesn’t have to do any of that this week. Bradley and the Wildcats are staying in a cozy business hotel alongside the Monongahela River and a bus is trudging through the snow for workouts and eventually Tuesday’s game at the WVU Coliseum.
But Bradley will still have to work pretty hard anyway on the floor. As usual.
The Wildcats’ junior point guard averaged 38 minutes in each of UA’s first two Big 12 games and could likely see the same amount of time Tuesday against a team that already beat Arizona on Nov. 29.
He isn’t complaining.
“When you’re in the flow of a game as a competitor, I want to be out there all the time, trying to help my guys and help the team win,” Bradley said. “Whatever is needed of me, I’m wiling to do.”
In Arizona’s 72-67 win over Cincinnati on Saturday, Bradley was asked to score, handle the ball and defend at a high level for 37 minutes and 35 seconds. He responded by leading the Wildcats in scoring with 15 points, while shooting 5 of 9 from the field and drew five fouls that allowed him to hit 5 of 7 free throws.
Bradley did have a few issues that might hint at fatigue, missing both free throws he shot with seven minutes left and dribbling into a turnover on the wing with just under three minutes left.
“That was just part of the game, lack of focus and security with the ball,” Bradley said.
But at the same time, Bradley drove inside for a go-ahead layup with 39 seconds left and later hit two free throws to preserve the lead in what was ultimately a five-point Arizona win.
That balanced the equation pretty well, the way UA coach Tommy Lloyd looked at it.
“We could always go back and look at it and maybe there’s something different I will do next time,” Lloyd said. “But you know what he did? At the end, he didn’t come out (of the game). He made the game-winning layup and he made game-winning free throws. So, he wasn’t too tired.”
UA’s leading scorer, guard Caleb Love, also played 38 minutes in each of UA’s first two Big 12 games and leads the team in average minutes (31.1). Love played 36 minutes or more in four of UA’s five losses — all except a Nov. 15 game at Wisconsin in which he was in foul trouble — while Bradley played at least 33 minutes in UA’s five losses.
Both players had it even tougher in the Bahamas. In the Wildcats’ 83-76 loss to West Virginia on Nov. 29 in the Battle 4 Atlantis — their third game in three days — Bradley logged 38 minutes while Love played 40 minutes. But Bradley had 10 points with five assists and only one turnover, while Love had 24 points while shooting 9 of 20 from the field.
With the Wildcats now meeting West Virginia in a Big 12 game, Lloyd said he’s also learned to take advantage of the slightly longer timeouts some Big 12 games have — up to three full minutes, depending on the media partner carrying the game.
“Honestly, it’s like the NCAA Tournament,” Lloyd said, referring to the notably long postseason timeouts. “It matters.”
In addition, the Big 12 also does not often stack two games into three days as the Pac-12 routinely did. The Wildcats are playing every Saturday during Big 12 play but with no games on Thursday or Friday and only two on Mondays – meaning most games will have at least two full days between them.
Arizona guard Jaden Bradley (0) pushes up an off balance shot over an Old Dominion defender in the first half of their game, Tucson, Ariz., Nov. 9, 2024.
Maybe those two factors are enough to restore a breath or two.
“Actually, I didn’t notice that,” Bradley said, when asked about the slightly longer time outs. “That’s the first time I’m hearing that. Maybe that can be to our advantage.”
But if it’s not, Bradley will deal with that, too.
In the middle of the Wildcats’ first Big 12 road trip — their farthest and potentially snowiest of the season — he’s ready for more.
“I think every player within a game gets tired, but you can always dig a little deeper,” Bradley said. “It’s bigger than yourself.”
