On bench-tightening, Kriisa's turnaround and Arizona's patience with Terry in win at Illinois

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Playing only five minutes in the first half because he had two fouls, Dalen Terry wildly missed a 3-pointer from the left wing in the second half that could have pulled Arizona into a tie with Illinois with 11 minutes left Saturday.

At that point, he was shooting 1 for 4 from the field. Terry looked over at coach Tommy Lloyd with glaring disappointment and frustration in his eyes.

Lloyd motioned his hand outward, offered a few words of reassurance and kept Terry in the game.

In fact, Lloyd said he never thought of taking him out.

“No, no, no. Listen, I trust that kid. I love that kid,” Lloyd said after UA's 83-79 win over Illinois at State Farm Center. “I just told him `You don’t have to settle for that shot. It’s not your strength. So let’s play to your strengths. Let’s do what we’re most comfortable doing and get shots on our terms.’

“And hey, a good defensive team will knock you off your way a little bit and I thought we did a good job of settling in and responding.”

Lloyd credited Terry for helping the Wildcats defensively on a night when they struggled to contain Illinois' 3-pointers.

Terry played 11 minutes in the second half, and Lloyd said he helped somewhat calm down Illinois’ Trent Frazier, who took 10 shots in the first half while scoring 16 points – but took only five shots after halftime while scoring another 11 on 3 for 5 shooting.

“Having Dalen in there in the second half helped, with his energy out there, ” Lloyd said. “He kind of neutralized (Frazier) a little bit.”

While Bennedict Mathurin had 30 points to total 83 in his past three games, making him a candidate to pick up a second-straight Pac-12 Player of the Week award, it was also pretty obvious that the Wildcats don’t win Saturday's game without Kerr Kriisa.

The difference in Kriisa’s production after halftime was dramatic. UA’s point guard had only two points and two assists with two turnovers in the first half while shooting 1 for 6 from the field, but scored 17 points while hitting 3 of 4 3-pointers in the second half.

Kriisa said he initially didn't play pick-and-rolls well with Illinois center Kofi Cockburn staying low in the post, but that his struggles in the first half actually opened things up for him in the second.

“They were a little bit more passive on me because I think they didn't really think that I'm going to do anything,” Kriisa said. “Then I saw the chance and I tried to get us going.”

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While collectively helping make Cockburn work for his 13 points (on 5-for-15 shooting), UA forward Azuolas Tubelis had 16 points and eight rebounds while center Christian Koloko had only four points but seven rebounds.

“I thought Kerr was great. I thought Benn was special. I thought Azuolas was really good,” Lloyd said. “I thought C-Lo, even though he didn't have his best game, really impacted the game in stretches.

“And everybody off the bench was able to come in and contribute. We probably didn't sub as much as we usually do and maybe that didn't help us. I don't know, but in these games, you're literally trying to manage it possession by possession.

“We kept hanging in there. (In the second half) we were kind of able to answer everything and then made that little mini-run and get up like four or six. And you're like, how can we ride this out?”

Arizona went ahead 73-69 with five minutes left after Mathurin scored off a turnover and Kriisa drove in for a floater. The Wildcats only trailed once past that point, when Cockburn hit two free throws with 2:35 left. 

From there, Tubelis scored inside and Mathurin scored off Koloko's steal and an assist from Kriisa to give UA the 79-76 lead they never lost.

With Terry playing only 22 minutes and Kim Aiken missing a second straight game for unexplained reasons, the Wildcats went only eight deep. Off the bench, Pelle Larsson played 14 minutes, Justin Kier 12 and Oumar Ballo 11.

Asked if Aiken’s presence might have cut back on the Illini’s 44.4% 3-point shooting, Lloyd said:

“Potentially. Bodies would have helped. But we shortened that bench pretty tight and kind of withstood some foul issues.”

Although Illinois guard Alfonso Plummer hit 6 of 14 3-pointers and scored 25 points, he had five turnovers, none more critical when he was called for a five-second closely guarded violation, when Arizona led 79-76.

For Bennedict Mathurin, who was guarding the former Utah guard, and Lloyd, it was something of a gift.

“That was crazy. I mean, wow,” Lloyd said. “We’ll take it. We’ll take it for sure.”

Illinois coach Brad Underwood put the blame on himself, saying he didn’t explain the rule thoroughly enough to Plummer.

“He didn’t know the rule,” Underwood said. “I’m not gonna make an excuse. That’s on me. He said he never knew there was a closely guarded rule without the dribble. I’ve got to explain that. He’s been in a good spot and we ran a play for him. He was letting everybody get set and…it was an unfortunate incident.”