Scouting Report: No. 2 Arizona Wildcats vs. Utah Utes

The Star's Bruce Pascoe breaks down the starting lineups, storylines and stats as the No. 2-ranked Arizona Wildcats travel to face Utah Thursday night.

What: No. 2 Arizona (24-2, 12-1) at Utah (11-16, 4-13)

Where: Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City

When: 9 p.m.

TV: FS1

Radio: 1290-AM

Social media: @TheWildcaster on Twitter / TheWildcaster on Facebook

PROBABLE STARTERS

ARIZONA

G Kerr Kriisa (6-3 sophomore)

G Dalen Terry (6-6 sophomore)

F Bennedict Mathurin (6-6 sophomore)

F Azuolas Tubelis (6-11 sophomore)

C Christian Koloko (7-0 junior)

UTAH

G Rollie Worster (6-4 sophomore)

G Marco Anthony (6-5 senior)

F Lazar Stefanovic (6-7 freshman

F Gabe Madsen (6-6 sophomore)

C Branden Carlson (7-0 junior)

HOW THEY MATCH UP

The last time: With guard Kerr Kriisa sitting out because of what UA coach Tommy Lloyd said was an unspecified injury he suffered while “horsing around” with teammates, the Wildcats fell behind by up to six points in the first half but ultimately beat Utah 82-64 on Jan. 15 at McKale Center. Azuolas Tubelis led the Wildcats with a career-high 32 points on 14 of 24 shooting.

The last time at the Huntsman Center: Utah shot 50.9% from the field overall, and 57.7% in the second half to hand Arizona what turned out to be the Wildcats’ worst loss of the 2020-21 season, 73-58 on Feb. 4, 2021 in Salt Lake City. Tubelis led Arizona with 17 points and seven rebounds while Kriisa was scoreless with two assists in 19 minutes during his college debut. The NCAA forced Kriisa to sit out the first 17 games of the Wildcats’ season because of arrangements that had been made for him to play for a Lithuanian club team. Pelle Larsson, then playing for Utah, had 14 points, four assists and four steals.

Series history: Arizona leads the alltime series 36-31 and is 15-3 against the Utes since Utah joined the Pac-12 in 2011-12 – but all three of those losses have been during the past four games at the Huntsman Center.

What’s new with the Utes: After losing 10 straight Pac-12 games starting on Dec. 30, the Utes have won three of their past five, including a road sweep of Stanford and California last weekend. It helped the Utes received center Branden Carlson back from the appendicitis that sidelined him for Arizona’s Jan. 15 win over Utah but Carlson is now questionable for Thursday because of an ankle injury. The Utes have moved veteran power forward Riley Battin out of the starting lineup and sometimes go small with the 6-5 Marco Anthony or the 6-7 Lazar Stefanovich at power forward. Battin plays either power forward or center off the bench, while 6-10 Lahat Thione has also been a spot starter inside.

Utah has been most dangerous outside. The Utes shoot a lot of 3-pointers, nearly 40% of their shots overall, and hit them at a 33.9% rate in Pac-12 games, which ranks third in the conference. They also make a league-leading 78.2% of their free throws but hit just 44.2% from two-point range in conference play.

Defensively, the Utes won’t lunge for steals (ranking last in Pac-12 games in steal percentage) while they hold league opponents to 34.8% from 3-point range and 51.1% from two (both ranking ninth).

He said it: “Their record is really not reflecting who they are. They had all these injuries and were trying to find the right personnel. I think the last couple of weeks they've been coming along. Obviously, they didn't have the toughest schedule, but when you when you look at their home games, they were winning against UCLA with four minutes left, they fought Oregon until the end. So it's always a team that when its playing at home, it's very comfortable.

“They're a solid group. Maybe they don't have the talent that some other teams have but they are very solid. They don't go outside of their box. They do what they're good at. And sometimes those teams are harder to play against because they won't beat themselves. They will make the right plays, they will move the ball.

"I think they found a comfort zone with Carlson being back. That’s a big deal for them. Anthony has been as good as any wing in the conference. He's a great offensive rebounder They have shooters with Madsen and Stefanovich, they have a guy like (Both) Gach from the bench who can light it up quickly against anyone. I think now they have probably better role definition than when we first played.

“We're gonna prepare like Carlson is playing. He's a hell of a player and he's been a difference maker for them, gives them length. They have still Thione who is stronger than he looks and he's a fighter on the glass, and Battin at the four or the five. They are better with Carlson but they've been without him a lot this year. So there they have enough to figure it out.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

“(On Jan. 15) we were without our starting point guard and that's a pretty that's a pretty big deal for any team. But I think we missed a lot of shots in the first half and we struggled defensively. I think we adjusted towards the end of the first half. But they're a good team. This is a team that can really control the rhythm at times and they're comfortable just playing basketball. They don't have to rely on many plays. Those are always dangerous teams.”

-- UA assistant coach Riccardo “Ricky” Fois, who scouted the Utes.

KEY PLAYERS

UTAH: Marco Anthony

One reason Arizona was able to easily come back from a slow start against Utah on Jan. 15 was how the Wildcats got to Anthony, the Utes’ vocal leader and veteran of teams at Utah State and Virginia. He had just seven points, two rebounds and no assists with four turnovers against UA but Anthony is averaging 12 points and 10 rebounds over his last four games.

ARIZONA: Azuolas Tubelis

In the game just before he suffered a high ankle sprain on Jan. 20 at Stanford, the Wildcats’ Lithuanian power forward had his most productive game of the season against Utah. Now, Tubelis is back to his old form, shooting 57.1% from two-point range in the month of February so far.

SIDELINES

They’ll shake

Although the handshake line incident between Michigan and Wisconsin last weekend brought up questions over the tradition should continue, both Utah coach Craig Smith and UA’s Tommy Lloyd said they want to continue the trend.

“I don't think it's hard to shake somebody's hand after you lose the game,” Lloyd said. “I don't think it's hard to practice a little bit of common courtesy and swallow maybe your anger or your pride a little bit. I don't think that's a big deal.”

Lloyd said he won’t ever get engaged over timeouts called by the other team toward the end of the game, which appeared to set of Michigan coach Juwon Howard.

For Smith, the handshake line is another way to get to know the other team, too.

“We're always like, `You win, great game. You lose, great game.’ Look them in the eye and go from there,” Smith said. “I think you can find out a lot about people when you when you go through a handshake line and see what their temperament is like. Do they look you in the eye and they give you a good handshake or they kind of give you the blow by?”

Time flies

When Smith watched video of Arizona’s Jan. 15 game with the Utes at McKale Center, he could notice how his guys were down by only seven at halftime and just one with 12:24 to go despite not having center Branden Carlson available because of appendicitis.

He might not have Carlson available Thursday either because of an ankle injury -- and also happened to note that UA came back and won that Jan. 15 game 82-64 despite not having point guard Kerr Kriisa.

“We did a lot of really good things that game but just not enough of them,” Smith said. “I mean, I think we held them to 14 points the first 14 minutes of the game (Utah led 19-14 with 8:26 left in the first half), and they still got 82. So that tells you how good they are and how explosive they are. But certainly it's a template.

“Of course we're dissecting that game along with all the other ones that they've played since since we played them. They're a different team though. It's just amazing. Sometimes you watch a team and they're the same team as they were a month ago. Some teams get worse, some teams get better.”

Talent over altitude

Facing his first Pac-12 road trip through Utah and Colorado, Tommy is taking a familiar approach toward high altitude.

“Don’t acknowledge it,” Lloyd said.

In previous seasons under then-UA coach Sean Miller, the Wildcats would make slight adjustments to their playing rotation, especially substituting more often at mile-high Colorado. But when asked if he expected to do so this weekend, Lloyd said:

“Just see how the game goes,” he said. “We’ve got pretty much a substitution pattern. And I've played it out a lot of times -- I think every guy that's ever started the game has finished the game. We haven't anybody go to the hospital. Nobody died. So just it's the same deal. Just go play the game.”

Lloyd said he took the same approach as a member of the Gonzaga staff while playing at BYU, while assistant coach Ricky Fois also did so in the NBA while on the Phoenix Suns’ staff the past two seasons for games at Salt Lake City and Denver.

“Maybe some of the rebounds and 3s are a little longer because of the air but that’s as much a difference that I can think of,” Fois said. “You know, when the Nuggets and the Jazz are good, people struggle against them in the altitude. When the Nuggets and the Jazz are bad, people beat them in the altitude. It's as simple as that.”

Numbers game

3.4 – Offensive rebounds Utah’s Marco Anthony averages in conference games, the most in the Pac-12.

78.2 – Percent of free throws Utah has been making in Pac-12 games, best in the conference.

7,409 – Fans Utah averages at Pac-12 games, third in the conference behind Arizona (13,957) and ASU (8,256).

40,000 – Dollars that Lloyd will earn in a bonus if the Wildcats win one more game to total 25 wins during the regular season (He’s already earned $20,000 for winning 20).