No matter how easygoing Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd is, he’s apparently quite serious about this up-tempo business.
Moments after his Wildcats rattled off 79 possessions in their 96-50 blowout exhibition win over Eastern New Mexico on Monday, he aired a little concern.
“We got a little bit stagnant for stretches,” Lloyd said.
Stagnant? Though they were facing an overmatched Division II opponent, the Wildcats actually pushed the ball faster than all but a handful of college basketball teams did last season — and much faster than the UA did while averaging 70.6 possessions per game last season.
And the Wildcats’ 1.22 points-per-possession average against the Greyhounds of Portales, New Mexico, were also well above average, indicating a good efficiency despite all that speed.
But Lloyd also had a point. It could have been more efficient, and maybe faster.
For one thing, while the Wildcats hit 13 of 33 3-point shots, Lloyd said they could have found better shots elsewhere at times.
The Wildcats took 46% of their shots from beyond the arc and took only 17 free throws on their 79 possessions, one indication they didn’t aggressively drive inside that often.
“My biggest deal is we can’t settle,” Lloyd said. “I think you want guys comfortable and hunting good shots, but we can’t settle. There’s a context in shooting, which relates to time and score, fouls, things of that nature.
“Over the course of that game, we settled for a lot of 3s and individually I talked a little bit to the some of the guys and we’ll try to clean that up this week.”
Part of it, the way guard Justin Kier described it, was that the Greyhounds went under a lot of ball screens, baiting the Wildcats to take jump shots.
“So we shot a lot of 3s because we wanted to get our confidence going, and also getting the ball into our bigs,” Kier said. “That high-low worked pretty well, but we’ve got some areas to get better at that with the passes. But they gave us a different look that we usually don’t see. So that was good for us.”
Kier hit 4 of 6 3s, and Lloyd said he thought Kier played like a veteran, growing into the point guard duties he is being asked to share. While Kriisa was the starting point guard Monday — and sophomore Pelle Larsson is expected to be a major factor at both guard spots after his expected return for Tuesday’s season opener — Kier came off the bench to play both guard spots.
“I think there’s still room to grow but I love the pace that he was shooting with,” Lloyd said of Kier on Monday. “When you have that type of movement, and you’re forcing defenses to make decisions, you need guys that are ready to shoot and to make them pay and I thought all his shots were spot on today.”
Overall, Lloyd said he didn’t want to “take their confidence and spirit” away from his guys, trying instead to help them have a better framework for making the decision to shoot or not. Lloyd also said he mostly didn’t have a problem with the eight 3-pointers point guard Kerr Kriisa took, even though the Estonian sophomore made only one of them.
“Kerr is really a good shooter, and I felt comfortable with most all his shots tonight,” Lloyd said. “A 1-for-8 can turn into a 5-for-8 for him really easily, so I love when he’s hunting threes like that.
“Now, we’ve just got to get when he hunts the three that our guys can’t assume he’s gonna make them. We’ve got to get super aggressive on the glass and have his back there with how we offensive rebound on his 3-point attempts.”
Overall, Arizona did manage to collect 17 offensive rebounds off its 36 missed shots, scoring 19 second-chance points.
But the bigger players slowed down their efficiency in another way: By committing the vast majority of UA’s 16 turnovers. Starting center Christian Koloko and starting forward Azuolas Tubelis committed three apiece, while reserve center Oumar Ballo had four. Combo forward Kim Aiken added two more, also.
Eastern New Mexico couldn’t adequately capitalize on all those turnovers, scoring only 13 points off them, while UA scored 33 points on 22 Greyhound turnovers. But 16 turnovers might cost Arizona a lot more problems against the tougher competition it faces ahead.
“Our bigs turned the ball over too much,” Lloyd said. “In this offense, the bigs have to handle the ball a lot, and that can be concerning if they’re turning it over. So we’ve definitely got to work to get them lower. If you want to go back and look at those turnovers, it’s an illegal screen here and illegal screen, they’re forcing the ball into the post here and there, that type of stuff. We’ll definitely address that on film this week.”
Arizona center Christian Koloko celebrates making a 3-pointer during Monday’s exhibition win over Eastern New Mexico.
Koloko fires away
Left nearly alone on the 3-point line in the second half Monday, Koloko sank a 3-pointer, drawing wild cheers from the UA bench and crowd of about 9,000.
Koloko took just one 3-pointer in each of his first two seasons with the Wildcats, missing both, and things didn’t look so good from long range earlier this preseason.
“I remember him shooting one in a similar circumstance during an intrasquad scrimmage we had early in the year — and he air-balled,” Lloyd said, smiling. “I told him, ‘there goes your one chance.’ So good for him. He’s really worked hard and he’s changed his shot. We’re hoping that will translate.”
In the big picture, of course, Lloyd said he’s hoping the shot translates into better free-throw shooting, since the 7-footer will be taking far more of them.
Koloko shot just 35% from the stripe as a freshman and 62.5% last season.
Chandler may stay near home
Four-star guard Collin Chandler of Farmington, Utah, appears to be nearing a decision after finishing official visits that did not include Arizona (the Wildcats have not been recruiting him in recent weeks). Two predictions on the 247Sports.com Crystal Ball have him choosing Utah; rival BYU is also under consideration.
Chandler posted photos of his visit to Utah last weekend on Instagram, drawing more pro-BYU than pro-Utah comments.
Arizona is known to have offered Chandler and three other American high school players in the class of 2022: Gilbert Perry forward Dylan Anderson, who committed to the Wildcats in April; guard Shaedon Sharpe, who chose Kentucky; and guard Jaden Bradley, who chose Alabama. The fall signing period begins on Nov. 10.
Fans can now use the QR code to scan the menu, place an order and then pick up their items at a concessions window inside McKale Center.
Fan experience updated
UA athletic director Dave Heeke formally introduced new fan experience options at McKale Center in a media gathering Tuesday.
Basically, everything is mobile and ticketless — including parking, entry to McKale Center and, for those so inclined, even concessions. Fans can preorder food from their seats and pick it up at dedicated lines, or quickly grab drinks at one of two stations featuring scanning machines for payment and items.
“They’re all very common new practices throughout the country, whether you’re going to a theater or sporting events,” Heeke said. “This is really the common practice now and we’re excited to be at that end of the technology spectrum.”
Food options include expanded El Charro nachos, loaded fries (with pork, pico de gallo and jalapenos) and a meatless Beyond dog.
