Wildcats put away Indiana and vocal Hoosiers fans en route to 89-75 win in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS – Once known as McKale North during Pac-12 Tournaments from 2013-16, the MGM Grand Garden instead morphed into something closer to Assembly Hall West on Saturday, with Indiana fans dominating in presence and decibel levels alike.

On the court, in what ultimately became Arizona’s 89-75 win over Indiana, things could have been even more intimidating for the Wildcats. Indiana has a veteran lineup anchored by one of the nation’s most-hyped players, center Trayce Jackson-Davis, and answered just about every Arizona run with a run of its own.

Or, as the 10th-ranked Wildcats pretty much put it, it was perfect.

“There is no panic,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said. “It’s fun. It’s fun being in those moments. So I like to tell our guys, `Just let it rip and let’s run our stuff, trust our offense and usually that will be the solution, in and of itself.”

So that’s what they did. The Wildcats again deployed what Indiana coach Mike Woodson called the “unique” and “dominant” inside duo of Azuolas Tubelis and Oumar Ballo, with Tubelis collecting 21 points and Ballo putting together his fourth double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Those big guys helped UA outscore Indiana 42-22 in the paint, and minimize the effectiveness of Jackson-Davis, who had just 11 points and five rebounds before fouling out in the final minute.

Then the Wildcats surrounded the bigs with 16 points from Pelle Larsson and a vintage delivery of personality and production from guard Kerr Kriisa. The Wildcats’ outspoken Estonian point guard added 14 points, three rebounds and seven assists while hitting 4 of 10 3-pointers -- and letting the vocal Hoosier fans know exactly how he felt about it.

Kriisa engineered fun when the Wildcats needed it most.

In a game of runs by both teams over both halves, Arizona took a 10-point lead into halftime before the trend continued in the second half. Kriisa gave UA a 55-42 lead shortly after halftime but the Hoosiers cut it all the way down to just 59-56 by the time Xavier Johnson pulled up for a 3-pointer with 13:26 left.

Then Kriisa came back again to lift the Wildcats. He made a free throw after a technical foul on Indiana’s Malik Reneau, then hit a 3-pointer a minute later to give UA a 72-60 lead.

Heading into a timeout after that segment, Krissa extended his tongue out toward Indiana fans to generate a hefty chorus of boos, then lapped them all up.

“I think we’re playing our best basketball when everybody’s having fun,” Kriisa said, when asked about that moment. “I think the past has shown us that when everybody is smiling and stuff, that’s a huge part of our program. When we were playing against Utah, we didn’t look like we really wanted to be there.”

So, having coached his 10th-ranked team to an 8-1 start only stained by their 81-66 loss at Utah, Lloyd did his part to make sure the fun kept going on. That is, he didn’t use all his timeouts again.

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“I’m a new head coach, so I’m still learning, too” Lloyd said. “But I don’t love calling timeouts all the time. I think if you call a timeout the first time a team makes a run on you, you’re sending a message to your team that maybe we’re scared or overmatched. I don’t like doing that. I love to see how our guys respond.”

They responded in both halves, actually leading the game for over 37 minutes despite the fact that Indiana kept cutting double-digit leads to just two or three possessions. Kriisa’s outburst in the second half was characteristic, claiming even Lloyd as a “victim” of sorts.

“Kerr hit a huge 3 during one of those runs right in front of me and I think he might have even looked back at me and said something,” Lloyd said, smiling. “I almost gave him a T for taunting me.”

Arizona wound up hitting 10 of 25 3-pointers, an even 40% mark after it made just 16.7% between their loss to Utah and a home win over California on Dec. 4.

Sophomore guard Adama Bal even pitched in a 3-for-3 effort from behind the line, also stopping Indiana runs in somewhat of the same manner that he cut down UCLA by hitting both 3s he took in the Pac-12 Tournament final last season across the Strip at T-Mobile Arena.

After a recent discussion between Lloyd and five young reserve players, the Wildcats also received five points and three rebounds from center Henri Veesaar and a few mistake-free minutes from freshman Kylan Boswell.

“I think today our young guys really showed their character and nobody really pissed their pants,” Kriisa said. “I don’t want to bring up names because everybody did a crazy job but those Adama 3s -- we needed each one of them really bad at the time. I’m just proud of Adama. I guess he likes Vegas.”

Bal was having fun, too. And, yes, a city where it’s hard for anybody to be undefeated, the Wildcats are now 6-0 under Lloyd. No matter who is on the floor, or in the stands.