On guard: Will Kylan Boswell, others deliver Arizona the backcourt play seen by most NCAA Tourney success stories?

LOS ANGELES — On the rainy January day after the Arizona Wildcats suffered their most damaging loss of the season, at Oregon State, coach Tommy Lloyd gathered his four senior starters and asked them to look out more often for their sophomore point guard.

“In that Duke game there were stretches when he was the best player on the floor,” Lloyd said he told them, referring to Kylan Boswell’s play in UA’s 78-73 win over the then-No. 2 Blue Devils back on Nov. 10. “So we know what his ceiling is. Now we just have to help him. … Help him hit it.’ ”

That worked out pretty well for the Wildcats, who won 10 of their next 11 games to clinch the Pac-12 regular-season title by getting strong, mostly consistent performances from center Oumar Ballo, forward Keshad Johnson, wing Pelle Larsson and guard Caleb Love.

But this is the NCAA Tournament. The Sweet 16. Where reputation has it that you need excellent guard play to reach Final Fours and win national championships.

Boswell may be that guy. In Arizona’s 27 wins leading up to its Sweet 16 game with Clemson on Thursday, he’s averaging 11.3 points while hitting 44.1% of his 3-pointers and averaging 4.0 assists with better than a 2-1 assist-turnover ratio.

Boswell also may not be that guy. In Arizona’s eight losses, he’s averaging 4.8 points while shooting 20.9% from the field and just 15.2% from 3-point range while averaging 2.6 assists and a 1.61 assist-turnover ratio.

Of Arizona’s five starters, nobody is a bigger X-factor than the Wildcats’ point guard.

That could be a scary thought for an Arizona team trying to reach its first Final Four in 23 years this weekend in Los Angeles.

“Guards are really important in the tournament for sure but I also think they’re important all the time,” says college basketball analyst Matt Muehlebach, the former UA standout.

“Because here’s what happens especially in in big games: The ball’s in the guards hands and so they have to make decisions, especially with the shot clock coming down. So it’s important that not only they play well, but also that they make good decisions.”

But as the Wildcats showed in their Pac-12 tournament quarterfinal win over USC, and in their second-round NCAA Tournament win over Dayton, Boswell doesn’t have to do it alone.

Boswell had just two points in each of those games, while shooting a combined 2 for 19 from the field.

But freshman KJ Lewis had 15 points against USC, while Jaden Bradley had another 12. In UA’s 78-68 win over Dayton, Bradley had 12 points, four rebounds and two assists — without a single turnover against the Flyers’ pressure defense.

“It was awesome,” wing Pelle Larsson said of Bradley after that game. “He was getting a lot of those steals, 50-50 balls down the stretch. We kind of just trusted him with the ball living on an island with their small guards, which is not easy. But he got the job done in the second half.”

While mostly playing off the bench behind Boswell all season, Bradley said he and Boswell communicate about what the opponent is throwing at them. When they’re on the floor together, Bradley said, they can complement each other’s skillsets well.

“He’s a great ball handler, great shooter, moves well without the ball, and I feel like I get downhill good,” Bradley said. “I can finish up at the rim, and I like finding my teammates, so when I’m in there with him, we play well off each other.

In addition to Boswell, Bradley and Larsson, who is actually the Wildcats’ leader in assists per game as something of a “point forward,” Arizona has two other supporting actors in the backcourt: Shooting guards Caleb Love and Lewis.

Love has led the Wildcats in scoring with an average of 18.1 points a game, and he’s also third in assists per game (3.46) behind Larsson (3.71) and Boswell (3.68). Lewis, meanwhile, adds a power game on both ends of the court while adding another 1.94 assists per game.

Together, they have shown lately they can take the pressure off Boswell.

“It’s important for any team in the tournament the guards play well, but it’s not important that one guy has to do it,” Muehelbach said. “They’ve got four guys that can play the guard position, with Boswell, Love, Bradley, and KJ.It’s important that those four guys contribute. I don’t think every one of them has to have an 18-point night, but I think you’re going to have at least a couple of them play well, to advance.”

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Playing well, Muehlebach says, it isn’t just shooting well, either. It can be defense, rebounding, taking care of the ball, initiating the offense — things that don’t even get in the box score.

Though the players themselves can have a hard time separating scoring success from the other stuff.

“Most basketball players, when you don’t shoot well, it does affect you a little bit,” Muehlebach said. “We all like to shoot well and score points. It’s a huge measurement.”

Muehlebach said he was guilty of that thought process initially in what became the only triple-double in Pac-10/12 Tournament history: He had 10 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists against USC in the 1990 Pac-10 Tournament.

“I was 0 for 5 from 3 in the first half and I remember pouting somewhat on the way off the court,” Muehlebach said. “Then we get into halftime and coach (Lute) Olson was reading off the stats and I had seven rebounds. I was like `OK, stop worrying about your shot.’ “

Muehlebach was a 22-year-old senior when that happened.

Boswell, as Arizona fans have been endlessly told, is only 18, still a few weeks away from his 19th birthday.

That’s why Ballo defends Boswell through his struggles.

“Kylan is a young guard, 18, so he’s gonna have ups and downs,” Ballo said. “The most important thing is having the love and support of your teammates. We believe in Kylan 100%.”

The external support can vary. Boswell, no matter what his age, happens to be starting at what has traditionally been UA’s highest-profile position.

If the Wildcats don’t win and he struggles, Boswell is talked about.

“It’s hard because you media make it hard… when you’re always posting stuff about 18 years old kid,” Ballo said. “It’s not easy to read all this stuff. But he gets the love from us. That’s the most important thing.”

Boswell has a support system outside the program, too, saying he has two uncles on his mother’s side of the family that stay particularly close, while he speaks with his dad before every game.

Then, when he’s alone, Boswell uses his mind to help prepare.

“I like to like visualize the game night before,” Boswell said. “Before I go to sleep, I’m thinking about what’s gonna happen in the game, how I kind of want the game to go, how I can dictate it.

“Then prior to the game, I just close my eyes and see it again before I go on the court.”

If things don’t play out exactly like Boswell envisions it this weekend, his teammates will try to make it happen anyway.

“There’s not just one or two players,” Love said. “We got a whole squad that can go get theirs. … it’s tough to guard every single one of us, so if one of us don’t got it going, we’re gonna pick each other up.”

Photos: Arizona edges Dayton 78-68, NCAA Men's Tournament 2nd Round, Salt Lake City

Photos: (2) Arizona Wildcats dispatch (15) Long Beach State 85-65, NCAA West Region