Still shaky at the line, Oumar Ballo gets boost from McKale crowd in big game against Cal

Arizona center Oumar Ballo has made fewer than half of his free throws this season.

He’s aware of that, and he appears pretty certain that you are, too.

That much became clear Thursday during the No. 11 Wildcats’ 91-65 win over California. Instead of McKale Center hushing up every time Ballo went to the line, as home crowds typically do so as to maximize their players’ potential focus, the place erupted in cheers.

It could have been unnerving, especially for a player already fighting puzzling free-throw percentage drops each of the past two seasons. Ballo was a 56.5% free-throw shooter last season and hit 70.1% of his free throws as a sophomore in 2021-22.

But Ballo saw the meaning behind all that noise. So when he was asked afterward if it was a distraction, Ballo grinned somewhat sheepishly.

“No,” Ballo said. “Honestly, it was just the support because I know how people are here. They want me to make those free throw more than I even do. So it feels great to have people that support you no matter how low or how high you are. They’re always gonna stand up and cheer for you.”

Sometimes even more so when you’re down. Long known for rising up when the Wildcats are struggling to get back in or take control of a game, McKale fans actually cheered Ballo wildly after he missed the first of two free throws at one point in the second half.

Ballo made the second one, and of course, more cheers erupted.

Ballo grinned again when asked about that sequence.

“No, that didn’t feel weird,” Ballo said. “It was just good to see them cheering for me to make free throws.”

Ballo wound up hitting 6 of 11 from the line, still just 54.5% for the night but above his season average of 47.8%, and enough to help him hit a season-high 22 points for the game. Ballo also collected 13 rebounds, the third time in UA’s past six games that Ballo has recorded a double-double.

But if that kind of performance suggests Ballo is back on track to become the dominant sort of player he was early last season and in stretches since then, well, Ballo isn’t reading too much into that yet.

“I don’t know,” Ballo said. “Every game is different. And as I told you guys before, I don’t have to score 20 points a night for our team to win. If I have the chance to score 20 points, I will do it. But if I don’t have it, my brothers are gonna have my back and they’re gonna score. And the main focus is to win the game.”

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Maybe so, but UA coach Tommy Lloyd said when Ballo plays with the sort of effort and energy he did Thursday, the Wildcats “are a different team.”

Scoring nine of UA’s first 14 points to set the tone and collecting his double-double in just 22 minutes, Ballo helped the Wildcats outscore Cal 40-22 in the paint, draw 20 fouls and shoot 21 more free throws than the Bears. Cal shot 6 for 9 from the line and UA was 18 for 30, allowing the Wildcats to score 12 more points at the line despite shooting just 60%.

“That’s our game plan every night,” Lloyd said. “Whether we attack the paint on penetration, post-up, transition, we love to do that. We want to establish our advantages and our guys did a good job with that.”

Lloyd also credited wings Caleb Love and Pelle Larsson for “not trying to do too much,” with Larsson having missed all five shots he took but collecting six rebounds and three assists, while Love added seven points and four assists to 12 points. Then there was point guard Kylan Boswell, who missed all three 3-pointers he took but had five assists and drove to the basket aggressively.

“We love Kylan when he’s doing that and I think it’s an area he could continue to grow,” Lloyd said. “The decisions weren’t always perfect but as he gets the experience, they’ll get better.”

Ballo, meanwhile, proved especially difficult for the Bears to deal with by playing a “clean game,” Lloyd said. The key to doing that sort of thing, Lloyd said, was that Ballo played with better effort and energy.

“I mean, you put energy and effort with that force and that mass … that’s a problem” for opponents, he said.

The only problem for Arizona may be when all that mass and force has to come to a sudden halt at the line for a free throw.

But, at least during home games, Ballo has some help with that.

“It was great,” Lloyd said of fans cheering Ballo’s free throws. “Some teams have followers. We’ve got fans, and our fans are participating with our program. That’s what makes this place special.

“I know the university might be going through some tough times and some changes, but this place is an effing awesome place. It’s special.”

Rim shots

Five-star class of 2025 guard Brayden Burries of Southern California tweeted Friday that he will make his official visit to Arizona this weekend, indicating he’ll be on hand for UA’s game with Stanford on Sunday night. Rivals said he is expected to visit with UA signee Carter Bryant, whom Burries said last June has remained a close friend after they played club ball together from age 9-15.

Ballo was left off the top 10 list for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award, honoring the top center in college basketball. Utah’s Branden Carlson was the only Pac-12 player on the list, while Purdue’s Zach Edey is the leading candidate to win the award.