High-scoring Wildcats showing off depth, balance through four games

College basketball coaches are known to pull players off the floor immediately after any number of mistakes, such as an ill-advised shot, a missed defensive assignment or a failure to block out.

But Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd has come up with a different reason to do it: He yanks guys after they score too much.

Or at least it seemed that way Friday. In No. 3-ranked Arizona’s 100-68 win over Belmont late Friday night, Lloyd permanently subbed out guard Caleb Love and center Motiejus Krivas when each hit the 20-point mark, far surpassing the scoring median of Arizona’s unusually balanced rotation.

Asked about that trend after the game, Lloyd smiled.

“You’re giving me too much credit,” Lloyd said. “I didn’t even know what they had. It was just time to get on to the next guy.”

Besides, the way Arizona (4-0) has been scoring and sharing the ball, chances are pretty good the “next guy” is going to get his, too. In each of their four games so far, the Wildcats have had at least five players in double-figure scoring: Seven against Morgan State, five (out of just eight players) against Duke, six against Southern and five again on Friday against Belmont.

As a result, Arizona is averaging 99.3 points a game heading into Sunday's 4 p.m. game against UT Arlington at McKale, but not a single player had as many as 20 individually until Love and Krivas both did so on Friday.

For a coach who fretted in the offseason about building a bigger margin of error after a humbling first-round NCAA Tournament loss to Princeton, it’s the sort of depth and balance Lloyd appears to be seeking.

“We’re playing a lot of guys right now, and we have guys definitely capable of scoring 20,” Lloyd said. “I have no doubt in my mind about that. We have multiple guys who have scored 20 in games (in the past) so we'll see how that plays out over the over the course of the year.

“But I think our strength is going to be in numbers and depth. Hopefully our guys really buy into that and stay consistent with that over the course of the season.”

For Love, this is a particularly acute issue. Love was North Carolina’s leading scorer last season but took heat for shooting just 29% from 3-point range, a lightning rod of sorts for a team that turned from a preseason No. 1 pick into a failure to reach the NCAA Tournament.

Love not only scored 20 points or more 11 times last season but said goodbye to retiring Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski by scoring 28 points in UNC’s Final Four semifinal win over the Blue Devils in 2021-22.

But in three games before Friday this season, Love hadn’t scored more than 12 points and was shooting just 33.3% overall from the field, including 25% from 3-point range.

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If those sort of numbers brought anybody pause, Lloyd apparently wasn’t one of them.

“I told him I love the way this has started,” Lloyd said. “Because it hasn't come easy, and things that come easy aren't really worth it. Just because he transferred to Arizona and changed uniforms and coasts doesn't mean it's going to come easy.

“So I told him I was really proud of the effort he was playing with because I felt like he was establishing a standard of effort for himself that was higher than he had previously. I told him if you stay true to that, your moments are going to come. I don't know when they're going to be, but you're going to have you know these explosive type moments.”

One of those moments arrived Friday. Nine minutes of moments, to be exact. After Love made some key plays but otherwise struggled at Duke on Nov. 10, and after receiving Lloyd’s praise for his effort in a nine-point output against Southern on Nov. 13, Love poured in 15 points over the first nine minutes of Friday’s game.

After Love led Arizona to a 56-35 halftime lead, he made a notable shift to playmaker midway through the second half, when Arizona led Belmont mostly by 30 or more points. On one Belmont possession, Love stole the ball from Keishawn Davidson and then dished a behind-the-back pass to Johnson, who dunked with 9:28 left to give UA an 87-52 lead.

Love then dished an alley-oop pass to Johnson on UA’s next possession, and Johnson dunked it in for an 89-52 UA lead.

Asked afterward what his personal highlight was in the game, Love basically said all of them were.

“Um, it’s fun playing basketball,” Love said. “It’s what I love to do, what we all love to do. You gotta have fun with it. So when I can make those type of plays and show off my teammates and get them highlights as well, I'm all for it.”

Krivas’ 20-point effort was more of a surprise. But Lloyd said starting center Oumar Ballo went off to a slow start in part because he was banged up, allowing Krivas to soak up 18 minutes. The freshman 7-footer from Lithuania frustrated the smaller Bruins by shooting 8 for 10 from the field on a variety of hooks and other post moves while collecting nine rebounds and hitting all four free throws he took.

“It’s just his fourth Division I game so he's getting a little more experience and as you guys can see, he's a talented player,” Lloyd said Friday. “I feel really comfortable with him on the court and I'm glad to see our guys continue to get confidence in him in game moments, and for him to get confidence. I think he's gonna be a great player. What he did today once he got going really didn’t surprise me.”

Photos: No. 3 Arizona Wildcats blowout Belmont Bruins in Tucson 100-68