Arizona en route to Israel; Tommy Lloyd eyes 'intentional' experience beyond basketball

Considering that Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd devoured a six-part CNN series about Jerusalem history that he calls “mind-blowing,” there’s a chance his Wildcats won’t absorb their upcoming Middle East exhibition tour with quite the same passion.

But, still, it’s Jerusalem, the starting point for UA’s trip through Israel and the United Arab Emirates that begins Wednesday. There, even a group of hyper-focused college basketball players are bound to stumble across some things that just might ring a bell.

“I think it'll be really cool when they are talking to their families back home about what they did today,” Lloyd said. “(It could be) `We went to the City of David. You know, David versus Goliath? That David. And really cool stuff like that.”

With a passion for international history and culture that he parlayed into a recruiting niche at Gonzaga and Arizona — the Wildcats now annually carry roughly half of their players from outside the United States — Lloyd said he’s hoping the trip will “light a fire” under his players to travel more.

He’s also made sure they will have to absorb much of it. The Wildcats are actually scheduled to arrive in Israel on Thursday, four days before their first game, so they can tour Jerusalem sites, experience some Jewish culture and bob in the Dead Sea, among other things.

They will also be taking a class during the trip, with an instructor who is joining the UA’s traveling party.

“It's gonna be awesome,” Lloyd said. “I’m fired up. We’re gonna be really intentional in how we try to drive it home with our guys and really make this an experience that's not only great for them individually, but great for our team and great for the culture that we try to build year in and year out here.”

It will be a different experience even for UA senior guard Pelle Larsson, who played in Tel Aviv with the Swedish national team last year but did little else while in the country.

This time, Larsson and the Wildcats will spend six days in Israel and only play one game, on Monday against a collection of Israel players. Then they will leave for a four-day stint in Abu Dhabi, where Kansas State is also taking a tour and where USA and other national teams are holding a basketball showcase in advance of the World Cup. The Wildcats are scheduled to play twice in Abu Dhabi, once possibly against Lebanon’s national team.

“We have the opportunity to see different cultures, so why not take advantage of it and just learn about the world and educate ourselves,” Larsson said. “It's gonna be fun.”

Lloyd is getting plenty of help to make it happen. He credited trip organizer Complete Sports Management, the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Athletes for Israel, an organization that is hosting the Wildcats for their Aug. 14 exhibition in Tel Aviv. (For any UA fans who can get to Hadar Yosef Arena that evening, admission will be free).

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

“They're doing some amazing things,” Lloyd said of the Athletes for Israel, “combating antisemitism, bringing celebrities or celebrity athletes (to events) and bringing college teams over to bring (light) to what's happening in their world and expose some of our players to it, which is awesome.”

Of course, there’s the actual basketball, too. After facing Israeli players on Aug. 14, they will play games on Aug. 17 and 18 in Abu Dhabi, where they are also scheduled to watch the USA Basketball exhibition game against Greece on Aug. 16 (the U.S. team's head coach is Arizona legend Steve Kerr, with Mark Few, Lloyd's old boss at Gonzaga, as an assistant coach). One of UA's Abu Dhabi games is expected to be against Lebanon's national team, though the other opponent has yet to be determined.

Warning media not to read too much into his playing time decisions, Lloyd said he expected to experiment greatly during the Wildcats’ three exhibition games.

“Everybody's gonna play,” Lloyd said. “I’ve literally been telling myself that I'm going to have a different starting lineup every half. This is about guys getting an experience. It's not necessarily about winning and losing games (though) obviously anytime we put an Arizona jersey on we want to be competitive.”

Exclusive coverage of UA hoops Mideast Tour — only in the Star and at Tucson.com/Pascoe

While Lloyd already began seeing his entire 2023-23 team during the 10 practices the NCAA allows teams to prepare for foreign tours, the circumstances will be different in the Middle East.

“I just want to see how our guys react to a little bit of adversity,” Lloyd said. “Traveling is not easy and going halfway across the world with a group of 50 people, there's going to be some adversity. There's going to be heat, humidity, different foods, jetlag.

"I just like to see how everybody responds to that. Do we rally around each other and help each other through it? Or do we use it as a built in excuse?”

But no matter how it all plays out on the court or off it,  one thing looks pretty sure: Nobody will ever forget it.

“I'm so excited for our players,” Lloyd said. “We're literally are trying to give them an idea, but I don't think they really have an idea. I think it's going to be an experience that will stick with them for the rest of their lives.”