Novembers to remember: Arizona basketball 18-0 in opening month in during Tommy Lloyd's 3 seasons

Never a fan of looking at the big picture during the season, Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd might not have had a choice this time.

Instead of taking their customary charter flight home after an away game, the Wildcats took a six-hour bus ride back from the Palm Springs area to Tucson after beating Michigan State 74-68 on Thursday afternoon.

That allowed him extra time to stare at the desert and, if he was so inclined, ponder questions like this one: Why are the Wildcats so good out of the gate under Lloyd, undefeated and surpassing expectations every November under him since he took over before the 2021-22 season?

When asked after Thursday’s game, Lloyd smiled and pivoted somewhat.

“Maybe by the time I get to Quartzsite on the drive back, I’ll have a better answer for you,” Lloyd said. “I’m happy for these guys. These guys love playing in big games. We’re a big-game program and we’re not going to shy away from any of these moments.”

That UA men’s basketball culture, and history, was how Lloyd somewhat answered the question. Attempting to bond his team — and possibly also trying to increase retention — Lloyd has held frequent education sessions to discuss UA games and history of years past, about Wildcats legends such as Lute Olson or Sean Elliott or Steve Kerr, whom they also met during their Middle East exhibition trip in August.

“We work on our culture every day,” Lloyd said after Thursday’s game. “We had a great day yesterday working on culture stuff that we kind of keep internal. These guys do an awesome job with an old fuddy-duddy like me preaching and talking about culture and different activities.

“I don’t know if they roll their eyes sometimes but they do a great job participating. I want them to know what it means to play at Arizona, so we spend a lot of time talking about the legacy that we’ve inherited and what the program means to our community.”

Of course, Lloyd is hoping all this rolls into postseason success, too. He has spoken about his efforts to increase the Wildcats’ margin for error so that success is sustainable, too.

Under Lloyd, the Wildcats are 2-2 in the NCAA Tournament, having won two Pac-12 Tournaments under Lloyd, and one regular-season title... while they’re unstoppable in November, 18-0 over three seasons.

Here’s a closer look at their Novembers to remember:

2021-22

Starters: G Kerr Kriisa, G Bennedict Mathurin, F Dalen Terry, F Azuolas Tubelis, C Christian Koloko

Key reserves: G Justin Kier, G Pelle Larsson, C Oumar Ballo

The construction: Lloyd inherited and re-recruited the Wildcats’ entire starting five from the Sean Miller era, then added key reserves Justin Kier (Georgia), Pelle Larsson (Utah) and Oumar Ballo (Gonzaga) from the transfer portal.

The warmup: Arizona averaged 94.0 points and won by an average of 38.3 points in the first three games of Lloyd’s career as a head coach, beating NAU 81-52, UTRGV 104-50 and North Dakota State 97-45, showing signs of adopting Lloyd’s more uptempo ways immediately though the level of competition still left questions.

The takeoff: In a Las Vegas multi-team event known as the “Main Event,” Arizona outlasted Wichita State in overtime and then upset then-No. 4 ranked Michigan in the championship game. The Wildcats shot 50% against the Wolverines, setting up 23 of 33 field goals with assists. The next day, Arizona shot into the AP Top 25 for the first time under Lloyd, debuting at No. 17.

The revelation: Koloko outplayed preseason all-American center Hunter Dickinson of Michigan, scoring 22 points with seven rebounds and four blocks to collect MVP honors. Koloko had improved in two previous seasons under Miller, but his production in Las Vegas put him firmly on NBA scouts’ radar, and he went on to become a high second-round pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.

Lloyd said it: “You guys know I’ve been pretty low-key since I got this job, and I’ve been trying to build this family from the inside out. I wasn’t going to beg fans to come to games. I wasn’t going to make proclamations that we’re going to do this or that.

“But in my heart, I know what success looks like. I know what good teams look like and I knew we could be good. We just had to hang with it and deal with a little bit of adversity.”

Postscript: Arizona finished the month by annihilating Sacramento State 105-59 and continued to surpass expectations all season. The Wildcats won the Pac-12 regular-season title by three games and captured the Pac-12 Tournament title to earn a No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed. The Wildcats then beat Wright State and TCU before losing to Houston in the Sweet 16.

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2022-23

Starters: G Kerr Kriisa, G Courtney Ramey, F Pelle Larsson, F Azuolas Tubelis, C Oumar Ballo.

Key reserves: G Kylan Boswell, F Cedric Henderson, F Henri Veesaar, C Oumar Ballo

The construction: With Mathurin, Terry and Kololo all off to the NBA Draft, Lloyd added grad transfers Courtney Ramey (Texas) and Cedric Henderson (Campbell) to immediately fill the big holes. He also added four freshmen, with 2023 commit Boswell agreeing to join the Wildcats a year early in part because he had broken his foot and opted to rehabilitate at UA before the season.

The warmup: In a near-repeat of the previous November, Arizona averaged 105.3 points and won by an average of 28.7 over its first three games, all at McKale Center. Only Southern posed a challenge, with Arizona ultimately beating the Jaguars 95-78 in its second game, while the Wildcats also dispatched Nicholls State 117-75 and Utah Tech 104-77. The Wildcats had been ranked No. 17 in the preseason because of their heavy losses, but moved into the Nov. 14 spot before heading to the Maui Invitational.

The takeoff: The Wildcats opened Maui play with a 101-93 win over Cincinnati, then beat San Diego State 87-70 in the semifinals– even though the Aztecs wound up making it all the way to the NCAA title game over four months later. Then, in the championship game, Arizona took a 39-30 halftime lead over Creighton and hung on in large part by pounding the ball into center Oumar Ballo, who took advantage of largely single coverage defense by making 14 of 17 field goals en route to a 30-point, 13-point effort.

The revelation: Somewhat like Koloko had a year earlier, Ballo outplayed a higher-rated big man (Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner) while picking up the MVP award of the multi-team event. In three Maui games, Ballo totaled 63 points, 32 rebounds and shot 79.4% from the floor.

Lloyd said it: “I learned that we’re good. We’re tough. We’re gritty. I think there’s going to be some great things for us to really double down on and some things to show our guys where we went the wrong way.

“That’s what you’re looking for in these things. You’re looking to reinforce good things, learn from the tough things. But we needed that. We needed to come here and get tested. We got tested every game.”

Postscript: The Wildcats appeared to suffer from a Maui hangover on Dec. 1, when they lost at Utah, but then ripped off an eight-game winning streak that included a game in Las Vegas with Indiana and another against Tennessee at McKale Center. Lloyd swapped Henderson for Larsson in the starting lineup at midseason and narrowed down his rotation but the Wildcats finished four games behind first-place UCLA in the Pac-12 race and, despite beating the Bruins in the Pac-12 championship game, lost as a No. 2 seed to No. 15-seeded Princeton in the first round of the NCAA Tournament five days later.

2023-24

Starters: G Kylan Boswell, G Caleb Love, F Pelle Larsson, F Keshad Johnson, C Oumar Ballo.

Key reserves: G Jaden Bradley, G KJ Lewis, C Motiejus Krivas

The construction: Lloyd turned to the portal to fill key rotation spots again, with Love coming over from North Carolina, Johnson from San Diego State and Bradley from Alabama. He also added four freshmen, with Krivas and Lewis playing key minutes immediately.

The warmup: Arizona played only one game before venturing to Duke, but it was the typical early season blowout, a 122-59 win over Morgan State on Nov. 6 at McKale Center. The Wildcats then played three more mid- or low-major teams after traveling to Duke, winning those games by an average of 38.3 points.

The takeoff: The Wildcats split up their big November victories this time. They first pulled off a 78-73 upset win at then-No. 2 Duke on Nov. 10, outrebounding the Blue Devils by 12 and having five players score in double figures. Then, on Thanksgiving Day in the Palm Springs area, Arizona raced to first-half leads of up to 15 points in the first half and held off No. 18 Michigan State in the second half.

The revelation: While Johnson has brought exactly the sort of energy, athleticism and fearlessness he was expected to, Love has worked his game into the Wildcats’ offense after leading North Carolina in scoring last season. Love is still the inefficient shooter he was last season overall, hitting 39.1% overall from the field and just 27.0% from 3-point range, but he leads the Wildcats in assists with 28 while coming up with multiple clutch plays at Duke and against MSU.

Lloyd said it: “This is what I know: When you play a blue-blood program that are used to winning, the game ain’t never over. You’re going to have to find a way to win that thing three or four times. You’re going to have a lead and the next thing you know, you’re going to be down. ... I don’t think we panicked at all, and I think we got a lot of great things to learn from.”

Postscript: The Wildcats will play only three games over the next three weeks, but the third game is a potential 1-vs-2 showdown against Purdue on Dec. 16 in Indianapolis. UA will also face Wisconsin (Dec. 9), No. 17 Alabama (Dec. 20) and No. 19 Florida Atlantic (Dec. 23) before taking a final go-round through the Pac-12.