Arizona Wildcats survive physical test, beat Lebanon 85-71 to finish exhibition swing at 3-0

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Already a veteran of senior-level FIBA ball with the Swedish national team, Arizona guard Pelle Larsson knew what could be ahead for the Wildcats on Saturday.

Before beating Lebanon 85-71 at Etihad Arena to finish their Middle East exhibition tour at 3-0, the Wildcats had coasted through two previous exhibition games. But those were against hastily assembled groups of local players who don’t normally play together and, in some cases, didn’t even know one another.

This was different. Carrying a No. 43 FIBA ranking into World Cup games next week, Lebanon featured a combination of age, size, physicality and chemistry the Wildcats had not seen before on the trip.

“I was excited for this game,” said Larsson, who led the Wildcats with 17 points, six rebounds and two assists.

Basically, as UA coach Tommy Lloyd said, the Wildcats were playing against “grown men” who have built a chemistry and knowledge for years, while this particular team also recently welcomed former Villanova standout big man Omari Spellman, too.

“They’re very physical, they’re strong, they’re veteran players and they’re organized,” Lloyd said. “They weren’t like a ‘select’ team. They were a team that’s been preparing and played multiple games and competes year round in the FIBA windows. They’re a good, well-coached team.”

So, even though the Wildcats were able to turn many of their usual tricks, scoring 15 fast-break points and scoring 29 points off 14 Lebanon turnovers, they ran into some issues.

Among them, giving Lebanon the same 18 trips to the free-throw line that they took while struggling at times with FIBA rules and interpretations, and allowing former Division III player Hayk Gyokchyan to break free and hit 4 of 7 3-pointers in the second half.

Overall, Arizona allowed Lebanon to hit 6 of 15 3-pointers after halftime.

“We gave them some open looks, and they’re pros,” Larsson said. “When you give pros open looks, they have a good chance of going in.”

Lebanon’s shooting allowed it to cut UA’s lead to just 76-67 entering the final two minutes, firing up the mostly pro-Lebanon crowd. Other than those in the Wildcats’ traveling party and former UA great Steve Kerr, who took a break from Team USA coaching duties to watch the game, Arizona had only a handful of supporters in the stands.

“Basketball is a game of runs and they had a great fan base out here,” UA forward Keshad Johnson said. “With that being the case, they’re going to have a run sooner or later. They were able to get a run at the end of the game and No. 24 (Gyokchyan), credit to him.”

But Johnson hit a 3-pointer with 1:49 left that put UA up 81-67, all but silencing the crowd as time ticked off toward the final buzzer.

While Larsson led the Wildcats with 17 points, six rebounds and two assists, Johnson finished with 14 points and seven rebounds. Of UA’s other double-digit scorers, Caleb Love added 13 and KJ Lewis had 12.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

Spellman, an Ohio native who played in Korea last season and earlier this year became a Lebanese citizen, led Lebanon with 11 points and five rebounds. Former Maine forward Sergio El Darwich added nine points and 10 rebounds.

Overall, Lebanon slowed down the Wildcats’ offense much more than Israel Select or UAE Select could. Arizona averaged 125.5 points in wins over Israel Select and UAE Select, but Saturday scored some 40 points less. It shot just 36.6% in the first half while allowing Lebanon to hit 8 of 17 from two-point range.

But Arizona figured it out, finishing at 43.2% shooting while making 3 of 10 3-pointers after halftime.

The Wildcats were able to play just enough of the kind of game they like.

“We were able to penetrate and then they had to help, so that was that’s what gave us the open 3s,” Larsson said. “It felt more open on the drives and especially our bigs, the way we run, they didn’t keep up. If we start running like that, the other teams don’t have as many bigs to keep up.”

The Wildcats finished at 3-0 on their Middle East exhibition trip, which they immediately left late Saturday night by driving to Dubai for a set of three flights home starting just after midnight.

Lebanon, which beat Egypt on Thursday and then lost to Mexico in exhibition games before facing the Wildcats, will move on to Indonesia for the FIBA World Cup starting Friday.

“It was an honor for us to play against them,” Lloyd said. “I’m sure the most important thing for them isn’t to beat Arizona. I think the other games mean a lot more to them. But we appreciate the opportunity. It was a good, hard-fought battle, and they made a little run there at the end.

“It was fun to play some situational basketball.”

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