ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates β 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 donβt normally play together and, in some cases, didnβt 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.
βI was excited for this game,β 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 βgrown menβ who have built a chemistry and knowledge for years, while this particular team also recently welcomed former Villanova standout big man Omari Spellman, too.
βTheyβre very physical, theyβre strong, theyβre veteran players and theyβre organized,β Lloyd said. βThey werenβt like a βselectβ team. They were a team thatβs been preparing and played multiple games and competes year round in the FIBA windows. Theyβre a good, well-coached team.β
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.
βWe gave them some open looks, and theyβre pros,β Larsson said. βWhen you give pros open looks, they have a good chance of going in.β
Lebanonβs shooting allowed it to cut UAβs lead to just 76-67 entering the final two minutes, firing up the mostly pro-Lebanon crowd. Other than those in the Wildcatsβ 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.
βBasketball is a game of runs and they had a great fan base out here,β UA forward Keshad Johnson said. βWith that being the case, theyβre 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.β
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 UAβs other double-digit scorers, Caleb Love added 13 and KJ Lewis had 12.
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 Wildcatsβ 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.
βWe were able to penetrate and then they had to help, so that was thatβs what gave us the open 3s,β Larsson said. βIt felt more open on the drives and especially our bigs, the way we run, they didnβt keep up. If we start running like that, the other teams donβt have as many bigs to keep up.β
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.
βIt was an honor for us to play against them,β Lloyd said. βIβm sure the most important thing for them isnβt 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.
βIt was fun to play some situational basketball.β