Seen and heard at McKale: Tucsonan Grant Weitman's Senior Day start, Pastner's return and some 'Showtime'

Since leading Salpointe Catholic High School to the state Class 4A title four seasons ago, Grant Weitman has become comfortable with less than a go-to role.

He knew that didn’t change Saturday, even while getting a Senior Day start against Oregon.

“I'm just thinking, `Don't do anything too special and kind of just play within the system,’ “ the Arizona senior said.

Except he almost immediately stood out anyway. On Oregon's first possession of the game, Weitman lunged to steal a pass on the perimeter, then passed to Keshad Johnson, who drew a foul while driving to the basket. Johnson hit 1 of 2 free throws to give UA an early 3-0 lead.

“I knew to go for it,” Weitman said. “It felt amazing to get that on the first play.”

Just getting on the floor for a start, Weitman said, was an honor. But UA coach Tommy Lloyd given all of his senior walkons the opportunity so far, doing so last year with forward Jordan Mains and guard Matt Lang, saying he treats them like any other players.

Weitman is the first walk-on Lloyd has had from Tucson, coming from an athletically minded family, with a grandfather who was one of former UA coach Lute Olson’s best friends. During his radio show earlier in the week, Lloyd spoke of the family’s ties to and support of the program … but also of Grant’s basketball ability.

“It wasn’t just a gift,” Lloyd said. “Grant’s a really good player.”

New idea?

Not in Weitman’s box score line: That he effectively pushed Kylan Boswell out of the starting lineup, and Boswell responded with 19 points in 14 first-half minutes off the bench.

“That was awesome,” Lloyd said. “I mean, if I had a crystal ball and I knew that would happen every time I would start Grant Weitman and bring Kylan off the bench…”

Senior walk

While each of UA’s five seniors marched down through the Zona Zoo student section before Saturday’s game, Lloyd addressed them directly via a pretaped tribute on the video board.

Then they met Lloyd in person at center court to accept their framed jerseys. Family accompanied each one, including the Kamate family of Spokane, Washington, that took in Ballo as a freshman from Mali.

Lloyd called Johnson an “amazing addition” and said of Love that it was “so much fun to be a part of your journey.” The coach also spoke of Pelle Larsson’s professionalism and attitude and told Ballo, “you have inspired me as a coach.”

Senior UA managers were also honored, including former UA wing Tautvilas Tubelis, who left the active roster this season after brother Azuolas entered the NBA Draft last season.

Back at ya

After the game, Lloyd brought the senior Wildcats out, handed the microphone to Weitman and asked the seniors to speak to the crowd, introducing each other along the way.

Weitman thanked fans, then handed the mic over to the player he called “Showtime (Keshad) Johnson,” who began by simply saying” Hello! Hellooo! Helloooo!” to get the crowd going further.

“A lot of people say I've got an outgoing personality but most of all we are genuine guys,” Johnson said when asked about his speech. “And the genuine love that we have for McKale I’ve seen right there with our speeches.”

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

Been a while

On top of his pregame preparation for Saturday’s ESPN broadcast, Josh Pastner was making the rounds before the game, chatting with familiar longtime faces at McKale.

As a 12-year player, staffer and assistant coach, Pastner was a regular at McKale before leaving in 2008 to join the Memphis coaching staff at the end of the Lute Olson era. He said he hadn’t been back at McKale since 2016, when the Wildcats’ 1997 national championship team was honored.

“It’s been great seeing everybody,” Pastner said.

Pastner worked the game with Phoenix-based play-by-play broadcaster Dave Pasch, who is a regular on ESPN telecasts of UA games. Pasch said he hadn’t worked with Pastner before but that the two had a phone call earlier this week to discuss preparation for it.

Wildcat reunion

After arriving in town Friday, Pastner spent extra time with one of those longtime McKale figures.

UA player relations director Jason Gardner was a highly-regarded freshman point guard who arrived to join the 1999-2000 Wildcats and soon found Pastner, then a senior walk-on known to be an aspiring coach, something of a mentor.

“He’s a great coach, great person,” Gardner said.

Gardner said he’s remained in touch with Pastner while both pursued coaching careers, and they hung out together over dinner on Friday in Tucson.

Since finishing his UA playing career, Pastner served several roles on Lute Olson’s UA staffs before becoming an assistant and head coach at Memphis and a head coach at Georgia Tech.

“Now he’s back for the last Pac-12 game here,” Gardner said before Saturday’s game. “How cool is that?”

Tough exit

Ducks center N’Faly Dante left Saturday’s game with another apparent knee injury with eight minutes left in the half, having collected 18 points and nine rebounds at that point.

Dante, a native of Mali who missed 14 games earlier this season with a knee injury, was averaging 14.8 points and 8.4 rebounds entering the game.

Quotable

“We didn't have any doubt …. so before the game (we knew) we were gonna have (to give a) speech and we were like, `OK, there's nothing better after a win than a speech.” — UA center Oumar Ballo, on if players had to give speeches if they had lost.

Photos: No. 6 Arizona wins 103-83 over Oregon, Pac-12 men's basketball