While Arizona men's basketball forward Henri Veesaar is expected to be out at least into the early portion of the regular season with an elbow injury, the Wildcats could get senior guard Pelle Larsson back in time for their regular-season opener Monday against Morgan State.
Larsson sat out both exhibition games with an unspecified injury to his right ankle, with Lloyd saying he wasn’t quite ready to play this past Monday.
“Pelle is still working his way back into practice,” Lloyd said. “Hopefully we’ll figure that out here in the next couple of days.”
Meanwhile, Lloyd said the Wildcats had started working centers Oumar Ballo and Motiejus Krivas (both out with unspecified injuries) back into practices in recent days. After missing UA’s Oct. 20 exhibition against Lewis-Clark State, Ballo responded with seven points and five rebounds in 16 minutes on Monday, while Krivas had seven points and three rebounds in 14 minutes.
“It’s a fine line making sure guys are not sitting out too much and at the same point you’re getting them ready (for)when the lights are on and the games matter,” Lloyd said of the decisions he and athletic trainer Justin Kokoskie have been making. “I’m excited to get those two guys at full force because I think they’re a dynamic duo and a great one-two punch.”
Arizona Wildcats forward Paulius Murauskas (23) looks to make a pass as New Mexico Highland defenders close in during second half of the teams’ exhibition matchup Monday at McKale Center.
Slippery hands
Though Arizona set up 28 of its 34 field goals on Monday with assists, going well beyond the 64.7% assist-to-field-goal ratio that ranked it fifth nationally last season, the Wildcats may have taken things too far against the Cowboys.
They coughed up 24 turnovers, with their relatively quick Division II opponents snapping up 18 steals.
“We pride ourselves in being a team that shares the ball and plays the right way,” Lloyd said after the game. “I thought we actually played selfish in stretches today and maybe a little bit careless combined with that. I mean, turning the ball over that much … New Mexico Highlands is gonna be a really good team in their conference, but we shouldn’t be doing that.”
Three Wildcats had four turnovers each — guards Caleb Love, Jaden Bradley and Kylan Boswell — though Love led the Wildcats with 19 points, four rebounds and three assists. Freshman guard KJ Lewis led the Wildcats in assists with five but had three turnovers.
“You have times when you can be too unselfish, where guys have open shots that we should be taking,” Lewis said. “Coach Lloyd has no problem with us taking them. We just gotta breathe a little bit more, slow down and read what the defense is giving us.”
No secret scrimmage
For as tough as Arizona's regular-season nonconference schedule is, the Wildcats gave themselves no chance of playing tougher competition this preseason.
Teams are allowed to hold either two public exhibition games against non-Division I teams, or an exhibition against a non-Division I team and a closed scrimmage against a Division I team. In each of Lloyd’s first two seasons, the Wildcats played one exhibition and played Saint Mary’s in a closed scrimmage.
But UA’s decision to play neutral site games with Michigan State, Purdue, Alabama and Florida Atlantic this season meant the Wildcats had to hold two exhibitions at McKale Center in order to satisfy the 18-game minimum the school imposes on itself for season ticket packages and financial planning.
The Wildcats wound up with two blowout exhibition wins, 111-70 over Lewis-Clark State and 94-65 over New Mexico Highlands.
“I’ve got a responsibility to help the athletic department generate some revenue and obviously, home games are pretty well attended here,” Lloyd said. “The way our schedule broke this year, I kind of had to play two exhibitions. I love scrimmaging a team like Saint Mary’s, but it just wasn’t in the cards this year, unfortunately.”
While the exhibitions are included in the UA’s season ticket packages, about 9,000 fans appeared to show up Monday against New Mexico Highlands and about 11,000 on Oct. 20 against Lewis-Clark State. UA announced crowds of 11,439 on Monday and 12,929 on Oct. 20.
Arizona Basketball Press Conference, Tommy Lloyd, Oct. 30, 2023 after exhibition win over New Mexico Highlands (Arizona Athletics YouTube)
