Michael Lev: Wildcats weren’t the only ones who brought their (Block) A game vs. Wisconsin

My ears are still ringing.

It was loud at McKale Center on Saturday afternoon. During the decisive first-half run that enabled Arizona to pull away from Wisconsin, it was deafening.

In their first game carrying the supposed burden of the No. 1 national ranking, the Wildcats showed up in a big way. They dispatched the 23rd-ranked Badgers as if they were some run-of-the-mill mid-major. The final score was 98-73. Over the final 28-plus minutes, it never felt close — because it never was.

The crowd showed up too. Not just in a filling-all-the-seats way. In a filling-the-arena-with-noise way.

The fans — 14,688 strong, including special courtside guest Steve Kerr — were enthused. They were engaged. They were energetic.

It was the type of atmosphere Tommy Lloyd expects every time the Wildcats step on the court at McKale.

“It’s awesome,” Lloyd said afterward. “It’s so much fun. And it’s so great for our team and so great for the community and university.

“That’s the standard we want. It’s not being greedy. It’s just when you have an opportunity to make something special — no matter if you’re a fan, a player, a corporate sponsor, whatever it is — make it special. That’s all I want.”

Those comments require some context.

After the Nov. 17 game against Belmont — a 9 p.m. tip on a Friday — Lloyd lamented that the fans weren’t showing up to games. The announced attendance said one thing; the empty seats said another.

He specifically called out season-ticket holders.

“I’m thankful for the ones that come,” Lloyd said that night. “But we had a lot that still aren’t coming, and I don’t know why. My message to the fans would be, we’re thankful for their season tickets, we’re thankful for their support. This isn’t a money grab, OK? This is an energy grab. We need more effort and energy out of some of our season-ticket holders.”

There was no lack of energy in the building Saturday. There was enough to light up Winterhaven.

But Lloyd is aware enough to know the difference between Wisconsin on a Saturday afternoon and Belmont on a (late) Friday night.

“You bring an opponent of Wisconsin’s stature into a nonconference game, your crowd is going to be excited,” Lloyd said. “Obviously, your crowd wishes you could play games like this every day. Maybe going into the Big 12 next year, we’ll play a lot of them.

“But scheduling is a little tricky. You gotta do the best job you can for your program. ... The crowd obviously made a significant impact today.”

This wasn’t Morgan State, Southern, Belmont, UT Arlington or Colgate.

This was Wisconsin. The Wisconsin of Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker and excruciating heartbreak.

The Badgers aren’t the most hated team in UA basketball lore. But they might be the team UA fans most wanted to beat.

What happened Saturday doesn’t avenge what went down in the 2014 and ’15 Elite Eights. But it sure felt good.

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On Wisconsin? Bye Wisconsin. See ya next November. Or maybe sooner. The NCAA Selection Committee’s dark sense of humor can’t be dismissed.

If Wisconsin had won this game, it would have felt like rubbing sharp cheddar into an old wound. Even the players, somewhat surprisingly, were well aware of the Wildcats’ painful history against the Badgers.

“This Wisconsin game was bigger than just us,” center Oumar Ballo said.

He referenced the extended UA basketball family. The current players represent their predecessors, Ballo explained. This win was for them.

“This one was for sure special because of the history,” said teammate Pelle Larsson, who had a career- and game-high 21 points on 6-for-6 shooting from the field. “Maybe it gave us a little extra juice.”

Wisconsin was the ideal opponent for Arizona to play after receiving the No. 1 ranking Monday. Asked earlier in the week how to carry that crown without crumbling beneath its weight, Lloyd said: “It’s not much more complicated than coming out and playing really hard, playing with great passion, playing together.”

Lining up against the Badgers pretty much assured that all of the above would happen.

That first-half run — a 20-2 surge that turned a 23-all tie into a 43-25 UA lead — was Arizona basketball at its pinnacle. The crowd loved every exhilarating minute of it.

The fans rose to their feet when Ballo passed out of a double-team to Jaden Bradley for a 3-pointer.

A Caleb Love triple off an assist from Keshad Johnson brought another standing ovation.

Love’s steal and fastbreak dunk over Max Klesmit produced an auditory explosion.

More dunks, more 3-pointers and more high-low action followed. The Wildcats fed off the crowd. The crowd fed off their baskets and blocks.

“We just kept our energy,” Larsson said. “I feel like when you play us, you gotta have your energy the whole game. As soon as you relax ... we’re gonna keep going. We just kept going, trusting what we do, and eventually we’re gonna get that run.”

It wasn’t quite as lively in the second half as it was in the first. Maybe fatigue had set in by that point. The Wildcats had given their fans so much to cheer about — and so much to look forward to.

A matchup against No. 4 Purdue looms. It’ll be a pro-Boilermaker crowd in Indianapolis. The Wildcats won’t have the energy boost next Saturday that they had this Saturday.

But one thing trumps a standing, stomping, screaming throng that has your back from the opening tip till the final buzzer.

Silencing a road crowd.

Arizona has done it once already, at then-No. 2 Duke. During an impeccable performance in front of their passionate devotees against a longtime nemesis, the Wildcats looked more than capable of doing it again.