Arizona basketball off to mideast with 'eyes open' on safety, Cats' international history

Located less than 50 miles north of the Arizona Wildcats’ Jerusalem hotel, the city of Jenin has flared up again with deadly Israeli-Palestinian conflicts this summer.

Not far to the north, there remains tension over the disputed border of Lebanon and Israel. To the south, in Gaza, thousands recently protested against Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls the territory.

And in Tel Aviv, where Arizona will play the first game of its Middle East exhibition tour on Monday, protests continue over a move to limit the power of Israel’s Supreme Court.

There will be tension all around the Wildcats.

But in 2017, the last time they took a foreign exhibition tour, they ventured into an area known for culture, architecture and good times — and came frighteningly close to a deadly attack.

Just four blocks away from the Wildcats’ hotel in Barcelona, a terrorist drove a van down the Ramblas, Barcelona’s famed boulevard, hopped a curb and weaved through throngs of pedestrians and cyclists. Thirteen people were killed and more than 130 injured.

The Wildcats could have been among them. They had just finished a tour of FC Barcelona facilities and were free to wander from their hotel at that point, increasing the possibility they could have been among those at risk.

Having players scattered all over town increased the tension for then-coach Sean Miller and his staff, who had to wait anxiously to find out if everyone in the team traveling party was OK. Since many players did not have international calling and data plans at the time, they could not all be easily reached.

“If they weren’t on Wi-Fi, there wasn’t a way to get a hold of them,” said Ryan Reynolds, then UA’s director of basketball operations. “You’re at the mercy of when everybody returned to the hotel.”

Clemson, Oregon State and Tulane — each also in the Barcelona area on exhibition trips — announced quickly that their traveling parties were safe. Arizona remained quiet.

Finally, the mother of UA guard Brandon Randolph later tweeted that everyone was accounted for, and the school followed up with its official declaration that its traveling party was safe.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

Upon returning to Tucson, Milller said a few players “experienced the flow of people running” from the scene of the attack, but that everyone was fine.

“It was very frightening,” Miller said. “When something like that happens, at first you worry about everybody. Hopefully you get through that first phase where everybody’s OK, and once you do, there’s so much going on that it’s almost as if you don’t completely recognize and realize what is happening.”

The Wildcats were scheduled to play their third exhibition game the following day, but canceled it.

“Yeah it’s time to go,” then-guard Allonzo Trier tweeted, adding that he was “praying for the world, we need so much help right now.”

However, the Wildcats weren’t able to change their flight planes home, so they stuck around Barcelona’s Hotel Majestic for the next 36 hours. Staffers had to make sure there was enough food while they waited, since many restaurants were closed in the wake of the attack.

It made for a grim and empty end to the Wildcats’ 10-day trip to Spain, a trip that included two wins and a number of sightseeing tours in Valencia and Barcelona.

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

“It was a fun trip,” Miller said. “It was a trip where I think our guys got a lot of value in their own lives being able to see a country they might not ever see, taking tours that people might look at being once in a lifetime experience.”

This time, third-year Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd says, the Wildcats are also in for a once-in-a-lifetime sort of experience. They are expected to visit many historic and cultural sites around Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and take a bob in the salty Dead Sea.

But they’re also taking measures. UA has been cautious about releasing specifically where it will be in Israel and the team’s 50-person traveling party will have security detail everywhere it goes in Israel. (Abu Dhabi, the Wildcats’ other tour stop, is annually considered one of the safest cities in the world.)

“Obviously you want to have your eyes open and I don’t think we’re going to be venturing to the parts of Israel that might have some of the issues with security,” Lloyd said. “So we’ll be safe. We’ll be well taken care of.”