SAN JOSE—There have been plenty of games this season when Arizona jumped out to a big lead early, only to see it get chipped away by the opponent. The win at BYU in January comes to mind, as does the Big 12 final when Houston turned a 15-point deficit into a 1-point game.
The Wildcats bucked that trend on Thursday, building a double-digit lead midway through the first half and maintaining it the final 36-plus minutes. And once they got up 20 in the second half they never saw that margin get below
16.
“Sometimes, when things are coming easy, offensively … sometimes you just have a flow and it’s going easy, a rhythm, it’s hard to stay in that rhythm for an extended period of time,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said after the 109-88 win over Arkansas. “Whatever, maybe you let your guard down a little bit or you say we’re playing great, maybe I’ll shoot this three instead of turn this one down and drive it. Our guys did a great job of just staying steady and making the game simple and trying to find our advantages every possession.”
Arizona advances to its first Elite Eight since 2015 where it will face Purdue on Saturday.
Our game recap can be found here. Below is what Lloyd, guard Jaden Bradley and forward Koa Peat said afterward:
Lloyd on playing an up-and-down game: “Felt like long stretches of that game we couldn’t get a stop. But it’s one of those games where sometimes you’ve just got to keep scoring, keep putting the pressure on them, keep putting the pressure on them. I thought our guys did a good job of that. I thought their talents were on full display, and their character and teamwork. I’m just really proud to be their coach.”
On the offensive efficiency: “When I was watching film, I thought we could have a lot of success offensively, whether it’s running our flow or transition or just pounding the paint. Our guys did a great job coming out, executing the game plan and hanging with it. I mean, obviously they were great offensively today, and the great thing about basketball and the tough thing about basketball is, unfortunately, that doesn’t automatically translate to Saturday. We’ve got to find a way to kind of recreate that rhythm we had tonight. We know that’s going to be a big-time challenge.”
On playing a different style than other teams: “Listen, I’m playing a brand of basketball that I think is effective for how our team’s built. What’s cool about coaching and cool about the game of basketball is there are so many different ways to play. I have no disrespect, I don’t look down on any style of play. We just play a style of basketball that’s really effective for how we’re built.
“Honestly, I don’t tell our guys not to shoot 3s. I didn’t come out and say, hey, today, let’s go single-digit 3s and we’ll feel good about that. No. I mean, we want to take the best shot available. And it’s a possession-by-possession deal. The beautiful thing about basketball, it’s a game of random events that you have to make constantly are making decisions. And that to me is like the most important thing you’re teaching is decision-making, and obviously some techniques that help make better decisions.
“So I would just say it was a possession-by-possession deal. I didn’t at one time today tell our guys don’t shoot 3s. When I look up there and I see the bonus, I’m like, okay, we could drive the basketball, you know what I mean? We can go inside and put that foul pressure on people. Arkansas is playing with a thin bench tonight. So obviously in a one-game scenario they have a thin bench. We wanted to test that, and one of the ways you can test that is constant foul pressure.”
On the senior leadership and helping the freshmen develop: “Jaden, Tobe, all those guys get credit. I’ll say about those freshmen, they haven’t come in acting like they know everything. They’ve been very, very coachable. And, like, my philosophy is really simple. I coach dudes where they’re at. If you need to work on your ball handling, work on your ball handling; if you need to work on passing, work on passing; work on jump stops, work on jump stops.
“I don’t have a predetermined notion of what they should be. I’m not afraid to challenge them to get better at the basics of the game. And you master the basics. I mean, you have the best chance to be a consistent basketball player. So that’s the philosophy. I’ll give those guys credit, because sometimes maybe it is hard for a young player to have a coach like me say, hey, you need to work on jump stopping. That doesn’t sound like fun, but it’s really effective.
“So we coach them where they’re at. These guys have been awesome taking the coaching, and our staff’s done an unbelievable job. Because, guys, I’m not down in the gym with them doing all those workouts outside of practice. Our staff has been unbelievable in their commitment to our players as player development and watching individual film with them. I’m really proud of our staff, and I’m really proud of the players for working together to be a cohesive unit, to get better.”
On making the first 5 shots after halftime: “You’re a paranoid coach, you never feel like you knock somebody out. There’s probably a reason, maybe I could have subbed earlier, but I’m sitting there thinking, like, okay … probably a little bit crazy because you just want to make sure your team’s played really well. You want to make sure you don’t do anything to disrupt that and you win the game at the end.
“We came out, we started good in the second half, which was really important. Obviously if you have a choice, let’s start good. You don’t get to push a button that says start good. The guys have to go out and do it. Sometimes they do, and sometimes you don’t. Whichever way it happens, there’s still a lot of game to be played. So you just have to get in the flow of the game, get in the rhythm of the game, kind of figure it out, whether it’s media timeout by media timeout, possession by possession, however you want to dissect that.”
On carrying momentum into the Elite Eight: “You let it go. You let it go. This game tonight’s not going to win us Saturday’s game. You go back and then you start the process over again. You start the basic process of what do we gotta do to beat Purdue, what are their strengths and what our strengths and what are our weaknesses what are their weaknesses, and you just try to figure it out possession by possession. You don’t have hubris. You understand how hard this. That’s exactly what we’re going to do. I’m happy we won. But I’m actually looking forward to getting back to the hotel. Hopefully my grandson’s up, give him a little hug, and then we’re going to get back to work.”
On Arizona’s emotional intelligence and not getting baited: “It’s gotten better. We’ve had a few flare-ups in games. Nothing crazy. We’ve had some issues with that in the past. It’s a fine line when you’re out there competing. These guys are high-level athletes. A lot of testosterone and a lot of emotions. And for whatever reason, people don’t want to look like they backed down. My message always to them is the objective for our team is to win the game. So sometimes you have to swallow your pride. You can’t just punch somebody in the face. It’s not how it works, not in real basketball.
“We have to understand we’re playing real basketball and the purpose is to try to win the game. So take a breath. Walk away from the incident. We don’t need anybody in the bench going over there. I don’t even like it when our guys go over to grab a guy, after there’s been a melee, because that’s the guy that always unintentionally puts his arm up and knocks a guy over and it turns into more. Just like we had a guy earlier this year try to pick Tobe up. You know what, I don’t think Tobe needs somebody to pick him up. I don’t think Tobe needs any support. I think he’s fine. So that’s been the message to our guys is, guys, let’s have a winning mentality, not a false bravado.
“We talked as a program about, we knew the game had potential to get like that. They had a game against Florida a few weeks back, there were a bunch of technical fouls swayed both ways. We’ve had a few instances this year where it’s been a bit of a melee, and we’ve participated in it as well.
“We want to play championship basketball. To play championship basketball, you’ve got to just stand up and walk away from the action. This isn’t the playground, you know what I mean? You can’t just throw down. That’s not how you win basketball games. These guys have high character and they’re winners, but they’re competitors, and it’s always a fine line for both teams.
“Coach Murph did a great job last night at a film session, talking to our guys that, hey, you know if this game goes how we hope it goes, it could get pretty chippy. We have to have a plan on how we’re going to respond to that chippiness. Give Murph credit and give these guys credit, they did a great job just keeping their minds and focusing on the task at hand, which is winning the ball game.”
On leaning into size over perimeter shooting: “I read this in a book. What was the best candy bar in 1946? (Snickers) What’s the best, the most popular candy bar today? (Snickers) Same as ever. I haven’t flinched. I’m playing the same exact style we learned at Gonzaga that I brought to Arizona. I’m doubling down on it. I’m not worried about trends. I never look at trends. I’m like what do I think is the most effective way for my team to play, and what are my strengths as a coach?
“You gotta play into that. Why would I try to reinvent myself as a coach when this has been pretty effective. Can I get better at it? Can we double down on our strength? What I do every day, I look at our strengths and, when I wake up in the morning, how am I going to honor our strengths? When I go to bed at night, how did I honor our strengths throughout the day? We’ll work on some weaknesses. But for me, I’m always doubling down on my strengths. That’s 100 percent how I think we can be most effective. Call me crazy.”
Bradley on the game getting chippy and Lloyd calling him over: “Yeah, he just told me just take care of the ball; at the end of the game, you’ve got to do a better job handling press breaks and traps. Down the line we’re going to see a lot of traps, and we’ve got to take care of the ball at the end of the game. That’s all he was talking about. Just gotta handle that a lot better.”
On breaking the press: “We had a lot of film sessions with Coach (Lloyd) and Coach Murph and everybody. It’s something that we need to work on. We had games where we didn’t handle it well, regular season and Big 12 play. So we’re really putting a big emphasis on getting open, and press breaks is something that we need down the line, so we’ve got to keep continuing to grow on that.”
On having an inside advantage: “We always talk about taking advantage of our big fellas down there. I feel we’ve got some of the best bigs in the country in the nation with Big Mo and Tobe. We really put a big emphasis on passing in the post and getting the ball in the post, kind of just taking a breath, kind of reset our offense. And Big Mo did a great job with double teaming and scoring, and Koa did a great job, and Tobe. They’re just a force down there. And it’s going to make it easier for the guards to get open shots as well.”
On having a lot of youth compared to Purdue: “We have a talented group of freshmen. They’re very poised. They control the tempo. Brayden, Koa, Ivan, Dwayne, if I’m missing a few, just everybody, very poised to get down in there. We’re talented. Purdue’s a great team, very poised, like you said, an older team. It’s going to be a battle, and we’re going to go scout, get ready and prepare.”
On having 6 players score 14 or more: “It’s always good when you share the wealth and you’re not worried about scoring and who gets to shine. I feel like this group of guys really don’t care. We just care about when it says 0-0 and that we’re winning at the end of the day. Off the court, we love each other. We’re supporting each other, whether it’s basketball and off-the-court stuff. Always playing games and doing stuff to build our culture. We really did a great job at the beginning of the season setting the foundation with culture, and it’s really showing and carrying on right now.”
On the fans: “Our fans, we’ve got the best fans in the nation. At times it felt like a home game. The fans getting rowdy, getting the energy up, and that’s always big, playing in environments like that, you get the home fans going. You get the energy, momentum from the crowd. So we really appreciate that. Ready for the next game and the support and thank you for that.”
Peat on keeping composure: “I mean, just playing basketball, at the end of the day. It’s basketball. You can’t really get into the other stuff that’s not related to basketball. So no, we just try to keep our composure and we’re big on keeping our composure and our poise in tough moments like that, when games get chippy.”
On the offensive efficiency: “This is the most fun I’ve had playing basketball, honestly. I love my teammates. Just seeing them be successful, it just makes me happy. Then they find me as well. So we went out there and played our Arizona brand of basketball. And I thought everything fell in place, and I thought the whole team played really good today and a lot of guys stepped up.
“The whole season. It’s the most fun I’ve been having in my life playing basketball. I’m happy to do it with these special teammates and special people off the court as well. And special coaches. I just love the whole Arizona program.”
On the inside scoring and why it works so well: “Just putting foul pressure on their bigs, getting in the paint and playing off too, trying to make the right read. If that’s score, score; if that’s pass, pass out to a good shooter. Just playing basketball, playing off each other, having great instincts.”
On thinking about Purdue before playing Arkansas: “I was locked in for this game. We always talk about taking it one game at a time, but we’re going to go back to the hotel and watch some film and prepare for Purdue. I know they’re traditionally always a really good team. I know they’ve got a lot of good seniors over there and veteran guys and they’ve got a really good coach. I’m excited for the challenge.”
