Before a big time matchup against BYU on Monday, Arizona men’s basketball took care of business against West Virginia with an 88-53 win.
Here is what head coach Tommy Lloyd, Koa Peat, and Tobe Awaka had
to say following the win over the Bearcats:
Lloyd on the ability to play inside and outside : “We walked into the gym this morning for a little walk through and saw these three point signs, and I think it reminded us that we needed to shoot some threes. I think a better marketing ploy for our team would be signs that said, paint twos and free throws, and that’s what I’m looking for next time. We’re a good shooting team, and Ross is a really good defensive coach, and they have a really sound system. We felt like some of those gaps were going to be a lot of tight help, and maybe we could get some throw-ins in there. Our guys got some and were able to knock some down. So, that’s great. It was great. Our guys did a great job of just kind of playing the game with concepts and there’s great fundamentals and great purpose today.”
On if Brayden Burries has hit his peak: “Like I said, I’m not putting any ceilings on any of these guys. Brayden, you see today, he had a good little balance in his step and a good rhythm to his game. I think he’s just getting a lot of confidence. He’s getting a lot of confidence, and Brayden, he has amazing instincts for a young basketball player. Now, I think he’s layering that with some experience, or maybe he’s understanding what’s coming before it’s happening a little bit more, and he’s able to kind of manipulate certain situations. He’s responding to situations in the game as opposed to reacting. So, that said, that’s a natural growth for a young player, and he’s kind of in his sweet spot. I’ve always felt that, you know, January would be a big month for him to make a big jump, and it looks to me like he is.”
On the initial thoughts during Burries recruitment: “A really good player. Probably the first time I saw him was in one of the section seven tournaments up in Glendale. You just saw a guard with good size. Is he a point guard? Is he a two? Those are great conversations to have. That means you have a really good player and we saw him early, and we identified him as somebody that we thought would be a great fit for us, and as we got to know him and his family it was the perfect combination.”
On Dell’Orso getting out of slump: “Delly is a tough kid, and he’s built for this. He’s built for this, his journey probably hasn’t been easy and I know it hasn’t been without adversity. So this is just another bump in the road that he’s had to deal with, but he’s fine. I think the thing he’s happiest about is our team continues to be successful while he’s been figuring it out. Like I’ve said before, my expectation is we’re going to get the rest out of Delly when it’s needed and that’s a great attribute to have as a competitor.”
On if this is the most selfless team he’s coached: “I don’t know, you know. I mean, I don’t need to compare one team to the next, because this team’s on its own great. You see guys start having an understanding of what we can do and how we can play together. I think the next step for us that I’ve been talking to our guys about is we have a great leader in JB and Tobe and we have high character, but I think our guys need to be a little more intentional just being a player led program down the stretch. Our staff has done the best job we could putting them in position and trying to help them develop and helping them through adversity teaching but now it’s time for them to own the execution, own the fundamentals, own effort, own energy. It’s always better to own than rent, right? I think we’re heading in that direction. They’re owning it, and they’re understanding we have lots of good players, so I don’t need to maybe be undisciplined and do something that’s too aggressive, that’s risky, because we don’t know what we could get two passes later, and I’m starting to see that come but that doesn’t mean that won’t be challenged on Monday. There’s bumps on the road, and hopefully you’re trending up, but we know there’s going to be some real challenges ahead.”
On his players being more responsible and owning it: “It’s not nothing negative. I just feel like when you’ve been together every day for basically six months, and they’ve been hearing my voice a lot and our staff did an incredible job. Our staff’s really developed over the course of this year. These younger coaches are starting to get a lot of experience and kind of come into their own, which has been really powerful, but now the players got to. They got to kind of harness that and own it, and they need to be the catalyst for the next step and that’s my hope.”
On the chemistry of the team: “It’s obviously very good. The chemistry is good. These guys, they get along on and off the court. I think they really respect each other as people and as players and I think they’re playing with a shared purpose. We talk a lot about purpose, vision, identity, values. When we’re kind of building our culture, we focus on those things. Then the biggest thing is you got to be authentic about it, because words don’t mean anything. It’s actions and commitment to those words that matter. Our guys have done an incredible job connecting and really coming together and having a shared belief system and how we want to be, what type of team we want to be.”
On the big men shooting threes: “I never say anything about that and I might tell them, we probably didn’t need that one there, things like that. I think as you get deeper in this season and you get the rhythm of these games, those are just opportunistic ones. It’s not like we’re coming out of a timeout saying, Mo, when you catch it on top they’re not going to guard you, let it rip. That’s Mo’s decision because I want the player to own that decision. If they own that decision, and then they’ve been working hard at it, hopefully they can reward themselves rather than having that decision come from me. Teams come into these games and really just pick their poison. Maybe they’re just saying, ‘Hey, we’re gonna knock off their bigs up top’ and they take a chance with that. So, you need to have the wherewithal to not let that bother you, but it’s okay if those guys knock down an occasional top of the key three.”
On the defense from his team: “Coming out into the second half, I just told our guys, you made that happen in the first half. That just didn’t happen. That wasn’t the crowd, that was you guys. Come out and recreate that again, and you got to make it happen. You make it happen with effort, energy, urgency, you know, all those. I thought our guys did a pretty good job. We didn’t come out and have a 20-0 run to start. It was steady, and West Virginia, it’s a high character team and got a really good coach. They responded a few times and we were able to kind of wear them out those last 10 minutes and make the margin of victory maybe look a little wider than it really was.”
On his initial thoughts on BYU: “They’re a great team. They got a really good coach. They have a really strong basketball culture at BYU. Obviously, they got a great environment, and they’re going to be excited to play. I’m sure they’re focused 100% on Utah today, just like we were focused on West Virginia. We’ll start our prep for the game tonight. We know we’re playing a really good basketball team, in a tough place to play, so we know it’s going to be an incredible challenge.”
On AJ Dybansta: “First off, he’s an incredible talent, and he’s a great young man. That’s the first thing you want to say about him. What I’ve always been impressed about with AJ is not only is he a supreme talent and when you guys watch the game, you’re going to he’s a few things in that game. You’re like, wow. Just the way he moves is different. He leaves space in the room for the other players to be their best version of themselves, too. A lot of times you get a young talent like him, and he’s so talented that he could kind of suck the air out of the room, because it all becomes about him and his talent. AJ, is not like that. So AJ, not only can be the most talented player on the floor, he can also let their other talented players play really well, and I’ve always been impressed with that.”
On coaching Dybantsa on Team USA: “I didn’t coach him any differently than anybody else. AJ, for basically a month was great. We just treated him like everybody else. I think that’s what he wants. All the things he had had nothing to do with me. They were 100% natural and authentic to who he was. Talent, not selfishness, not afraid of the moment. So, just a super impressive young man and basketball player.”
On what makes Dybantsa different from other freshmen: “He’s long, he’s got great length. The way he moves on the court and how much ground he can cover with his steps and his little hops and his length, his sweep throughs and all this stuff. He’s a great athlete. You’ll see. I don’t know if I have enough descriptions, but he moves differently and he moves like a really talented young basketball player, like really talented.”
On his team staying in control of itself: “We need to continue to understand we’re going to meet a lot of tough moments and tough environments, and we got to stay steady and be poised. I don’t think we can’t be afraid to make teams hit our fastball and be aggressive and still be in attack mode. We don’t need to be conservative. We’re protecting nothing because we’ve done nothing. We’re a program that’s more excited about what’s ahead than protecting what we’ve already accomplished. What lies ahead for us is BYU. We feel great about how we played against West Virginia today, but that will soon be in the rear view mirror.”
On possibly being 21-0 if Arizona beats BYU: “Inside our locker room, it’s just not where our focus is. I’m not trying to be that old grouchy coach, but that’s just the world we’re living in right now. Great job today. Let’s learn from it. On to the next one.”
Peat on if the 20-0 start means anything to the team: “We’re just taking it one game at a time, trying to win one game every week, however many games we have, just trying to take it one game at a time. I think we’ve been doing a good job at just getting ready for this game, getting prepared for West Virginia. So I think we gotta keep doing what we’re doing, and keep getting better.”
On the team’s defense: “Coach is always hard on us for playing defense, being in the stance, helping our brothers out when they get beat, simple stuff like that. I think we were good defensively tonight. Just keep getting better, get better at everything. Staying on our day ones, being locked in in practice and just coming out with the urgency to play defense.”
On the team’s chemistry: “I think everybody’s super close on the team, especially off the court, and that leads to on court success. So I think we all want what’s best for each other and we’re an unselfish group, and we all love each other.”
On his past experiences with Dybantsa: “Great kid, he’s a good, good friend of mine, really talented. I’ve been playing against those guys my whole life. Especially at the USA camp. So obviously, we know we’re going to meet again cause we’re top of the class.”
On his experience with Dybantsa on Team USA: “When you have a good team, everyone has to find their niche, especially when you’re playing for the USA basketball team. We have one goal and that’s to win. So I don’t think players really cared about their stats or anything.”
Awaka on Burries’ performance: “He played well, he played great. He did what he usually does. Tremendous scorer, uber talented. He shows it in practice so really just as expected today.”
On not looking ahead to BYU: “It’s important to take it one game at a time. Understanding that we have a target on our back. There’s a lot of media attention, there’s a lot of focus on us, so just knowing that every single team that’s coming is gonna give us the best shot.”
On the bigs being interchangeable: “We’re talented. I think we’re a group that looks out for each other a lot with the high level and all that kind of stuff. Then credit coach, he’s putting us in position to be successful, draw up plays and all that kind of stuff, where we sort of work off each other. So, it’s a pleasure to work with them.”
On the big men shooting threes: “Coach just lets us go out there and play. He tells us to let it rip with confidence. He tells it to all the players, not just the bigs.”
On going into an electric environment at BYU: “Honestly, it’s just about staying true to who we are. Honestly, kudos BYU. They’re a great team. They’re having a great season, but we just have to focus on what we do as a team. What’s gotten us this far, just to keep things on the things that coach has been harping on. Rebounding, defense, staying true to who we are, to our identity.”
On how to go about defending Dybantsa: “I think it’s just a matter of watching film, picking up his tendencies, seeing what he likes to do. Again, we’re just taking it game by game, not trying to jump ahead and look because we know that February can be a tough stretch. So again, just game by game, and we’ll key on each team as it comes.”
On being on the floor with Mo Krivas at the same time: “The high-low is a big thing, and then besides crashing the glass, I think he draws so much attention in the painting where it kind of makes it easier for me sometimes to go and chase the ball. He’s just a smart, high level player. So he’ll throw that dump down pass if I cut from the top of the key. I’s just really fun to play with Mo.”
