After tough losses to Wisconsin and Duke, Arizona was looking to bounce back on its trip to the Bahamas.
The Wildcats played three games in three days and only came away with one win. For the first time under head coach Tommy Lloyd, Arizona has a losing record.
Here are five takeaways from the rough trip to the Bahamas.
1. Outrebounded
Under Lloyd, Arizona has been a top rebounding team in the nation. Last season, Arizona finished second in the nation in rebounds per game.
The Wildcats did outrebound Davidson in the first game. However, Oklahoma out rebounded Arizona 38-34 and so did West Virginia 40-39.
“I just felt like on the glass, I thought they were more physical on the glass,” Lloyd said after the Oklahoma loss. “We didn’t do a great job blocking them out, and that’s disappointing.”
In three out of the last four games, the Wildcats have been outrebounded. Arizona lost each of those games.
“We’re a great rebounding team, but to be a great rebounding team, you got to do it night in and night out,” Lloyd said.
2. Offensive struggles (Part 2)
Going along with being outrebounded, Arizona has struggled from the field offensively. In the two losses, Arizona shot 45% and 43%.
At times, the offense looks stagnant. Looking for a pick and roll almost every possession, and when it is not there, having to completely reset.
There are also many moments where players are just standing waiting for the pass. Very little off the ball movement usually leads to poor spacing and forcing tough shots.
“Our offense took a while to get going tonight, which has kind of been a trend in some of these tougher games, and we got to figure that out,” Lloyd said after the Oklahoma loss.
It is well known that Lloyd’s teams like to live on the inside, but it doesn’t help when the defense can collapse on the inside due to the inability to shoot from three.
Arizona shot 26% and 33% from three. The Wildcats have fallen behind early in their losses, and being unable to make threes does not do them any favors.
3. Defending the three
Arizona could not hit threes, but it sure seems like its opponents could.
Even though both Oklahoma and West Virginia shot worse from three than Arizona, overall they made more threes.
“They put us in some tough situations with coverages, and they hit some big shots,” Lloyd said on three point defense. “Maybe some of those threes are shots you’re going to kind of live with the attempt if they make them.”
If Arizona wants to get back to .500 and above, it is going to need to do a better job of defending their opponents from behind the arch.
West Virginia guard Tucker DeVries was able to shoot 8 of 16 from three. His shooting was also a big reason the Mountaineers were able to stick with Arizona.
4. Not taking care of the ball
Against Oklahoma and West Virginia, the Wildcats turned the ball over 10 and 14 times. This allowed both teams to steal possessions and earn easy points.
West Virginia was able to score 24 points off of the 14 turnovers. When there were moments Arizona could’ve pulled away, those turnovers kept the Mountaineers in it.
“They’re live ball turnovers and they got out in transition and were able to take advantage of that,” Lloyd said. “We just didn’t do a good job of protecting the ball.”
Even in the Davidson win, Arizona had more turnovers. Overall, the Wildcats allowed 50 points off of their turnovers during the tournament.
5. Lack of discipline
This takeaway has already been addressed by Lloyd. After KJ Lewis’ second technical of the season, Lloyd turned to Carter Bryant to start against West Virginia.
“Again, it’s so disappointing,” Lloyd said on Lewis’ technical against Oklahoma. “KJ has got to be better. He’s got to be better. Now, I love him. I’m going to hang with him. He’s an emotional guy, but you just don’t do that to your team.”
It’s not only Lewis struggling to keep his emotions, Caleb Love has also earned a technical foul this season.
With guards getting technicals, it does not help that Tobe Awaka has struggled to stay in games. He committed four fouls in two of the three games last week.
Clearly, being undisciplined in these types of game situations is not something that Arizona wants to continue moving forward.
“This is not the product that we want to be putting on the court right now,” Lloyd said. “I think we got the right guys, I know we got the right guys, now we need to make it happen.”