During the 2023-24 season, Arizona used the same starting lineup for all but one game. The exception was on Senior Day when walk-on Grant Weitman got to play the first 4-plus minutes against Oregon.
Through eight games this season, the Wildcats have already started seven different players, resulting in a trio of lineups. The most recent change was borne of discipline, but it may end up being a shift that bolsters the entire UA rotation.
For the second straight game, freshman Carter Bryant started while sophomore KJ Lewis. Tommy Lloyd made that decision ahead of the Battle4Atlantis third-place game against West Virginia as punishment for Lewis picking up a second taunting technical the day before. It was supposed to just be a 1-game thing, until Lewis suggested otherwise.
“It really wasn’t planned on early in the week,” Lloyd said after Arizona’s 102-66 home win over Southern Utah on Saturday. “KJ came to me the past couple days and asked if I would be open to him not starting. It was his idea. He just felt like maybe it would give other guys some opportunities, get some confidence, and kind of put him in a role similar to Pelle played a few years ago for us.”
Lewis, a backup all of last season, scored 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting and added eight rebounds, five assists and two steals. That paced a bench scoring output of 62 for the Wildcats, most in at least 27 years, and his output in 23 minutes was the first by a Division I player against another D-I opponent in nearly three years.
“Whatever is gonna help the team,” Lewis said about volunteering to come off the bench. “The conversation me and Coach Lloyd had, I just want to win, and I know the program wants to win, and the fans want us to win, and the team wants to win, so just trying to do whatever it takes to be in a winning position for the team. Making us plays and us sacrifices.”
The last time Arizona made a midseason lineup change was in 2022-23 when Pelle Larsson—who had been the Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year the previous season—went to the bench after starting the first 18 games. With Cedric Henderson in his place, Larsson would average 9.9 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists on 53.4 percent shooting (48.4 percent from 3) as the Wildcats would win seven in a row and go on to win a second consecutive Pac-12 Tournament title and earn a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
(No need to mention what happened after that)
Lewis was averaging 9.5 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists as a starter but shooting only 40.4 percent, going 2 of 10 in the first two Battle4Atlantis games. In two as a reserve he’s made 10 of 13 shots, scoring in double figures both times, while adding 14 rebounds and eight assists.
“I’m going play the same regardless, starting or coming off the bench,” Lewis said. “I’ve always had that edge and play with intensity defensively. Offensively, just letting it come to me and trying to help my teammates be in the best position they can be possibly.”
Lewis actually gives Arizona two reserves averaging double figures. Junior wing Anthony Dell’Orso is scoring 10 per game after dropping 19 against Southern Utah. He had 21 against Davidson and is shooting a team-best 50 percent from 3, making 10 of 16 over the last four games.
“I knew it might take him a little bit of time to adjust coming here,” Lloyd said of the Campbell transfer, who averaged 19.5 points per game last season and tested the NBA Draft waters. “But he did practice really well this fall. And all the scrimmages we had, all the things where we really kept score, he performed. But then you gotta go do it under the lights.”
Dell’Orso was just 6 of 22 from the field over his first four UA games, playing just four minutes against Duke, but Lloyd believes he has finally settled in.
I think you guys are seeing somebody that, I’m hoping this guy’s a double-figure type scorer in that role,” Lloyd said. “And the way he shoots the ball, I think he’s a guy that can draw a lot of attention and really helps in a lot of other areas.”
None of Arizona’s three bigs are averaging double figures, but the trio of Tobe Awaka, Motiejus Krivas and Henri Veesaar have combined for 21.9 points and 16.8 rebounds. Awaka has started all but one game but the minutes have been pretty well distributed between all three, a rotation that is likely to continue.
That leaves Bryant, the 5-star prospect who is the first freshman to start for Lloyd. He has yet to make a field goal since moving into the stating lineup but has contributed everywhere else, adding nine rebounds, four assists and two steals to his five points from the foul line against Southern Utah.
The last UA freshman to have that stat line was Chase Budinger in 2007. Before that: Mike Bibby against Kentucky in the 1997 NCAA title game.
“I’m comfortable with Carter in that role,” Lloyd said. “That’s a really productive night. So let’s not be like just so sensitive on scoring. I’m really optimistic about what he did today. To have four assists and nine rebounds in that role today was awesome.”
Lloyd didn’t rule out any further lineup tinkering, but he did say that any changes won’t be spontaneous and announced at the last minute.
“It’s important at some point to establish a level of certainty with your team, because I think that helps players kind of know when and where their opportunities are going to come from,” he said. “I don’t want it to be a situation where you’re showing up and right when we get in the huddle we tell you, hey, you’re starting tonight. I don’t know if that’s healthy. But I legitimately feel like we have seven or eight guys that can start. We’ve kind of settled in on this one for now. We’ll give it a look and see how it performs over the next period of time.”
A much better test of whether the lineup adjustment will work comes Saturday when Arizona faces UCLA in Phoenix.