After starting the season 2-0, head coach Tommy Lloyd and the Wildcats have hit a roadblock after their first two “tests” of the season.
For the first time under Lloyd, Arizona has lost consecutive games.
Before a trip to the Bahamas, here are five takeaways from the recent losses at Wisconsin and at home against Duke.
1. JB, KJ and …?
Both Jaden Bradley and KJ Lewis have been consistent for Arizona to start the season. Scoring 22 and 18 in the losses, Bradley has been a majority of the Wildcats’ offensive production.
Lewis scored 15 and 12 between both games, and has shown an ability to be aggressive when he needs to be.
“Those dudes play incredibly hard,” Lloyd said on the guards’ performances.
Having both guards playing well offensively is a good thing for Arizona but having production from only them is not going to be sustainable moving forward.
“My thought, what I kind of wrote down in my notes today was TTE, total team effort, and I don’t think we got that,” Lloyd said. “I got to go back and really figure out what it’s going to take to get a total team effort.”
2. Offensive struggles
Arizona’s 55-point performance against Duke was its lowest scoring total since the first round NCAA Tournament loss to Princeton in 2023. It hadn’t scored that few at home since January 2020.
At Wisconsin, the Wildcats shot 37.8 percent and against Duke they shot 39.6 percent. Those shooting percentages more than likely won’t be a consistent trend moving forward.
However, for the time being, Lloyd has to find a way to get those percentages up.
“I feel like we had some good looks in the first half, from good shooters, that just didn’t go in,” Lloyd said.
Entering the Duke game, Arizona was averaging 19.3 fast-break points per game, but only had six against the Blue Devils.
“We’ve always been a program that’s been pretty good in transition,” Lloyd said. “We got to get in transition a little bit more, and then when we get opportunities, we got to cash in on them.”
The Wildcats were also first nationally in second-chance points per game (21.7) and second in points in the paint per game (49.3). They had eight second chance points and 26 points in the paint against Duke.
3. Who to start?
In the Wisconsin game, Tobe Awaka started and recorded nine points and 13 rebounds. Motiejus Krivas got the start against Duke and recorded five points and four rebounds.
Moving forward, Lloyd is going to have to make a decision as to who to start at the five.
Awaka has shown an ability to consistently rebound the ball. However, Krivas has just a bit more experience than Awaka, along with just a bit more touch at the rim.
“He’s a starting level player, but he didn’t play great,” Lloyd said. “Tobe’s been playing so good, and Tobe not starting had nothing to do with him. It just has to be with trying to figure out how to play these four bigs.”
Stats would show that Awaka should be getting the nod to start, but Krivas is still warming up to his role, especially with coming off an offseason injury.
4. Bench production
Something is going to need to be better for Arizona is the production it is getting from its bench. At minimum, there is usually at least one player that is able to come off the bench and have an impact.
At Wisconsin, it was Anthony Dell’Orso who came in with eight points. Krivas also contributed eight points.
Against Duke, it was Carter Bryant who came in and had six points. For Bryant, it was more than just scoring, he has a high energy presence defensively that helps to create turnovers.
“Everyone has a standard, and I’m not going to single out newcomers or returners,” Lloyd said on playing to the Arizona standard. “We all got to get better.”
5. Turnover issues
In both losses, Arizona showed an inability to take care of the basketball. 13 turnovers against Wisconsin and 15 more against Duke didn’t allow the Wildcats to get in a flow offensively.
Arizona is averaging 11.5 turnovers per game. The way Lloyd has his team built, it cannot afford to be turning the ball over.
“I understand we may not be perfect, there may be flaws, but I’m also optimistic that if we address them, that we can come out on the other side,” Lloyd said.
It will be important for Arizona to limit its turnovers if it wants to be successful in their trip to the Bahamas.