Before Arizona heads into its Big 12 conference schedule, it is time to reflect on how each of the Wildcats have performed so far this season.
Here are our grades for the Wildcats through nonconference play:
Caleb Love, senior guard: D
The hands down most polarizing player for Arizona this year has not gotten off to the greatest of starts. At times, he is the Wildcats’ best player. At other times, it seems like he is not even there.
His season high came in the most recent game against Central Michigan where he scored 24. He also had 24 against West Virginia in the Bahamas, but was a lot less efficient.
At Wisconsin, Love had a season-low six points. He also ended up fouling out. Safe to say this was his worst performance so far.
For a player looking for a chance at the NBA, he is going to need to have more performances like the Central Michigan game.
Jaden Bradley, junior guard: B+
Bradley has been the most consistent player for Arizona this season. Not only is he able to create his own shots, he has been able to create for others.
His season high came in the loss to Wisconsin where he had 22 points. His worst game came against Southern Utah where he was scoreless on 0-fir-4 shooting.
After choosing to come back to Arizona, instead of taking a shot at the association, he leads the Wildcats in assists with 41.
An area where he will need to improve is his three point shooting. Bradley is 7 of 22 and has only hit more than one shot from behind the arch in one game, which came against Duke.
KJ Lewis, sophomore guard: C-
Lewis started the year as part of the starting five for Arizona, and has now taken a backseat in order to help the Wildcats.
He is the spark coming off the bench that Arizona needs, and also provides experience.
His season high (15) came most recently against Southern Utah, but also had 15 at Wisconsin. His season low came against Davidson where he only had five points.
Even though he will be coming off the bench for the foreseeable future, Lewis will have to be one of the keys to Arizona being successful down the road.
He has had a slight bit of trouble with discipline as Lewis has been called for technical fouls in multiple games. A step up in maturity is going to have to be taken.
Trey Townsend, senior forward: D
The transfer from Oakland has had an up and down season. Townsend’s main concern right now is taking care of the ball.
He leads the Wildcats in total turnovers with 24. It’s not just that he is turning the ball over, the ball is being easily taken away from him.
In the UCLA game, he had a season-high four turnovers. In a must-win game for Arizona, Townsend could not take care of the ball.
His best game this season came against West Virginia where he had 19 points. Townsend is capable of having good offensive games, he just needs to do it more consistently.
Tobe Awaka, junior forward: C+
Awaka transferred in from Tennessee has been the most consistent big man for the Wildcats this year. He leads the team in total rebounds with 88.
He had a season-high 19 points against Old Dominion and grabbed 15 rebounds. His season low came against Duke where he had zero points but only played 12 minutes.
The main concern for Awaka is going to be staying out of foul trouble. In six out of the 11 games this season, he has had three or more fouls.
Obviously it is impossible to ask him to stay out of foul trouble completely, but the more games where he has less than three fouls the better.
Anthony Dell’Orso, junior guard: B-
Another transfer for the Wildcats, from Campbell, Dell’Orso has started to become one of the best offensive weapons for Arizona.
With a season-high 21 points against Davidson, Dell’Orso has been able to find shots and knock them down.
He has been inserted into a starting role for the last two games, and even though he is not scoring a ton, he is still scoring enough.
His liability right now is on the defensive side. Many of the players he is guarding end up getting free/open shots. That side of the ball is going to need to improve for him to continue in his starting role.
Carter Bryant, freshman forward: B
The McDonald’s All-American has been asked to mature at a very quick pace.
Starting the season on the bench, then into a starting role, then going back to the bench has put Bryant in a flexible position.
However, to this point, he has done everything he has been asked of. He brings 100 perfect effort on every play. The one area is going to need to improve is fine tuning his offensive game.
His season high was 12 points against Old Dominion. Bryant is shooting 41.5 percent from the field.
If he can get that percentage up, it will only open up more opportunities for his counterparts on the court.
Henri Veesaar, redshirt sophomore center: C
After missing last season with injury, Veesaar has shown a step in the right direction since his freshman year.
He looks more physical and has a better sense of where he needs to be on the court. His downside right now is shot selection.
In the loss to UCLA, there were many shots from 3 that he should not have taken. He is going to need to be better at understanding the situation.
Veesaar’s season high came against Southern Utah where he scored 12 points. His season high in rebounds came against Old Dominion where he had nine.
Getting more boards, and taking better shots will more than likely lead to more minutes.
Motiejus Krivas, sophomore center: C-
The big man from Lithuania has had a rocky season to this point. Hampered by injury, he has not taken the step up he needs to.
He has not played since the Southern Utah game, and in the games he did play, he was not as effective as most would have liked him to be.
Krivas had a season-high seven rebounds in the loss to Wisconsin. Maybe it is because of the injury, but it seems like he is not able to finish at the rim, especially with easy shots.
If Krivas does come back from injury, he is going to need to grab boards and finish at the rim on a consistent level.
Conrad Martinez, sophomore guard: B –
Martinez had not seen consistent minutes this season, but has had many opportunities to gain more minutes and experience.
He had a season-high nine points against Central Michigan. Only averaging 8.9 minutes, Martinez needs to come in and produce any sort of offense he can.
Whether it is creating shots for others, or knocking down the shots he takes, he might end up being the extra push the Wildcats need in a close game.