What to watch for when Arizona men’s basketball hosts Samford

It was the day after Arizona blew a 13-point lead to rival UCLA, which dropped its record to 4-5 and added another blemish to a resume that doesn’t have any noteworthy accomplishments on it. Tommy Lloyd was at home, dissecting the game to figure out went wrong, but instead of depression he felt something completely different.

“I was like, man, why do I feel good right now?,” Lloyd said Tuesday. “Why do I have a joyful feeling? I shouldn’t be having a joyful feeling, this is hard.”

Not exactly what you’d expect to hear from the coach of a team off to its worst start in 15 years. Sean Miller probably didn’t feel that way in 2009, during his first season at Arizona, but he also didn’t have three years of previous success at the school to build off like Lloyd. It’s why Lloyd remains optimistic this will turn around for the Wildcats, though he’s not just assuming they will and isn’t sure exactly when that will happen.

“We don’t know right now if we’re about to break through, or if it’s a ways off, but we got to keep going,” he said. “We got to keep going. We got to keep fighting for it. I love the challenge. I love figuring out hard things. I can’t just be there when the getting’s good. What I can’t do, I can’t let the disappointment of maybe a slower start than we would have hoped for. I can’t let that weigh me down because I feel guilty we haven’t delivered. I love the challenge of this. I love figuring out complex problems. I’m going to keep approaching it like that.”

Arizona’s final week of nonconference play begins Wednesday night at McKale Center against Samford, a team Lloyd calls “1 of 1” for how they play. The pre-Big 12 slate wraps up Saturday afternoon against Central Michigan before they host TCU on Dec. 30 to open the conference slate.

“Realistically, (since) conference hasn’t started, nothing really matters at this point,” junior wing Anthony Dell’Orso said. “TCU is that first game. Our goals are still the same. They never change. We could be 0-9 right now, our goals are still to win a Big 12 championship. Our goal is to make the (NCAA) tournament.”

Here’s what to watch for when the UA hosts the Bulldogs:

A foe unlike any other

Samford (9-2) is ranked 111^th by KenPom.com, 30 spots below the 2023-24 team that won 29 games and should have upset Kansas in the first round in Salt Lake City had it not been the victim of a terrible late call by the officials. It’s a very different roster for the Bulldogs but the exact same frenetic approach that has been dubbed “Bucky Ball” after coach Bucky McMillan.

“There’s no one else playing like it,” Lloyd said of Samford’s press-almost-every-possession defense that has forced 18.2 turnovers per game including 11.2 steals. “We’ve got to handle their pressure, their chaos. They’re good at it, there’s substance to it, so it’s going to be an incredible challenge.”

Samford’s adjusted tempo of 72.1 possessions per 40 minutes is a tick ahead of Arizona’s 72.0, and because of its pressure that’s led to an effective field goal percentage of 57.4 that’s 22^nd in the nation. The UA is 148^th, at 51.5 percent.

The Bulldogs also take almost 47 percent of their shots from 3-point range, and their top six scorers all shoot at least 39.5 percent from outside. Considering how much Arizona has struggled defending the 3, as well as how many times (22) it turned it over against UCLA, and this game is a recipe for disaster.

“It’s exactly the challenge we need right now,” Lloyd said. “There’s a reason we scheduled it, and maybe I didn’t know the reason at the time, but now I do, because this is the challenge this group needs.”

A big man debut?

Though he didn’t play, freshman center Emmanuel Stephen was dressed for the UCLA game. That was notable development in that it was a strong sign that the injury to sophomore big man Motiejus Krivas could keep him out for a while.

Lloyd didn’t have any further update on the status of Krivas, who missed Saturday’s game with an injury to his left foot. He missed both preseason games with an injury to the same foot/ankle.

What Lloyd did say was that the plan for Stephen, a 7-footer who was expected to redshirt this season, has changed because of Krivas’ injury.

“I think we’re gonna try to find a way to mix him in, at some point,” Lloyd said. “You’ll know, when he’s up at the scorer’s table you’ll know. That’s when it’s probably gonna happen.”

A 4-star prospect, Stephen is incredibly raw and his contributions figure to be limited. And Samford’s pressure defense might not be the best team for him to debut against.

“I know he’s eager, I know he’s got a lot of energy, but the last game and this game aren’t necessarily like warmup games for a freshman,” Lloyd said. “I want to make sure, when he starts off, that he has maybe he’s good footing to to get off to a good start.”

An old favorite comes home

Former Arizona point guard TJ McConnell is averaging a career-high 11.3 points per game this season for the Indiana Pacers, who signed him to a 4-year, $45 million extension over the summer. This is the 10^th year in the NBA for McConnell, which qualified him for Arizona’s Ring of Honor.

That induction ceremony comes before Wednesday’s game, when McConnell and his entire team—including ex-Wildcat Bennedict Mathurin, who was inducted in January—come down from Phoenix ahead of the Pacers’ game Thursday against the Suns.

McConnell played for the UA from 2013-15, helping lead the team to consecutive Elite Eight appearances. The 2014-15 season included an overtime home win over Gonzaga, which was the first time Lloyd said him play. The last was when he went to a Pacers game to watch Mathurin during his rookie season.

“I was blown away with how good of a player TJ was on that stage,” Lloyd said. “He’s an incredible example of toughness and will to be successful and will to win, and figuring out what you got to do to be successful at the highest level. And honestly, it’s inspiring. Our team needs a little TJ McConnell right now. They can use a little of that, of his heart, his toughness, his grit, his will to win. We can use some of that. Maybe things are all coming together for a reason. And hopefully having him around just for those few hours, a little bit of it rubs off on our guys.”