Arizona earned a road split on its latest trip thanks to Tuesday night’s 92-78 win at Oklahoma State, improving to 3-1 away from home in Big 12 play and 6-1 overall. The Wildcats’ next two games are at McKale Center, where it has gone 8-1 this season.
Our recap from the game can be found here. Below is what coach Tommy Lloyd, guard Caleb Love and forward Trey Townsend had to say afterward:
Lloyd on the win: “I felt like we were in a good place. We didn’t play great against a tough Texas Tech team. We needed to respond. And I thought our guys did it today, and it was beautiful that it didn’t come easy. We had to hang in there. Really proud of these guys.”
On Emmanuel Stephen getting meaningful minutes: “The staff has been on me to give E-Man a chance, and I love that E elected to play when )Motiejus) Krivas went out. I kind of penciled him in to redshirt, because I thought that was the best thing for him. But when Krivas went out, E-man can be pretty persuasive and persistent. He really wanted to play, and I just told him there might not be many opportunities. He didn’t care. He just wanted to help the team. So I think that shows the type of character and selflessness he has. The staff’s been on me to play him. But it’s tough, I still feel like we’re developing Tobe and we’re still developing Henri. I feel like I got to get a lot of reps and put a lot of time into those two guys. So it’s hard to find a third guy, but foul trouble dictated that today and E-Man was awesome, he really stepped up and helped.”
On limiting the turnovers against a team forcing more than 15 per game: “We talked about ball strength. We’ve been losing the ball a little bit too much, so just kind of emphasized that. We’ve been spending a lot of time on fundamentals. Ripping through, pivoting, the exciting stuff that you guys probably don’t notice, but you have to do that against the team that pressures like this. I think it helped us a little bit that No. 2 picked (Arturo Dean) up a couple fouls because he’s so proficient at getting his hands on balls. And for the most part, they didn’t press much tonight. I don’t know why, but they didn’t so. Maybe (OSU coach Steve Lutz) felt like he was in the game playing the way they were, so he went with it.”
Love on scoring 27 after having 17 the previous 2 games: “My teammates and coaches trust in me. I wanted to come out here and play as best as I could on both ends of the floor. Obviously I haven’t been holding up on my end on obviously the offensive end, but at the end of the day, I know that my teammates and my coaches are rocking with me whether I play good or bad, and that’s all that really matters to me. God is good, he kept me throughout my whole career. I trust in Him, and my faith in Him is always going to be there. That’s kind of what I lean on the most. And like I said, my teammates and coaches are rocking with me, and I’m rocking with them.”
On knowing he’s the focus of opposing defenses: “I gotta adjust on the fly, knowing that I’m probably gonna get the best defender on the other team guarding me. I got to adjust to that and I got to be there for my teammates as many ways as possible. One thing I could control is my effort and my energy. Giving energy to my teammates as well and supporting them when I can. One thing that Coach has been on me about is smiling. I probably had like, 30 smiles today, so that was something that I was proud of.”
Townsend on his best game with Arizona: “Obviously, the past few Big 12 games, I haven’t really played up to the expectations that people don’t have of me, but I had of myself. I’ve had some good talks with my teammates and the staff, and I really just wanted to come today and just give 100 percent effort, and then everything else that would come with that. I just wanted to make sure I could control what I can control. I can’t control if I make every shot, or if I get an assist if someone makes their shots, but I can control how hard I’m running around, checking out people. And today, I guess the basketball gods rewarded me for the effort side of things and the ball started going in the hoop.”
On Stephen: “I thought E-Man did such a great job for the time he was in there for us. I couldn’t imagine getting thrust into a position like that, in the middle of a game. It wasn’t like it was the end of the game. It was a crunch time minutes throughout a decent stretch, and he went in there and proved he belongs playing on the court.”
On being 3-1 on the road in Big 12 play: “Winning on the road is tough in any level of college basketball, especially in this conference. Obviously, we wanted to come on this road trip and get a sweep, but we didn’t want to let the little bump we had at Texas Tech leak over into this game. And I don’t think anyone on the team, our players and staff, let that happen.”
On the no call when he was elbowed in the neck: “It caught me off guard … but the ref told me he didn’t call because I didn’t really move too much, so I guess I was a little too strong of a screen for me.”