Tommy Lloyd is now 7-1 against ASU as a head coach, the only loss coming as the result of a 70-foot shot two years ago. But this was the first time he’d been involved in one that resulted in five technical fouls called, with two players getting ejected in the final minute.
Chippiest game he’s been a part of in the rivalry?
“I can’t remember,” Lloyd said after Arizona’s 81-72 win at ASU, its fifth straight in Tempe. “It was great. It was fun, it’s a fun environment. You wish everybody could kind of experience it when you’re sitting in that frying pan. We like playing these guys because it’s fun and it’s great for the state of Arizona.”
Our game recap can be found here. Below is what Lloyd and guards Jaden Bradley and Caleb Love had to say about the victory:
Lloyd on Love getting ejected: “I didn’t see what had happened. There obviously was an altercation between Caleb and (ASU’s BJ Freeman). Obviously, Caleb reacted. It sounds like he got head butted. I mean, I haven’t seen the video, so I don’t know one way or another what to say on the event. And obviously it’s disappointing, probably on all sides. We want to be a program that, when tough things happen we want to respond with class. And I don’t know if we did or didn’t, but just a tough moment in an emotional game.”
On the win: “I got a lot of respect for for Bobby and Arizona State and those his guys played their asses off today. I mean, they hit some great shots. It was a back and forth game, and we kind of just were able to make a run at the right time.”
On having 9 blocks, 8 rebounds: “Those are great hustle stats.”
On going 21 of 22 from the line: “I thought we did a better job in the second half. We didn’t obviously start good, but I think we pinned a few fouls on them, and we were kind of getting the bonus a little bit earlier. I don’t know if that got us as many free throws as I hoped it would have, because we wanted to keep attacking off the dribble. But these games get physical, and it’s tough for refs to make every call.”
On pressing to force turnovers: “I think we’re a good pressing team. The thing with pressing at this level is you’ve always got to choose your spots. I think we were able to generate two or three turnovers on it and that kind of flipped the momentum.”
On Henri Veesaar’s strong 2nd half: “He’s done that a number of times. He’s responded. I told Henri, it’s okay to play like that in the first half, you can do that too. It just seems like in the second half, he kind of figures out the game a little bit, and he’s kind of able to make plays with his length and his skill. And I thought he did a great job today.”
On Love following up his late heroics against Iowa State: “We all know Caleb’s a good player. I know he’s not going to probably play like that every single day, but when he does it, when he does play like that, it doesn’t surprise me.”
On if he was worried about an emotional letdown: “I wasn’t concerned, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a factor. I thought we had a good couple days of practice, I thought our guys were locked in, they’re in a good way right now.”
On KJ Lewis’ defense: “KJ is a monster. He’s a monster. He’s really kind of embraced that role of being a defensive stopper. He’s special. He’s special, the things he could do on the defensive end of the floor. And I don’t know if it’s appreciated enough, but I know how much I value it. He really changes the game when he’s out there.”
On the big rebounding advantage: “We always try to emphasize rebounding. We knew there were going to be a lot of shots today, a lot of threes taken by them, we thought, so we tried to chase down some of those longer rebounds. For us, we really want to make a concerted effort to get to the offensive glass, especially if we’re going to get penetration, we feel like they’re going to come over and try to block our shots, so we wanted to make sure we had guys available to on that weak side glass in case we missed when the shot was contested.”
On Carter Bryant: “Carter was great, he got his hand on a bunch of balls and made a bunch of plays, rebounded really well. It was a great effort by Carter today.”
On Bryant getting some cheap fouls: “Carter, he’s a young player, still learning. I think he controls some of those fouls more than he probably knows. He probably has just got to be a little smarter, a little more disciplined, but hopefully that comes with some experience.”
On being able to win without shooting well: “That’s basketball. There’s lots of ways to win a game, there’s lots of ways to lose a game. I think as the game’s playing out in front of you, you just kind of gotta kind of play the hand that’s dealt and react accordingly. You wish you had an answer for everything, but it’s just kind of not how it goes. You’ve just kind of got to get a feel for how the game’s going, and pick and choose your spots as a coach where you think you can make an impact.
“A lot of it is, you kind of step aside. You know you’ve coached these guys long enough, and you’ve given them schemes, you’ve given them concepts to play out of, you’ve drilled the fundamentals and they could trust those in pressure moments. That’s real basketball. That’s what makes the game so special, is that it’s not scripted. You don’t call a play every time, and so you a lot of it’s on the players to figure out.”
Bradley on Arizona’s performance: “I feel like everybody that got in contributed. CB made some big-time shots, Henri down the stretch, even Conrad (Martinez). When we were in foul trouble Conrad played his game.”
On the better defense in the 2nd half: “Shout out TJ (Benson), who had a great scout. They were hitting shots so we had to make some adjustments. We just stayed in the gaps, not let him get in that bonus so early, get to that free throw line. Staying in the gap, ball pressure, deflections.”
On defending a team that shoots 34 3-pointers: “Just contest them and hope they miss and let’s get the rebound.”
On Lewis: “KJ is a dog, no matter what what position you put him in. I believe he can guard one through five he’s gonna go in there and play hard and. He’s just willing to make the winning plays. And I feel like it’s a big part of what we do. He’s a big part of what we do.”
On being 9-1 halfway through Big 12 play: “Nobody thought we’d be here in this position, except us, so just keep believing each other and take one game at a game and just give everything we’ve got for that game.”
On if Arizona has adopted an underdog mentality: “I mean, from the outside looking in, it’s probably an underdog. But we feel like we belong here, and we’re competitors, so we want to compete. We want to win in everything we do.”
Love on the final minute: “It was just two competitors going at it and it escalated and the refs made a call.”
On being headbutted: “It didn’t hurt.”
On how he handled the atmosphere: “Just embracing it with my teammates, that’s the biggest thing. You don’t get too many games like this. Obviously it was a rivalry game and we wanted to play hard and that’s what we did. We made plenty of plays down the stretch.”
On if he felt hostile: “You can sense it at the start of the game. Obviously, there was a lot of chirping and things like that. Fans were into it. That’s what you come to Arizona for. You want to embrace these games. You want to enjoy them, and then you want to obviously compete at a high level.”
On Veesaar: “Henri has been coming up big for us this season. We challenged him early on this year, and he’s been stepping up to the plate ever since. He gives us a big spark off the bench. And when he’s playing well, we’re usually going to come out with a win.”
On Lloyd’s message after the game: “He just wanted us to take the class road. We respect our opponent, everybody we play.”
On dealing with a chirpy game: “We’re going to come in and play our best basketball, however that goes. I think chirping is a part of the game.”
On if he was able to carry over his play at the end against Iowa State: “A little bit. Obviously, you’re supposed to have confidence in yourself and I’m going to play with confidence every time I step on the court. I’m going to try and give my best effort every single time.”
On where Bryant has improved the most: “Physicality. I think that’s something that we’ve been challenging on him on and then you got to have confidence in himself. He’s one of the best shooters I’ve been around, he can knock it down. He’s so versatile he can guard one through five. So he gives us that spark as well. We have trust in Him, we have trust in CB.”