Tommy Lloyd has suffered losses at Arizona, including a few at McKale Center. But never before had he lost consecutive games as a head coach, something that’s no longer the case after the Wildcats fell to Duke on Friday night for its second straight loss.
At 2-2, Arizona has a .500 record for the first time since being 3-3 to start the 2017-18 season. The losses have come to good teams, and are very early in a long season, but that doesn’t make them any less tough to deal with.
“You ain’t gonna see me out on the town tonight,” Lloyd said afterward. “I got work to do, so let’s get to work. And then, let’s see where we’re at in a month, and if we’re still struggling, you know what I’ll do? I still got work to do, but I’m gonna get to it.”
Our game recap can be found here. Below is what Lloyd and guards Jaden Bradley and KJ Lewis said after the loss:
Lloyd on the loss: “Great atmosphere. Just unfortunately, we didn’t play the way we had hoped to play. A lot of credit goes to Duke. They played a great game. They have a great, great team and a great program. It was an honor to play them here, and I wish it would have went a little better for us, but that’s how it goes sometimes.”
On losing back-to-back games: “We had a week where there was a sense of urgency, and we felt like we were addressing things. Just to come out, and we didn’t play great. So now we need to take a step back and figure out why. Are there some schematic problems? Are there some problems with how our personnel is kind of put together? And those are the things we’re going to take a look at. I love the guys. I mean, I like the plan, but obviously, when it’s not going as well as you would like, you got to be honest with yourself and try to figure it out. We got to figure out what our certainties are, and the things we have to have, and then over the course of the next couple of days, if there’s adjustments we need to make, we need to figure out what those are.”
On if Arizona’s offensive struggles were their own or because of Duke’s defense: “Probably a combination of both. I feel like we had some good looks in the first half, from good shooters, that just didn’t go in. We wanted to try to get the ball side. They did a good job keeping it out. And then when we kind of got it in there, I think their size and length impacted that a little bit. I thought Duke came out and played really physical and battled. I was hoping that would be a little bit of an advantage for us, but, but it wasn’t. So we got to go back. And probably a little bit of it is, one of the answers always is, do what we do a little bit better, and we got to fight a little bit more. And then the next answer always has to be is, like, don’t be stubborn. If there’s adjustments we need to make, let’s figure those out.”
On the offense looking stagnant in the second half: “They did a good job kind of pressuring our bigs, and kind of making our wing touches a little bit harder. We’ve always been a program that’s been pretty good in transition. We got to get transition a little bit more, and then when we get opportunities, we got to cash in on them. That’s something we’ve been working on, but you get into these games and maybe some of the decisions by the players haven’t been where I would hope they would be. Playing on two feet, using a fake, instead of going for all-for-nothing plays all the time.”
On if he’s concerned about Caleb Love: “Obviously we all know Caleb, he has a well-documented story, and he’s my guy. He’s not playing great right now. I just got to be 100 percent honest. But it’s my job to hang with him, because this isn’t the NBA. There aren’t trades. You’re not releasing guys. And I know this: Caleb’s had so much success in college basketball, if we hang with him, it’s the right thing to do, and we’ll be rewarded for that. So I’m going to hang with him and trust that better days are coming.”
On if the physicality of the last two games has been too much for Arizona: “I think we’re built for it. That’s how we want games to be. I didn’t think it was anything crazy. I think our guys just have to have a little more wherewithal and to find ways to take advantage of that, in our physicality.”
On not overreacting to the 2-2 start: “I’m humble enough to know that it’s not always going to go easy. I’ve always just felt for myself, the harder things you get the better, because I think I’m built for it. I’m going to hang with my team. We’re going to take a day off tomorrow, and we’re going to kind of circle the wagons are we’re going to find a way to go down to the Bahamas and win game by game. And wouldn’t it be awesome if we flip the script?
“I’m a realistic optimist. 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. The great thing about college basketball is we’re 2-2, and it’s a long season. We haven’t even played a conference game yet. And I’m not trying to diminish these two losses at all. I mean, they hurt, they hurt a lot. It was a tough week for me, and this is a tough night for me and the program, because we had a great opportunity, but we’re going to bounce back and we’re going to give Davidson everything we got, and if we’re fortunate enough to find a way to get through that one, the next component we’re going to give everything we got.”
On Bradley and Lewis combining for 30 points and everyone else 25: “Those dudes play incredibly hard, but what I got to figure out is why the pieces aren’t fitting together as well as I would like, or as well as we’re used to. And it’s nothing with those guys. But I’m definitely looking more at the bigger picture now than just on individual performances, because to me, this is a team game. 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. I got to go back and really figure out what it’s going to take to get a total team effort.”
On being able to keep playing home-and-home games like this: “For sure, I would love it. And I think Jay Bilas had the best quote of all, just talking to him today. And obviously he’s a great guy. We know he’s a Dukie, but he’s also a great guy. And he told me, he wishes that college basketball had a little bit more of the NBA feel to it, where you play these big games, and you win them or you lose them, and you get on to the next one. College basketball, it’s not like that. When you’re a program like Duke or Arizona and you lose a game, I mean, panic ensues. For me, I love playing in this. I don’t know how well I’ll sleep tonight, maybe good, maybe bad, I don’t know. But I love the opportunity of playing Duke at home, and I wish you know we had more opportunities to do this stuff, and we weren’t so fearful of losing. Because if you’re if you’re fearful of losing, you’re never going to take the opportunity for a great environment like we had tonight.”
On starting Motiejus Krivas over Tobe Awaka: “He’s been practicing better, and we’re kind of amping him up. I might not have made the right decision today starting him. He’s a starting level player, but he didn’t play great. 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. My overall, overriding thought has been Big Mo and Trey (Townsend) could be a good combo, and then Henri (Veesaar) and Tobe could be a good combo. And then the game kind of got weird. Sometimes these games happen, you have your first media time at under 16. The next thing you know it goes to like 13, we would have subbed like three or four minutes earlier, normally. I didn’t want to waste a time out. That’s something I got to look at and really think about. Big Mo is a good player, and he’s gonna have a great season, but he’s still coming back from the injury.I think this will be a great learning experience for him, and something for me to figure out.”
On if the newcomers are struggling to meet the Arizona standard: “Everyone has a standard, and I’m not going to single out newcomers or returners. We all got to get better. I mean, I told our guys that today, not one person in our locker room is point a finger at someone else. Everyone’s looking internally first, and then secondly, looking at the group. So I don’t think that at all.”
On if he might mix and match his starting lineups based on the opponent: “I got to figure out what makes our players most comfortable and most effective. I probably didn’t do Tobe a good service today. I told him, kind of before the game that I was thinking about doing this, and he was so agreeable, because he’s such a great dude, but he’s been playing well. Maybe it wasn’t tonight to do it, but I was just thinking about pairing those bigs is my overriding thought, so I’ll figure that out.”
On the last time Arizona played in the Battle4Atlantis: “I’ve heard a lot of stories about that. We play Davidson, I don’t know what time we play them onWednesday. Let’s just find a way to get a win. That’s going to be the mindset. We’re not going to we’re not looking at anything beyond that. We’re back with the day to day deal.”
Bradley on Duke’s defense: “They threw some different things at us. They’re pretty athletic. Their five man is a pretty good shot blocker down there. We just gotta do a good job recognizing the coverage and execute.”
On rebounding from consecutive losses: “We gotta use this to help us bond as a team. It’s only four games in, it’s a long season, so we can’t let this discourage us. We got to come together tighter in these moments and really rely on our brothers just playing hard and doing what Coach says. We had a great game plan. On our end we didn’t execute.”
On trusting the system: “Coach Lloyd has been here for a while, and the stuff he’s done in the past worked. So we know we gotta really buy into the system and really, just over these next couple of days, bond and really figure this thing out.”
Lewis on Duke’s halfcourt defense: “With their 5-ball screen they would hedge, hard hedge, make us get the ball out of our hands quick. One through four, they would switch. And then anytime we got a switch and enter it to the post, they would trap. I think we just got to do a better job moving out the ball, being strong with the ball, and just finding different ways to be effective in the offense.”
On if there’s time to fix things before the Bahamas: “There’s definitely time to work on things. I’m pretty sure we’re gonna get together tomorrow as a group, watch some film, figure some things out, practice on Sunday. We’ve still got a goal to win the tournament. We just got to come together as a group and be tighter than we ever have been.”
On everyone finding their roles: “The guys that have been here last year are trying to get all the new guys on the same page and get them to the stand over Arizona basketball. Again, it’s a new atmosphere, new system for them. Just from the coach down to the vets, we just got to be better as a group to help them fit right into what we want to.”
On Caleb Love: “Caleb’s an All-American for a reason. He has ultra confidence, and we have ultra confidence in him. Again, it’s only the fourth game of year. We knew any team we’re going to play is going to throw different things at him, and it’s our job to help him get open looks and find a rhythm. So far, we haven’t been doing that for him. So I really I feel like we, me and JB, we take kind of most of the blame for his frustration because we got to do a better job of getting him open off the ball.”