Arizona men’s basketball fell to Wisconsin 103-88 on Friday, marking the program’s first loss in the month of November under Tommy Lloyd. Our recap can be found here.
After the game, Lloyd and players KJ Lewis, Jaden Bradley and Trey Townsend spoke to the media. Here’s what they said:
Lloyd on what it difficult to stop Wisconsin’s offense: “Obviously they’re in the bonus the whole game. That was tough, you know. And we gotta play smarter, and we gotta play better. And I kind of warned our guys that they’re adept at drawing fouls certain ways and and we just didn’t play smart enough.”
On what changed after Arizona made its run to tie the game: “Well, I mean, that’s a great question. I’ll have to go back and watch the film. Listen, there was a lot of possessions that game, so like for me to go back and look at it through a microscope might be a little tough right now. I thought we settled into the game a little bit, quit fouling so much and, hey, I’ll give them credit. Their role players who hadn’t made shots made a few shots. And you know that happens sometimes when you play at home, and it’s a big game, and it’s a big night. Wisconsin is obviously a tradition rich program, and Greg Gard’s a great coach, and he had his team ready tonight. So, you know, I tip my hat off to them. We’re a character program. We battled back. We just didn’t play smart enough once we got there.”
On Arizona committing 32 fouls: “We didn’t have the discipline. I mean, I don’t know how many times our guards dove into their chest and, listen, those are vertical contests. They’re probably not going to call the fouls. And then they were calling fouls on us out on the perimeter, those little hip checks and and those are fouls. That’s just how, I don’t love how the game’s being called, but, that’s how the game’s being called. So Wisconsin was definitely much smarter in how they approached attacking the game and their players, you know, adjusted to the new rules better than we did.”
On John Tonje going off and Wisconsin’s free throw success: “The dude had 41 points. He’s strong, he’s a downhill guy, and then he made threes. And he’s experienced, and I’m sure he’s hungry and and he was awesome. I mean, he played great. And I mean a dude scores 40 on you and you tip your hat to him. And you know, 21 out of 22 free throws. Listen, they’re coming into the game, they’re shooting 90% (on free throws). If you would have told me they’re gonna shoot 47 free throws, I probably thought you’re crazy, but they made about 90% of them again. And so they’re obviously a great free throw shooting team, so that’s something they can hang their hat on. They’re definitely playing to their strengths. So you know that’s smart basketball and smart coaching.”
On the atmosphere at Wisconsin: “It’s awesome. I tell our guys, you come to Arizona to play games like this, and when you lose on the road, they’re going to storm the court. You know what? We’ve won a lot of these games on the road, and I thought I literally, if you would have asked me, five minutes in the first half, I thought it was gonna be another one, and, you know, pull a rabbit out of a hat or find a way. And we just didn’t kind of have enough down the stretch, and didn’t play smart enough and to give ourselves a chance. So awesome atmosphere, nothing but respect for the Wisconsin basketball program and Coach Gard, and it’s awesome they’re honoring Bo Ryan and those great teams.”
On whether fouling or defense was more of a concern: “Well, both. You have to adjust to how the game is being called. I mean, we’ve probably had officials now 10 times, and that was definitely the tightest we felt get called. We’re getting maybe officials from different parts of the country, I don’t know, but it was definitely the tightest and we got to adjust. We’re the team on the road. I mean that’s basketball. You don’t play the victim, and you don’t just double down on fouling harder and then getting frustrated when they call it. You got to play cleaner basketball. And we didn’t adjust to how tight the game was being called, and Wisconsin was able to take advantage of that all day.”
On the importance of playing games like these: “We’re going to be a good team. I’m not worried about that. I mean, this was just a great opportunity on the road to challenge ourselves. Hey guys, we’ve been comfortable. We’ve been practicing against each other. We’ve been playing games, you know, exhibition games, games at McKale. And, you know, we got a hell of a home court advantage. And we’ve been comfortable. We had to get outside of that to figure out who we are. And you know, I’m not interested in going undefeated, not at all. Our program’s ready to take the next step and I’m ready to lead the charge. And we got to coach better. We got to play better. And, and that’s something, you know, we’re going to go back, take a breath, get home tonight, and, and we’re excited for the opportunity we got next week.”
On Caleb Love’s rough outing: “Listen, Caleb can’t put him in position where he gets a technical foul. You can’t get baited at anything. And I haven’t seen the play, so I have no idea what happened. Whether it was justified, and I’m sure it was if the officials called it, but you just can’t put yourself in that position to pick up two fouls early in the game. Caleb’s gonna be fine. I love that kid with all my heart. I love how he’s been able to deal with adversity and struggle. And listen, that kid has done more with adversity and struggle than most of all of us have done in our lives combined. So I’m all in on that kid. And you know what? It And he’s going to have a great year and he’s the guy I want to lead in my program.”
KJ Lewis on importance of communicating with younger guys: “Our defense, you know, somebody talking at all times. So we can know, you know, when to switch, when not to switch, etc. But I think it just has to come from the players.”
On whether Wisconsin got open because of missed switches: “Yeah, miscommunication. Lack of knowing where your man’s at. But it’s only the third game of the year and that’s what film is for, so just going to take it and get better.”
On figuring out roles on the team: “Obviously, you know, it’s a new team. A few of us were returning, but most of the guys are new, so just getting them equipped to our culture and our style of play on both sides of the ball. Again it’s early. I think we’re not worried. It’s hard to come on the road and win, but we got to do it together as a group.”
On trimming Wisconsin’s deficit but not taking the lead: “I think just poise. Knowing when to take certain shots and playing with great fundamentals. That’s something coach Lloyd talks about all the time. I think we, especially the guards we got away from that. We just got to be better all around.”
Jaden Bradley on what slowed down the offense: “The toughest thing was probably just finding the rhythm. At the end of the game we was just missing bunnies. They were kind of face guarding Caleb. We gotta do a better job of getting Caleb the ball and just getting everybody involved. I think we just missed a lot of shots we normally make.”
On whether Love was pressing after the technical foul: “No, I think that was probably the other team’s game plan. Probably take him out the game early, he’s such a good player. But you know Caleb, he’s been in these situations. I mean, he’s been in college basketball a lot, and he’s definitely gonna bounce back, watch the film, and he’s gonna be better next time.”
On Wisconsin’s shot making: “They definitely hit some tough shots. Definitely on us too, as well. We messed up some of the defense assignments. We just got to be better as a team executing on defense. But other than that, they made tough shots.”
On what Arizona can take out of a game like this: “This what we wanted. You know, this is our first time as a group going on the road, being tested. Great crowd, great atmosphere, great team. So we know we’re going to learn from this, watch film, and we know what to expect now.”
On playing 35 minutes: “I feel like over the summer, I worked and conditioned myself to be prepared for anything that is thrown at me to help my team win.”
On being assertive taking the ball to the hoop: “Just have my teammates just believing in me and my coaches and telling me to take the right read, and my teammates put me in those situations. So just whatever it takes.”
On preparing for Duke: “I think that’s the greatest thing about basketball. Tough loss but you back at it less than a week or a week. So we’re gonna learn from this. And I got a big, big home game coming up on Friday, so we’re gonna study and watch some film and get ready for that one.”
Trey Townsend on playing in front of a tough crowd: “We knew that coming in it was gonna be a challenge. We had a game plan, and we tried to stick to it. I had many errors myself at the very beginning, but I think we just, I think we stayed together a lot better than, you know, you think we would given the circumstances. I was proud of that with our team. Credit to Wisconsin, you know, they made all the shots when it mattered, and then they stepped into the free throw and made the free throws.”
On Wisconsin’s success making 3s: “I mean, that’s just the guys stepping up to the occasion, you know, like I said, we had a game plan, and we were prepared for, you know, everyone to be able to shoot threes. And they just stepped up. You know, maybe if we were stepped late to certain closeouts and things like that. But, you know, it came down to it, they just made the big shots.”
On new parts coming together: “I mean, yeah, I think there’s always room to improve, obviously. But like I said, I’m proud of the way these guys battled here. We were down 18 the first half, and came back and tied it in an environment like this. You can’t do anything but tip your hat off to them. But I’m also just proud of how we battled, and like I said, try to stay as as poised as we could. I think there’s a lot of room to grow. Obviously, it’s early in the season. I think all teams around the country are trying to figure out their identity and who they are. You’re not going to win every single game. So I’m just proud of how we battled.”
On going down with knee pain and returning: “It was definitely a quick stinger. My brother and sister actually just tore their ACL and MCL both. So when it happened, I was a little worried that that had happened. But, you know, I just came back here got it looked at and was able to get back out there. Wasn’t as serious as it seems. So we’ll see how I feel in the morning.”