With a tough loss to swallow and another game less than 24 hours later, Arizona didn’t have a traditional Thanksgiving celebration on Thursday night. Odds are they probably lacked the appetite after falling to Oklahoma in the semifinals of the Battle4Atlantis.
“Yeah, this hurts, but unfortunately … fortunately or unfortunately, we don’t got time to dwell on it,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd after the UA dropped to 3-3 on the season. “We got to get back tomorrow and play a good West Virginia team. All our focus needs to go there, so no one has time to hang their heads.”
Our game recap can be found here. Below is what Lloyd had to say afterward:
On falling behind early: “I tip my hat to Oklahoma. They came out and put us in some tough situations, and then they kind of got a lead early, and our offense took a while to get going tonight, which has kind of been a trend in some of these tougher games, and we got to figure that out. If your offense can kind of keep you in it as you’re figuring out your defense then you’re not playing from behind. And unfortunately today, we were playing from behind, and we made some rallies, but it seemed like they answered every one. They hit some really big shots.”
On Oklahoma: “I thought (Jalon Moore) for them played great. Physically, his athleticism and his effort on the glass, and he made a couple shots that was just really a difference speaker. And obviously (Jeremiah) Fears was tremendous, he played an amazing game.”
On the Sooners’ physicality: “I think they were probably being a little more physical than our guys anticipated, which is disappointing. I mean, we’re a team that that loves to bump and grind and be physical, and we had some shots around the rim that we missed early. There wasn’t a lot of fouls called, which is fine. Then we kind of opened it up and a little bit offensively, when we got in a little bit more of a desperation mode. I just wish we would have played with that sense of emergency a little earlier.”
On the 3-point defense: “They put us in some tough situations with coverages, and they hit some big shots. Maybe some of those threes are shots you’re going to kind of live with the attempt if they make them. But other ones, they were kind of subbing in and out different lineups. And they played a pick-and-pop 5 … it’s crazy, this kid hasn’t played much and the last couple days he’s made some big shots. His stroke looks legit and puts you in some tough situations. With the short prep we were kind of on skates a little bit, and whether he made the shot or it created a scenario where the next guy made a shot, or a matchup where a guy had a bigger guy on him and was able to take advantage of it.”
On the rebounding: “I just felt like on the glass, I thought they were more physical on the glass. We didn’t do a great job blocking them out, and that’s disappointing. We’re a great rebounding team, but to be a great rebounding team, you got to do a night in and night out. And especially, since our stats are good, so you know the other team is really going to emphasize that. And I don’t know if our guys are heeding that message well enough. Today I thought that we kind of got outphysicaled on some of those big ones. You play good defense, you get a stop, they give up an offensive rebound, move and hit a three it’s deflating. We got to be better there.”
On rallying and having a chance to tie in the final minute: “We had a couple, multiple shots in that possession, and you’re just trying to hang close. We gave ourselves a chance. We hung in there, hung in there, hung in there, and gave ourselves a chance. I’ll credit the guys for that, but listen: our standards are winning.”
On KJ Lewis getting another technical foul: “Again, it’s so disappointing. KJ has got to be better. He’s got to be better. Now, I love him. I’m going to hang with him. He’s an emotional guy, but you just don’t do that to your team. You just don’t put your team in that position over and over again. Like to me, when we celebrate, we should be celebrating together, for us. You don’t celebrate against the other team. That’s not winning. Winning is celebrating together. We’ve talked about it, we’ve talked about it, but unfortunately, some of these old habits die hard. We’re going to continue to have conversations about it. And if it gets to the point where I have to start disciplining, I will.”
On if Lewis was showing frustration because of recent struggles: “I can’t speak to the specifics of the incident. Just don’t do it. That’s the number one thing: don’t do it. I think we can cut the game to two, right around two when he makes that shot, and let’s go get a stop, we have a run. Now they get to go, it’s up to four, and then the momentum stops. They get a kind of reset, they get to call a set now, they don’t got to go against the press, all those things, it’s just so disappointing.”
On the weirdness of playing Big 12 foe West Virginia in the 3rd place game: “I’ve never been in the same conference with them, so we’re just gonna approach it like any other game in the tournament. Maybe it’ll feel different if we have to play them three times this year, like the third time, but for this first one, there’s no difference.”
On the Mountaineers: “They’ve got a great guard, they got a great skill guy, and it looks like they got role players that know what they’re doing. Their coach is doing a great job controlling the game, it’s going to be an amazing challenge. They’ve lost two games in overtime, they beat the 3rd-ranked team in the country. I mean, we got our hands full.”