Entering Wednesday night, Arizona had played four games that were decided by a combined 15 points. Three of those were losses, two on its home court.
It had to feel nice to have one that wasn’t too stressful, beating Utah 83-66 in game the Wildcats led by at least 10 for the final 30-plus minutes.
“We’re not asking for things to be comfortable, because I know Saturday it’s going to be very uncomfortable,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said, eluding to a trip to No. 9 Iowa State. “So we better be comfortable in an uncomfortable environment. And for the rest of the season, I think that’s just gonna how it’s gonna be. I thank the Big 12 for that. I honestly do in a good way. Not that we didn’t have stressful moments in the Pac-12, but we’ve had a good stretch of them here, and I think we’re gonna be better for it the long run.”
Our game recap can be found here. Below is what Lloyd and forwards Tobe Awaka and Carter Bryant had to say afterwards:
Lloyd on Utah: “The Utah team, they played their ass off today. I knew they were going to throw some curve balls at us, and they obviously did with the triangle-and-two in the second half. And hey, we got the victory. That was mission accomplished. Our guys played pretty well for certain parts of the game, and we respect Utah and those guys showed up today, considering everything they’re going through.”
On Caleb Love: “Caleb was great today one both ends of the floor. He really took that challenge to guard (Gabe) Madsen. Madsen is a heck of a player. We played against thim for three years. You talk about and energizer bunny and relentless energy, that dude is moving all the time, and the degree of difficulty of some of his shots that he could hit are impressive. I thought Caleb did a great job. He guarded him for the most game. I looked at the final stats, he ended up 2 for 10 from three, but I only think he had eight (attempts) until to the last minute. So Liam Lloyd and Grant Weitman each gave him a three, so they probably got a set of lines tomorrow. But Caleb did an amazing job. But here’s your reward. You get a chance to do it again on Saturday. What you did today was great, but now smart basketball needs to be again Saturday.”
On the important of Love playing well: “Caleb obviously gives us a higher ceiling. If he plays with that energy and focus on both ends of the floor obviously we’re a better team. You probably can say that for a bunch of other guys on our team too. When guys play well we play well.”
On not becoming reliant on one player: “It’s a team game, we can’t just be dependent on one guy. And we’ve never tried to be dependent on one guy. We got to be able to, as we get to the conference tournaments and into March or even through the Big 12 season, you got to be able to survive games where a guy like Caleb doesn’t play well, and then we’ve done that.”
On the overall effort in the 2nd half: “Maybe a little bit casual. But they were throwing a lot at us. They’re going down switching defenses every possession. And this time of year you’re playing teams … teams are pretty set in the ways they do things. And obviously there’s a little curve ball here. I had not seen them play much triangle-and-two, but I also knew (interim coach) Josh (Eilert), he’s been in this situation before. He went through it last year at West Virginia. Sometimes when you’re in that role you can come in and throw pitches that maybe aren’t in your repertoire. And he did that today, and so that kind of made the game feel a little bit disjointed, but I’m proud of the way our guys handled it. I could have coached it different, I could have called timeouts and started get on the whiteboard and all this stuff, but I’m fine that we struggled a little. We got the win. We dealt with a little bit of adversity. Hey, maybe that next time if somebody tries a triangle-and-two on us, we can address it a little bit, be a little bit more familiar with it.”
On only 7 turnovers: “We had two in the first half. We’ve really been talking about taking care of the ball, and I think for the most part we’ve done good job as a team, taking care of the ball. I think we just have been having some individual lapses, really. If each one of you could take away that one turnover, that one habit that you’re having. Collectively, that’ll mean a lot. And so I think our guys did a good job of that. Seven turnovers in a 40-minute game, that’s a great thing, and that’s a winning formula for us.”
On how Iowa State’s fans may treat Love: “I’m not gonna pay attention to that. You know how much that kids’s been booed in his life? So it’s probably business as usual. I think he’s been through the battles and the wars so I would expect him to show up and be unaffected. That better be what happens.”
On playing at Hilton Coliseum: “We’re excited to go see what this deal is all about. Obviously, we’ve heard a lot about it, and I’m sure it’s going to be awesome, and I’ll guarantee you their fans have something waiting for us. Probably more than just Caleb, and then that’s awesome. We’re here for it.”
On his phone call with fired Utah coach Craig Smith: “We got to know each other coaching against each other in the Pac-12, and we kind of came into the league together. Do Craig and I talk on the phone a lot? No. Do we completely understand what everybody goes through all the time? Yes. So you develop a brotherhood. There’s not too many people that know what your life’s really like, and the stress you feel and the pressure that’s on you, and trying to figure out your team and everything comes with it. It was just one guy calling another guy because he respects him, and I just wanted him to know that, hey, he’s a great dude, and sorry that that happened, and I hope he and his family are okay.”
On Smith’s sons: “I want to acknowledge two guys today, Brady and Landon Smith, are Craig’s kids. One’s the director of operations, the other’s a walk-on. And both those kids showed up today, which is pretty amazing. I know this is a business, and it’s a hard business, and I get all those things, but we all have families. We all have kids, and for his kids to show up today … and Craig, I talked to him today, and had not one bad word to say, straight class. For his boys to show up today, with their teammates, says something. This stuff’s hard, what we go through, even when it’s going good, it’s hard. And I know you guys have opinions—and this isn’t against the media, this is just society in general. Us guys that decided to coach, there’s a lot of really cool things that come with it, but there’s a lot of tough stuff. There’s a lot of tough days, and you know what? There’s a lot of times your family gets neglected, because what we’re doing to try to prove our worth as a coach, to prove our value, to prove that we belong at this level. I got a lot of respect for those two young men. It’s impressive. Those two showed up with their teammates today.”
Awaka on the defensive response after the BYU loss: “I thought it was good. Obviously last game was tough. The fact of the matter is we gave up 90-plus points. So defensively, we had a lot of areas to improve in, and I thought we responded well today. JB and Caleb, chasing 55 around the court, going through screens, Henri blocking shots, contesting shots, playing great paint defense, stuff like that I thought we really improved.”
On Love: “I think he’s just playing free. He’s way harder on himself than any of the coaching staff.”
Bryant on Love: “I feel like we’re unstoppable when you have an All-American playing the way he does at high level, it’s very hard for us to be beat because we have so many weapons on the court. He has so much gravity, I think that’s been one thing he’s really starting to learn this year, is just the gravity he has on the basketball court.”
On Love’s defense: “I feel like he’s always been a pretty good defender, a really good defender. But I think we’re starting to have more light and certainty be shed on it, just because he’s guarding some of the best players in the country. Night in and night out he’s doing a great job. Not necessarily that he gets disrespected, but he’s a really good defender, whether it’s on or off the ball. He’s always engaged. He’s always reading his passing lanes. He’s actually a pretty good rim protector for his size.”
On Utah: “I think they did a great job of just coming out competing, at the end of the day that’s all you can ask for, especially in a situation like that. They came out and competed to the best of their abilities tonight.”
On if he’ll continue to wear a headband: “I don’t know, it might be Tobe’s call. KJ and Trey were supposed to wear them with me tonight, but they didn’t end up wearing it and left me out there alone. I might make them wear it (at Iowa State).”
On what he expects at Iowa State: “We expect nothing less than a dog fight. Great basketball team, great coaching staff. So we’re just gonna go in and play as hard as possible. We’re gonna be locked in defensively, offensively, understand our scheme and coverages and their personnel and tendencies. We’re just gonna go out and hope for the best.”