By Matthew Singer/Cronkite News
TUCSON – A spotlight has focused on coach Tommy Lloyd and his players for his entire five-year tenure with the University of Arizona men’s basketball program.
This season’s Wildcats might garner the most national attention the program has seen in a long time.
After defeating the reigning champs, the Florida Gators, on opening night, the Wildcats faced Utah Tech in McKale Center on Friday and posted a convincing 93-67 victory.
Although it’s only two games into the college basketball season, this team looks different than any other during Lloyd’s Wildcats tenure.
One reason is the emergence of sensational five-star freshman Koa Peat. In the 93-87 victory over the Gators, Peat became the first Big 12 player to have at least 30 points and five assists in a collegiate debut, according to ESPN research, along with seven rebounds and three steals.
In his first home game at McKale against the Trailblazers, Peat followed up his historic night with a team-high 18 points, tying Anthony Dell’Orso and Brayden Burries.
“He got off to a really loud start on Monday,” Lloyd said. “And I think he followed it up with a pretty solid performance, which is what I was looking for. Koa has enough confidence in himself to know that everything doesn’t need to be about him at every moment. And I think that’s a really special trait for a young player to have.”
Peat has looked like the best player on a team that will only get better throughout the season, and is a potential top-five pick in the NBA draft.
“Koa is a winner,” Lloyd said. “I think every team he’s on has a great chance of winning. And that was obviously the case for every team he’s been on in his life. I think that’ll be the case here, and I think it’ll be the case in the future when he’s playing at the next level.”
But he is far from the only star on this team.
Senior guard Jaden Bradley was left off the preseason all-Big 12 team.
In fact, no Wildcats player made the team, a rarity for a program that has been at the forefront of the college basketball landscape since the days of Lute Olson.
Bradley quickly proved the people responsible for that decision wrong.
In his season debut against Florida, Bradley scored 27 points and dished five assists, retaining the pivotal role he’s had on this Arizona team since his sophomore season.
“How in the world do they not have Jaden Bradley as one of the top 20 point guards in the country,” a fired-up Lloyd asked the media after his team’s victory opening night.
Arizona, through two games, has had three freshmen in its starting five – Peat, Brayden Burries, and Ivan Kharchenkov.
Burries, the five-star talent that was garnering almost as much preseason attention as Peat, struggled in his first college game, scoring just three points on 1-of-6 shooting and fouling out.
However, in his second game, Burries bounced back and had 18 points on 7-of-16 shooting.
“I feel like I’m still learning from the best on our team,” Burries said. “When I’m out there and I’m having my lows, I just feel like I can allow my teammates to keep giving me confidence and my coach to keep giving me confidence.”
Kharchenkov, the four-star international talent, had a double-double in his debut with 12 points and 10 rebounds, but struggled to find quality looks in his second game, scoring two points on 0-of-3 shooting.
Another reason this team looks different than others fielded by Lloyd is the lack of 3-point shots attempted.
In every season during his time in Tucson, Lloyd’s teams have attempted at least 21 3-pointers per game.
Against Florida, the Wildcats attempted just five 3-point shots —an incredibly low number for most successful teams in the sport. Against Utah Tech, it wasn’t much different, with 15 3-point shots attempted, and just eight by the starters.
Dell’Orso, one of the best sharpshooters on this Arizona team, made three in five attempts against the Trailblazers and scored 15 points in six minutes in the first half.
“My teammates obviously found me in the right spots,” Dell’Orso said. “We had a good stretch. We had momentum swing our way. As a guy that got the benefit of it tonight, I’m happy for it. It could be anyone at that moment who went playing like that.”
In a loaded conference that includes BYU, last year’s runner-up Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, and Texas Tech as AP-ranked teams, and UCLA, UConn, Auburn, and Alabama on the Wildcats’ out-of-conference schedule, a tough road remains for Lloyd and Arizona.
The coach is ready to face the challenges ahead. “Let me cook,” Lloyd said. “I don’t coach out of a manual. I coach off a feel and what I think is best for the team. What we’re doing today, we might not be doing in two weeks. We’re going to read and react as things play out.”
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