You could not have asked for a better start to the season for Arizona men’s basketball. In Tommy Lloyd’s fifth season in Tucson, he has his team off to one of the best starts in program history.
The Wildcats knocked off the defending national champion Florida Gators in Vegas to start the season. Then in an old Pac-12 rivalry, they beat UCLA in Los Angeles.
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In their third ranked matchup, they traveled to Storrs, Connecticut and beat UConn who has won two out of the last three national championships.
Arizona brought in the second overall recruiting class in the nation, and it is a big reason why it has gotten off to such a hot start. Standing at 7-0, it was a perfect month for the Wildcats.
Here are five things we’ve learned about Arizona men’s basketball from the month of November:
Jaden Bradley is Him
Following the departure of Caleb Love, who is now in the NBA, Arizona was left with a vacancy in its veteran leader spot. Since the beginning of the season, that guy has been Jaden Bradley.
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He started his season off with a 27 point performance against Florida, and also had a 21 point performance on the road at UConn.
While he may have had these spectacular performances against high level competition, he will never take credit for it.
“Proud of this guy here next to me, just so steady,” said Lloyd after the UConn game. “You know all the things he’s going to say in this deal. He’s going to give all his credit to his teammates, which is what a great point guard does. I’m really proud of him, and just the player he’s developed into being.”
He is shooting 59.6 percent on the season, and is averaging 14.3 points per game. Bradley is the conductor for the offense and is the all in all leader of the Wildcats this season.
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“I would just say, trusting in my work, trusting in the coaches putting me in great positions, and my teammates,” said Bradley. “Making sure I’m doing what I’m supposed to do on the court.”
The freshman are still growing
In bringing in a second ranked recruiting class, the freshman for Lloyd have had an immediate impact on the young season.
Let’s start with probably the most talented of the freshmen, Koa Peat. Right now he is averaging 15.6 points per game on 53.9 percent shooting.
Peat had a huge introductory performance against Florida with 30 points and seven rebounds.
“Koa, it was a coming out party for him, so to speak,” said Lloyd. “Everyone’s known about him, but no one’s really studied him and watched him. He’s a special player.”
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Next would be Brayden Burries, whose best performance came against Denver where he scored 20 points. He is averaging 10.6 points per game.
The struggle for Burries is his shooting percentage which stands at 39.7 percent. Despite the low shooting percentage, Lloyd has the utmost confidence that he will be just fine moving forward.
“Brayden has played a lot of big games, and like a lot of freshmen, he’s figuring his way out in this deal right now too,” said Lloyd. “I have no doubts that he’s going to be really, really successful. So, no stress on me.”
One of the more hard working players of the class is Ivan Kharchenkov. His season high, along with Burries, came against Denver where he also scored 20 points.
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Kharchenkov is averaging 6.9 points per game on 41.9 percent shooting. His work shows in the form of taking on some of the bigger opponents and neutralizing some of the other teams best players.
The last of the major freshmen is Dwayne Aristode, who is still finding his role on the lineup. He is averaging 6.4 points per game on 48.5 percent shooting.
His best game came against NAU where he scored 18 points on 6-9 shooting from the three point line.
For Aristode, Kharchenkov and Burries, they might not be producing as expected in some areas but they are producing enough for Arizona.
Rebounding dominance
A big reason why the Wildcats have started 7-0 is their ability to rebound the ball at a dominant level. The rebounding margin for Arizona is +12.9 and it averages 42.6 rebounds per game.
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Tobe Awaka is the leading force for rebounding with 73 rebounds this season and averages 10.4 on the season. Along with Awaka is his counterpart Motiejus Krivas.
After missing almost all of last season, Krivas is slowly improving game by game. He averages 7.7 rebounds and has 54 rebounds.
“He’s worked really hard, “ said Lloyd. “He’s a good player. He’s gotten better. You don’t get instant results, and this thing isn’t about instant results.”
As long as Arizona keeps up the dominant rebounding performance, it will continue its undefeated season.
Free throws > three pointers
One interesting area for Lloyd and his team is the fact that it is shooting way more free throw attempts than three pointers. In past seasons, it was part of the bread and butter for the offense.
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On the season, the Wildcats have shot 113 threes, and 185 free throws. Clearly there is an emphasis on getting down low and drawing fouls.
Arizona is also just 37.2 percent on the season from three, compared to 71.9 percent at the free throw line. For Lloyd, it is business as usual.
“We obviously value free throws,” said Lloyd after the Denver game. “I wish we shot those a little better tonight. We value paint points. But that doesn’t mean we’re not going to shoot threes. I was happy with most of the shots we took tonight.”
Will Arizona start to rely on the three point shot through the rest of non-conference play and into Big 12 play. It seems like Lloyd is content choosing to live with the results from the free point line.
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Dell’Orso’s confidence
One of the unsung heroes of this early season is Anthony Dell’Orso. His breakout performance came against UCLA where he came off the bench and scored 20 points.
For the season, Dell’Orso is 46.2 percent from the field and averages 11.3 points per game. Now it’s not that he’s coming in and shooting the lights out in every game. Dell’Orso is finding his spots and shooting with confidence.
Last season, there were many times where he had a shot that he probably should’ve shot but hesitated. Now, for him there is almost no doubt that he is shooting and making more shots.
““I think something that goes unnoticed is that part of my game,” said Dell’Orso. “Before I came to this school that’s really all I did. I was a very downhill guy, free throw line guy, and then obviously coming to the bigger level you get met with physicality, big guys, and you kind of have to adapt.”
Pairing along with the leadership of Bradley and Awaka, the young Wildcats have plenty of guys to go to for advice, and Lloyd has plenty of veterans to lean on.
