Don\u2019t book those tickets to Indianapolis just yet, but maybe look into hotel prices for early April.<\/p>\n
Arizona never trailed in an 81-68 exhibition win over Saint Mary\u2019s on Saturday afternoon at McKale Center, a game that doesn\u2019t count for anything but provided the first real glimpse of what Tommy Lloyd<\/strong> has at his disposal this season.<\/p>\n \u201cI told our guys if you\u2019re able to lead a team like that for 40 minutes, kind of weather a storm and a few runs, I mean, that\u2019s a good place to start,\u201d Lloyd said. \u201cWe shot 53 percent and turned the ball over seven times. That\u2019s a winning formula. We held them to 39.3 percent and they turned the ball over 12 times. That\u2019s a winning formula.\u201d<\/p>\n Jaden Bradley<\/strong> led the way with 23 points, 15 in the second half including eight during a game-sealing 16-2 run down the stretch. Anthony Dell\u2019Orso<\/strong> had 13 points, Motiejus Krivas<\/strong> had 11 with 17 rebounds and two blocks and freshmen Brayden Burries<\/strong> and Koa Peat<\/strong> each scored 10 on 5-of-7 shooting.<\/p>\n Arizona was without senior Tobe Awaka<\/strong> and freshman Sidi Gueye<\/strong>, both of whom sat out while nursing injuries. Lloyd said Awaka could have played if it were the regular season but it was \u201cprudent\u201d to hold him out.<\/p>\n That resulted in Krivas playing 33 minutes, 11 more than in any regular season game prior to having foot surgery last December.<\/p>\n \u201cThe minutes were probably a little heavy, we want to build to that, but the situation called for it,\u201d Lloyd said. \u201cIt was good because it made us dig deep and try things we probably wouldn\u2019t have had to try.\u201d<\/p>\n The game wasn\u2019t devoid of mistakes for Arizona, which was 4 of 16 from 3 (Dell\u2019Orso missed six of seven attempts) and went 13 of 25 from the line. Better to have those happen in an exhibition, particularly against an opponent that has made the last four NCAA tournaments, than in the games that start to count in a couple weeks.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t simulate game reps in practice,\u201d Dell\u2019Orso said. \u201cYou can try, but you never get it unless you play against tough people. That\u2019s the best preparation you can ask for. That\u2019s exactly why we\u2019ve scheduled these people, and that\u2019s why our nonconference schedule is the way it is. We\u2019re going into a league that everyone knows just one of the best leagues in best leagues in the in the country, and you have to be equipped with the right tools to be able to handle that. We don\u2019t shy away from any opponent, and we\u2019re expected to go play big guys and beat them.\u201d<\/p>\n Arizona led 37-30 at halftime thanks to 59.3 percent shooting while the Gaels shot 33.3 percent. But while the first half was fairly free-flowing, despite 20 fouls called, the second half was far more stunted with whistles.<\/p>\n Burries picked up three fouls in the first 2:38 after halftime, sending him to the bench with five\u2014the limit was six for the exhibition\u2014while Saint Mary\u2019s was in the bonus after only a few minutes. Throw in whistles for minor injuries toPeat(twice) and Dell\u2019Orso and action was stop and go for a while.<\/p>\n It was 49-46 UA before an 8-point burst that began with Krivas dunking in transition and then, continued with an Evan Nelson<\/strong> corner 3 off a dish from Bradley and finished with a 3-point play by Bradley to make it 57-46 with 10:41 to go.<\/p>\n Saint Mary\u2019s cut it to 63-60 with 5:55 to go before Arizona pulled away. Nine straight points included five in a row from Bradley with a steal in the middle.<\/p>\n Arizona held Saint Mary\u2019s without points for nearly three minutes to start the game, going up 6-0 and never trailing in the first half. A Dell\u2019Orso dunk keyed an 11-0 run to put the Wildcats up 30-18 with 5:08 left in the first half.<\/p>\n The Gaels got as close as 33-28 with a 5-0 run late in the first half but Dell\u2019Orso hit a midrange jumper just before the buzzer to put Arizona up seven at the break.<\/p>\n The UA plays its second exhibition on Oct. 27 against Embry-Riddle ahead of the regular season opener Nov. 3 in Las Vegas against defending NCAA champ Florida.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should be a better team, regardless of opponent, the next time you guys see us,\u201d Lloyd said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t book those tickets to Indianapolis just yet, but maybe look into hotel prices for early April. Arizona…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":314929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[76891,1339,1317,1337,1338,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-314928","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-arizona-basketball","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-basketball","12":"tag-ncaabasketball","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115398507571932536","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}