Arizona Escapes with First Big Conference Win
Wildcats Remain the Only Undefeated Team in Big 12 at 8-0
Arizona added to their impressive resume, winning three games in a span of six days over Cincinnati, West Virginia, and finally at BYU on one day rest. At 21-0, the Cats have crossed the midway point of the season with a maximum of ten regular season, three conference tournament, and six NCAA tournament games remaining. But beginning with that game in Provo, the Wildcats Big 12 schedule is about to get a lot harder.
BYU Clutch Time
The Wildcats led 64-45 with 10:53 to go, and 82-71 with 1:22 left. Somehow, they had to barely hang on for the win. What happened? I broke it all down in my latest video.
What’s New (Quick Hits)
Koa Peat the Creator
Early in the season, I advocated for the Wildcats to try an inverted pick and roll with Koa Peat as the ball handler and one of the guards as the screener. While we haven’t gotten that exactly, Arizona did have Peat in the creator roll twice this week and Awaka as the screener in a four-five PnR.
Wheel ATO for ADO
Arizona’s most run set other than its standard flow offense is a wheel around the top of the key with the point guard getting the ball back into a 1-5 PnR. Here’s the set twice against Bethune-Cookman.
We are at the point in the season where teams may have scouted that out, so it’s time to counter. Out of timeouts vs both Cincinnati and West Virginia, the Cats had Tobe Awaka fake the ball screen and go into a wide pindown for Anthony Dell’Orso. Neither directly resulted in points, but its fun to see those little tweaks.
Two For One, Appeal, and Timeout Updates
We reviewed two-for-one strategy a few weeks ago. Arizona had another opportunity versus Cincinnati and chose to run normal offense. BYU instead took a quick three to ensure they would get another possession. They scored on neither; however, Tobe Awaka did pick up a third foul in this stretch.
Coach Lloyd took his turn appealing for a flagrant foul when Motiejus Krivas let coaches know he has been pulled backwards by the shoulders. Lloyd gave credit to the coaching staff for the decision to appeal, which the Cats won. Krivas was on the receiving end of two flagrant fouls against Cincinnati.
Lloyd is now 3-0 on challenges and 1-0 on appeals for the year.
We also hit on timeouts in the same recent newsletter. In the five games since, Arizona forfeited one first half timeout, used three with less than a minute to go, and Jaden Bradley took one to avoid a five-second call. So the Cats have still used only four first half timeouts for other reasons this season.
Coach Lloyd did use all four timeouts against BYU, including three where it would be BYU’s ball coming out of the timeout. The Cougars did not score on any of those chances, including the play that ended with Brayden Burries’s block to close the game.
Next up: at “The School Up North” on Saturday, January 31st, Noon MST.
I'm a BYU fan, so obviously disappointed with the loss, but enjoyed your detailed analysis and recap. I really wanted to see AJ get the ball when BYU was down 1. I know KY said he was one of the options, but I don't see him make a hard cut on the inbounds or try to come to the ball after it is inbounded. Maybe would have been different if Arizona had manned up instead of playing zone/switching on screens on the inbounds. But great play by Burries. Burries does kind of reminds me of Russell Westbrook in terms of being super (over?) confident in himself, so we'll see if that ever hurts them in close games when he might try to do it himself when that's not what's best for the team. Glad that we get to see a rematch in Tucson! Wish Kansas was also coming to Provo this year.
Two things I noticed on Rob Wright's last shot:
1) Rob often finishes on the left with a right-handed scoop shot off the glass, which would have made it a lot harder to block from behind
2) When Rob elevates to shoot, AJ stays on the perimeter and jumps in anticipation of whether the shot will fall. If he had crashed the boards instead, he would have been in the vicinity of where the block ended up. So it will be interesting to see if that is different in any future close game situations