Arizona on a roll after slow start in Tommy Lloyd’s fourth season as coach

By Canadian Press on January 16, 2025.

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Arizona’s free-flowing offense bogged down. The team’s best player wasn’t always at this best. The expected starting center played limited minutes before going down with a season-ending foot injury.

The combination led to the Wildcats’ worst stretch in four seasons under coach Tommy Lloyd, dimming the prospects of a season that had opened with so much promise.

It took a little time and a few adjustments, but Arizona has righted itself at the right time, pushing to the top of the Big 12 with a stretch of three wins over ranked opponents in 10 days.

“I thought we had a good team — I knew we had a good team,” Lloyd said. “We got off to a little bit of a rough start, so you know that that might skew things a little bit, but we really wanted to build. We wanted to get off to a good start in conference, that was important for us, and I think we’ve done that.”

Expectations have followed the Wildcats since the Lute Olson days and this season was no different. Coming off a second Sweet 16 run in three years, Arizona opened this season No. 10 in AP Top 25 preseason poll and climbed a spot after season’s first full week.

Then things went sideways.

The Wildcats were blown out by No. 24 Wisconsin, lost two of three at the Battle 4 Atlantis and dropped to 4-5 with a 57-54 loss to UCLA in Phoenix on Dec. 14.

They haven’t lost since.

Arizona closed out its nonconference season with two lopsided wins and has been stellar since the start of its first season Big 12 season. The Wildcats pulled out road wins against Cincinnati and West Virginia — both ranked at the time — and stretched their winning streak to seven games with Tuesday’s 81-70 win over No. 25 Baylor.

The run puts Arizona (11-5, 5-0 Big 12) at the top of the Big 12 standings with No. 3 Iowa State and in position to return to the rankings with a win at Texas Tech on Saturday.

“When we make good plays and when we’re competitive, we get that energy and adrenaline inside us,” Arizona big man Henry Veesaar said.

Veesaar has been a big part of it.

The 7-foot Estonian forward played limited minutes as a freshman, took a medical redshirt last year and was expected be the backup to Motiejus Krivas this year.

Veesaar was thrust into a larger role when Krivas was limited by an ankle injury early in the season and into an even bigger one when his fellow big man went down with a season-ending foot injury.

Veesaar has thrived in the added minutes, averaging 8.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. He scored 14 points in a win over UCF over the weekend and had a team-high 19 against Baylor.

“I’ve been telling him, ‘Hey, Henri, you’re turning into a real player,’” Lloyd said. “So what you can’t do now is relax. You got to keep going for it. You’re on the scouting report now and you’re not a surprise, so you got to keep coming.”

It hasn’t been just Veesaar.

Arizona had been among the national leaders in assists through Lloyd’s first three years, but was middle of the pack early this season. The Wildcats have regained their movement and are sharing the ball better over the past month, moving up to 24th nationally with 17.4 assists per game.

It’s certainly helped that Caleb Love has regained form.

The athletic guard was the Pac-12 player of the year last season, but struggled at times to get shots to fall early this year. He went a combined 1 for 15 from 3 against Wisconsin and Duke, and was shooting 28% from the arc through the first nine games.

Love found his touch through a three-game stretch of scoring at least 23 points — 33 against TCU on Dec. 30 — and leads the Wildcats with 15.3 points per game. He’s failed to reach double figures in two of the past three games, but has provided huge contributions playmaking and on defense as Arizona keeps winning.

“We’re always going to be team first — Caleb’s a team guy as well,” Lloyd said. “And I feel good that when he’s not playing well, we’re OK. There’s some reassurance that OK, we got this.”

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John Marshall, The Associated Press