It was shades of the Lute Olson days when guard play was so dominant.
The 1997 title trio of Miles Simon, Mike Bibby and Michael Dickerson (with Jason Terry a reserve) comes to mind.
The fourth season under Tommy Lloyd started impressively Monday night with perimeter players Caleb Love, Jaden Bradley and KJ Lewis combining for 46 points with 14 assists and only one turnover in a 93-64 win over Canisius at McKale Center.
“I felt like those three guards from the start of the game, they were really dynamic,” Lloyd said. “They had stretches in that game where they were dominant. They have the ability to feed off of each other a little bit. They love playing with each other.
“They’re comfortable with each other. That’s exciting to see. I think that’s hopefully something we’re going to be able to hang our hat on all year.”
Love finished with 17 points, six assists without a turnover and had four rebounds. He made 7 of 15 shots from the field.
Bradley had 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field with four rebounds and four assists without a turnover.
Lewis scored 14 points shooting 5 of 8 from the field with also four rebounds and four assists with one turnover.
Arizona tallied 20 assists on 33 made field goals and outrebounded Canisius 43-25 behind a team-high nine rebounds from Tennessee transfer Tobe Awaka.
The Wildcats also had 12 steals, led by four from Bradley and two from Lewis, and scored 26 points off turnovers.
Canisius played its first game under coach Jim Christian, who spent 19 years at previous stops Kent State, TCU, Ohio and Boston College.
The Golden Griffins were led by Paul McMillan IV’s 20 points. Dylan Godfrey added 13 points and Tana Kopa had 11.
It was the first meeting between Canisius and Arizona since the 1953-54 season.
Arizona scored the game’s first 13 points and built its lead to 34-10, which matched its largest lead of the half.
The Wildcats exhibited balance and efficiency in the half, taking a 52-30 lead at halftime, with four players scoring at least seven points each and posting 11 assists on 16 made field goals with only three turnovers.
Love, an All-American guard who chose to return for his fifth year, led Arizona with 10 points and four assists with no turnovers in the first half.
Henri Veesaar also had seven of his eight points in the first half.
Arizona’s projected starting 7-foot-2 Lithuanian center Motiejus Krivas was cleared to play after an ankle injury kept him out of exhibition games against Eastern New Mexico and Point Loma.
He had five points on 5-of-8 shooting from the free-throw line and grabbed four rebounds in the first half. He finished with nine points and five rebounds.
After McMillan’s 3-pointer with 16:21 left cut the lead to 61-41, Arizona pulled away with a 15-3 run with Love scoring seven points and Lewis six in that span.
Krivas culminated the run with a dunk that gave Arizona a 76-44 lead with 12:12 remaining.
Canisius had its moments, making 10 shots from 3-point range and shooting 46.2 percent from the field in the second half while tallying eight assists. The Golden Griffins shot better from 3-point range (10 of 26, 38.5 percent) than Arizona (8 of 28, 28.6 percent).
“We need to fight a little bit harder (on defense),” Lloyd said. “I think we can do a better job contesting shots. I think we could do a better job hustling out of some of our rotations. We probably don’t have enough reps yet. So this film is really going to be good learning.”
When asked about the status of 7-foot Nigerian freshman center Emmanuel Stephen, who did not play and may redshirt, Lloyd said, “I want the best opportunities for him in his career.”
“We’ve kind of gone back and forth with him and we’re just kind of helping him through,” Lloyd said. “It’s tough, with the way the current NCAA rules are, if I would have played him two minutes tonight, that was it (losing his redshirt status).
“We have some other guys right now that are a little bit ahead of him. Each one of those guys that are ahead of him were also a freshmen at one point, and they were behind others. It’s kind of a little bit of a waiting period you have to go through sometimes. He’s kind of stuck in that mode right now.”
Arizona next plays Old Dominion on Saturday at 2 p.m. at McKale Center.
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