How did No. 20 Arizona defeat the No. 13 Red Raiders?
The Wildcats out-Teched the Tech.
Arizona was more physical – something it wasn’t in the first meeting last month – and it proved to be a major difference. There were, of course, other things, but UA did what it didn’t do last time in avenging its only Big 12 Conference loss 82-73 in front of the best McKale Center crowd this season.
“Our team has really improved in the physicality areas of defense and rebounding,” Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said after the game. “I feel like our team got better, but (Saturday), it was obvious that Tommy (Lloyd) did an awesome job (in getting UA ready). You want to talk about having a team ready to go? Arizona was more physical than us in every way … just the way they pushed it in transition, the way they got it into the paint and scored at the basket, the way they bullied us with their defensive pushing all the catches out, their activity on the ball, their physicality and rebounding, their offensive rebounding and scoring in the paint.
They basically, you know, beat us in every area.”
It’s a prerequisite of playing – and winning – in the Big 12. Through 12 games, Arizona has seemingly found a home. Since it went 4-5 to begin the season – just for context – Arizona has made a run through the conference to stay atop the leaderboard alongside Houston. Few would have thought that two months ago. Arizona has gone 13-1 since.
But, alas, here the Wildcats are, playing some of their best basketball of the season. In fact, I thought Tuesday night’s win over Brigham Young University was its best overall game, winning on the road against a good team. Then four days later, Arizona ramped it up for an even better one.
“This is what we expected,” Lloyd said in his postgame press conference. “I didn’t expect to be (4-5) but I didn’t panic. It doesn’t mean there wasn’t a sense of urgency. We rolled up our sleeves and figured it out.”
It got tough. And it realized they are the sum of its parts and not a team of individuals.
Credit Lloyd. Credit everyone.
It isn’t changing gears to get these results. Of course, there’s still a rocky road ahead – the toughest points in the schedule are coming – but the winning the last two months surely beats the alternative.
In that time, Arizona got tough, and, perhaps, is the toughest (physically) Arizona has had in some time, although Lloyd debated that.
“I’ve always thought we’re a physical program,” he said. “There’s different levels to the physicality, obviously. Like Houston would probably be at the top of the list. I love physical basketball. It’s nothing we ever shied away from. But I also know in this conference, you (have) to be built for it, and if you’re not, you’re gonna get crushed on the glass, and you’re gonna get crushed physically.
“You can’t wilt on your drives. (Texas Tech’s) guards aren’t big, but they’re really physical. Their guards do a great job as you start penetrating and get down by the elbow, at just timing their contact just right to kind of knock you off your drive line.”All of a sudden, it’s a given UA will show up physically. Seemingly Tobe Awaka & Jaden Bradely & the rest are built for it. Awaka and Bradley are made for it.
“Going into the game we knew it would be physical,” said Bradley, who tied the team high with 16 points. “We wanted to get them back (for losing) last time at their place. We knew it would be tough, especially without Trey (Townsend), one of our key players. It was all hands on deck.”
The two strongest came from UA big guys Henri Veesaar and Awaka, who provided a one-two combo that was unstoppable. They combined for 29 points and 19 rebounds. UA was able to outrebound TT 42-29 overall.
“They’re awesome,” Lloyd said. “They’ve really developed. Let’s not forget, I felt like we had one of the most dominant bigs in the country coming back this year in Mo Krivas (out for the season with an injury). These other guys have done an incredible job stepping up.
We’ve always been a program that’s taken a ton of pride in our bigs and their development. Listen, everyone’s a work in progress, but the way Henri and Tobe played was pretty special. They really took the challenge of the physicality.”
Veesaar played a career-high 30 minute and scored 15 points and had eight rebounds. There were times when it looked like he couldn’t give anymore and then did, racing in for a putback dunk or coming up with a swatted ball.
Awaka has been labeled a beast on the boards and more, but Arizona’s 7-foot string bean was all that and more.
“Just watching how he’s progressed since I first got here has been amazing,” Awaka said of Veesaar. “He’s a great player, even greater person off the court, just seeing how he’s been working in the weight room, getting shots up before practice, things of that nature. It’s really no surprise that he’s showcasing what he is.”
With Townsend out (due to concussion protocol), Lloyd went with two Awaka and Veesaar more than ever this season. It was something he had thought about before but now was all but forced into it.
“I just thought it would be important this game,” Lloyd said. “I thought we got crushed on the (boards) so bad by these guys last time. We were planning on playing two bigs to start up the season, and then Mo gets hurt, things change. I definitely think Henri and Tobe playing together could be something we can see down the stretch of the season. There’s a lot of advantages to it. Tobe did a great job defensively, no matter what position he played. I thought Henri was really impactful around the rim, changing shots and then coming up with rebounds around the basket.”
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