Ever play Whac-a-mole or three-card monte?
Arizona men’s basketball opponents have … and have yet to find the right solution for success this season.
Arizona, on the other hand, has been a perfect 15-0 when opponents haven’t been able to figure out who to stop (Whac or find the hidden card/player).
Wednesday night – in a game that seeming took forever – Kansas State was the latest Arizona victim, losing 101-76 in McKale Center.
Step right up and see you have to stop on any given night.
Wednesday, it was a threesome of UA players.
Mo Krivas had a career-high 25 points and 12 rebounds, Brayden Burries had a career-high 28 points and nine rebounds and Koa Peat had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
“With Arizona,” Kansas State coach Jerome Tang said, “you have to pick your poison. The problem is that it’s all poison.”
KSU had no number for poison control.
They tried – but no one answered the call to stop Arizona’s top three on Thursday. Remember, it could be any one, two or three … hell, four, five or six. Why not add seven or eight?
Arizona is that deep, strong and, well, good.
Arizona has now defeated 10 consecutive opponents by 19 points or more and would have been more than 20 but UA defeated Utah by only – yeah, right – only 19 over the weekend.
Still, Arizona looked good on Wednesday, even though KSU tried to rough ‘em up a bit with fouls and, well, more fouls. But Arizona jumped out early and cruised the whole game.
“Every team will try to win games that way, with rebounds and physicality,” said Krivas, who said he was a little disappointed in his play over the weekend, so he wanted to have a better game on Wednesday.
Then a career game happened.
“Every guy our team tries to put a paint presence, and this time it worked,” he said. “I just had it going. They see that I was scoring and they trusted me.”
What’s not to trust? He’s Arizona’s legit 7-foot-2 man in the middle … a self-motivator who wants to improve every game.
“Mo’s a high character guy. He doesn’t need me to light a fire under him,” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said. “I’m not afraid to push him, because I think he responds to that. You’re seeing a guy who’s kind of coming into his own. This is really his second year in college basketball. (After getting injured). I just think you’re seeing a guy who we knew was going to be a dominant player in this program, but it’s finally coming into fruition.”
It takes takes time – especially for bigger or taller people. Not so much time – when you’re talented – like Burries, Arizona’s five-star guard who continues to ramp up his play lately.
He’s scored in bunches lately and each game looks better than his last. Wednesday, he was slashing to the basket with ease, getting in a nice slam for good measure.
“I don’t think I’ve changed (from the beginning of the season), I think I’m just getting used to the speed,” Burries said. “More games, more experience, that’s why I’m getting better. I’m honestly just going out there and just hooping, trusting my teammates and the game plan.”
Trust, what a concept. As far as getting better, well, Lloyd, again, he’s not putting limits on his young players.
“Brayden does a great job of being aggressive, but staying within the framework of the team,” Lloyd said. “Let’s just continue to give him space and let him do his thing and, I’m gonna try to keep encouraging him to learn.
“I told him you got through a rough stretch, you had a good stretch, and now this January should be maybe the most significant jump maybe you make in your young basketball career should be this month, based off having positive and negative experiences. So, let’s approach it like that. It looks like he’s off to a good start.”
How will it continue? Historically, freshmen hit a wall in college basketball. It could come, maybe. Then again maybe not. It’s just something that happens. Lloyd is a aware of it. So, I asked.
“I’m not putting limits on these guys, and I’m not making assumptions either,” he said. “We’re going to watch them. We’re watching all our guys. We’re starting to dig into how we are practicing. What work are we doing outside of practice? What does strength and conditioning look like? How’s our recovery stuff? We’re digging into all that right now. We’ll leave no stone unturned to make sure these guys are as fresh as possible over the course of a tough season.”
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