TEMPE – For top-ranked Arizona, youth was served.
You want patience and understanding? Hell, Arizona’s three freshmen starters have been so good for so long you really don’t consider them freshman anymore. And, well, nothing should surprise. It surely doesn’t shock their head coach Tommy Lloyd.
“They are good players and we count on them on a nightly basis,” Lloyd said after Arizona defeated Arizona State, 87-74, here at Desert Financial Arena. “And they are reliable. At this point (in the season) nothing what they do really surprises me.”
That’s what helps make the Wildcats so special 22 games in. They are a sum of their parts, and the freshmen are huge parts behind Koa Peat, Brayden Burries and Ivan Kharchenkov.
Peat had a game-high 21 points and three rebounds; Kharchenkov had 12 points and four rebounds; and Brayden Burries who had 17 points.
Bing. Bang. Boom.
And by the end, UA wore down ASU for the second time this year. ASU coach Bobby Hurley said UA wore them down in the second half.
Hurley said things went so well for Arizona – and in part because ASU didn’t guard him – Peat hit two 3-pointers after having hit just four for the season.
“Things like that start happening and it makes it even harder to beat a team this good,” Hurley said.
And now Arizona is 22-0 and has set a new school record for winning its first 22 games to start a season. For many – fans and media – it’s a big deal. For Lloyd, it’s, um, called Saturday.
“I’m the wrong guy to talk about that (with),” Lloyd said. “That’s for you guys .. 1-0 (and) a great week.”
“It’s a testament to our hard work,” Peat said.
Lloyd, however, happier that UA won two games on the Big 12 road to get them to this point.
“I don’t care what your record is,” he said, “you feel good.”
And Arizona does as it’ll take a week off before hosting Oklahoma State on Saturday.
On this Saturday, UA survived another tough, physical game from ASU, a team that just two weeks ago played UA to single digits. Again, the freshmen were huge, but so were Tobe Awaka and his 13 rebounds (more later) and Jaden Bradley, who had 10 points in a foul-riddled game. Bradley went in in the final minutes and hit two key jumpers to keep ASU at a comfortable distance.
“What’s so great about Jaden is that he’s so reliable,” Lloyd said. “He doesn’t get overly hyped up or emotional. You can see how comfortable he is at the end of those games. He gets in those spots where he’s been really affective all year.”
The play of the game – or when it was at least still in doubt – came when senior Awaka chased down a loose ball when he dove and eventually got the ball to Anthony Del’Orso, who was fouled, later hitting two free throws. Peat followed with a massive dunk and the game started going Arizona’s way even more. Lloyd called it “a big-time play.”
“Play of the game, easy … play of the game,” said Lloyd, who said he told those three guys one would have to have a hustle play. “You have to send a message not just to your opponent but to your team.”
Hurley said it was a game much like the first one, when ASU played close for the first half but could sustain the same energy.
“We could not deal with their strength, their size, their ability to do things our roster could not stay with,” Hurley said.
Ironically – or purposely – Hurley sat and watched Peat take warmups before the game (maybe 45 minutes to an hour before the game). What he thought is anyone’s guess. Maybe he imagined how this kid – who lived just six miles away from ASU’s campus – would have made a difference in his program.
After all, he’s one of the freshmen who have had an impact on Arizona’s.
Saturday afternoon, it felt like an Arizona home game to him, given his family was here to watch him play.
“I always wanted to play here, I came to a lot of games when I was younger,” Peat said. “So, it was cool.”
Cool, indeed.
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