The game might as well have been over when Arizona had the lead at 11-0.
It would have made things easier for Old Dominion. Come in, get out and not have to be submitted to a pretty good overall performance from No. 10 Arizona.
But, what you wouldn’t have seen Arizona buzz right through the Monarchs in Saturday’s stroll through McKale, 102-44.
Offensively and defensively, Arizona was at its early season best. Poor Old Dominion – who played under the watchful eye of former Monarchs star Mark West, who sat behind and near their bench.
Well, they needed the former Phoenix Suns star on Saturday because Arizona outmuscled the Monarchs on the rebounding end and, well, every other end.
Did it start on the frontcourt? Backcourt? Both?
Clearly, Tommy Lloyd has talked about the need for his team to be aggressive – at all spots. KJ Lewis, Jaden Bradley and Caleb Love give him that on the perimeter. Tobe Awaka & Company do it near the basket.
“Those perimeter guys, it really helps us there,” said Lloyd, when I asked about having the trio guards attacking on the perimeter. “They have experience there. They’ve been through scouting reports, they know how to execute game plans. But I think what else is helping us is just our depth inside, and our mobility of our bigs.
“It’s allowing us to kind of explore some different ball screen coverages and maybe some different switching scenarios than we’ve been able to do in the past. I like how the package is coming together, but I also know that it’s on film and we watch it, and I know that other teams are watching … so it’s going to be a little bit of a give and take for a while as they try to figure out how to attack us and figure out where our chinks in our armor (are).”
Again, he likes what he sees. Who wouldn’t?
Through two games – and yes, against lower level competition – it’s looked very good. Heck, Canisius could score for the first few minutes on Monday night as UA won big. It happened again on Saturday, albeit against a much shorter Old Dominion team.
Five players scored in double figures – with another three one basket away from that – in the romp, with Tobe Awaka leading the way with his first double-double with 18 points and 15 rebounds.
Caleb Love had 10 points as did Henri Veesaar. Carter Bryant added 12 and Anthony Dell Orso had 11 points.
Awaka may have the biggest benefactor from the game, given he was everywhere. Those 15 rebounds showed what his big body can do.
It proved that his theory of “go get everything” was good.
“He’s amazing,” Veesaar said of Awaka. “On defense, he’s like a Swiss Army knife, he can guard 1 through 5. His rebounding is amazing. He’s so strong, he might be the strongest guy I’ve played with.”
After Veesaar said that Awaka gave him knuckles and a thanks. What wasn’t there to notice? Arizona outrebounded Old Dominion 59 to 28, getting 35 defensive rebounds and 24 offensive rebounds.
The Monarchs were no match for Arizona’s big men.
“I love offensive rebounding,” Lloyd said. “Offensive rebounding is a great insurance policy on offense. You run your offense, you try to get great shots … and then let’s get six hands on the offensive glass. It’s always going to be a staple of what we do. I think we have great potential with our depth inside and our athletic wings to be a great offensive team.”
Again, there’s that wings and big man thing. One helps the other and Arizona has both. Saturday it had everything – including that aggressiveness.
“If you’re solid defensively, but aggressive, you can be opportunistic,” Lloyd said. “… we have good length and good athletes. Rebounding is something that we harp on every single day …
Arizona has proved that – in the first few minutes and beyond, even if they didn’t need most of the game to prove it.
