The 蜜柚直播 Wildcats are 5-0, beat two teams by more than 50 points, dumbfounded then-No. 4 Michigan on ESPN, hopped into the national rankings and now might have the best r茅sum茅 so far of any Pac-12 team.
Is there anything for the Wildcats to worry about?
Coach Tommy Lloyd can think of a few things.
For one thing, human nature.
After their Main Event win last weekend in Las Vegas became something of a national coming-out party, the 17th-ranked Wildcats will face Sacramento State on Saturday. It might be hard to look away from all the hype, all the people telling you how good you are, and to not relax a bit.
For some people, anyway.
鈥渋t鈥檚 not challenging for me, because I don鈥檛 pay attention to any of it,鈥 Lloyd said Wednesday. 鈥淚鈥檝e been locked in and hanging out at my house, watching games on TV, watching us on film, getting ready to move forward.
People are also reading…
鈥淲e鈥檒l definitely talk about it as a team, and I already have, but just it鈥檚 a dangerous path to go down where you start reading your own press clippings.鈥
After their midnight return on Saturday after beating Michigan 80-62 in Las Vegas, Lloyd gave the Wildcats Monday and Tuesday off. He said he鈥檇 find out in practice on Wednesday if his guys have softened at all.
鈥淚鈥檒l see who comes ready to practice, and we鈥檙e gonna get after it,鈥 Lloyd said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not on Easy Street. There鈥檚 a lot of things we鈥檝e got to get better at, and those things are going to be addressed and emphasized.鈥
The stats suggest there鈥檚 not a whole lot of things for the Wildcats to really worry about other than their 3-point shooting, which 鈥 at 31.5% 鈥 is decidedly below average. Lloyd said he was concerned with problems in fundamentals and decision-making that led to skid 鈥 like when Wichita State forced overtime after trailing the Wildcats by 16 points in the second half.
鈥淲e made a few mistakes, missed a few shots and had a couple breakdowns,鈥 Lloyd said. 鈥淎nd when you do those types of things in a short amount of time, teams can come back and that鈥檚 what happened.鈥
While Lloyd said the Wildcats were defensively 鈥減retty good for the most part,鈥 with Wichita State shooting 33.8% and Michigan 43.4%, he still found some need for improvement.
鈥淟ike all teams, you鈥檝e got to have that sense of urgency to finish possessions,鈥 Lloyd said. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 have guys leaking out in transition. We want to run, but we don鈥檛 have to cheat to run. I think we can rebound five guys, then run. We鈥檝e run hard enough and are committed enough to it that opportunities will still be there.鈥
Lloyd was less concerned with the Wildcats鈥 3-point shooting.
鈥淭o be honest with you, I haven鈥檛 even looked at the stats,鈥 Lloyd said. 鈥淚 know that might sound crazy, but I鈥檓 going off feel. Maybe I look a little bit sometimes to check in on the overall percentages here and there. I think I鈥檝e got a pretty good understanding for how good a shooter guys are by watching and being with them every day. I thought we had some good looks that maybe didn鈥檛 go down.
鈥淚鈥檓 most worried about efficiency and things of that nature.鈥
UA shot just 18.5% from 3-point range against Wichita State and just 19% against Michigan. But Lloyd said 蜜柚直播鈥檚 style of play can put pressure on a defense, no matter how it shoots from long range.
鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty hard not to guard somebody when they鈥檙e coming right down your throat,鈥 Lloyd said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the way I look at it, and I think the 3-point numbers always worked themselves out over the course of a season.鈥
The first Thanksgiving
Thursday marked the first true Thanksgiving for many players on the Wildcats鈥 roster.
French freshman Adama Bal is spending his first year stateside. The Wildcats鈥 four sophomores from Europe experienced nothing more than a glorified COVID-style meal as freshmen last season.
鈥淲e were kind of isolated,鈥 said sophomore guard Pelle Larsson, who was with Utah last season. 鈥淪o we just had some catered food and then unfortunately you had to go to your room and eat.鈥
Lloyd invited all the Wildcats without nearby family over for dinner after practice Thursday.
Part of the holiday tradition for Lloyd, as it was with Gonzaga鈥檚 many international players, was explaining to them exactly what Thanksgiving is. Canada, home of UA sophomore Benn Mathurin, has an earlier, more low-key Thanksgiving. Kerr Kriisa (Estonia), Tautvilas and Azuolas Tubelis (Lithuania), Oumar Ballo (Mali) and Bal come from countries without such a holiday.
鈥淵ou explain to them all the holidays and ask them about their holidays,鈥 Lloyd said. 鈥淓very country鈥檚 got their own little traditions and I think it鈥檚 cool for them to learn about them 鈥 and for our guys on the team to learn about theirs.鈥
Hornets next
Sacramento State arrives in McKale Center at 3-2 after beating regional rival UC Davis on Tuesday in the Golden 1 Center, home of the NBA鈥檚 Sacramento Kings.
Veteran coach Brian Katz stepped down for undisclosed health reasons earlier this month, but interim coach Brandon Laird said the Hornets have responded well and are looking forward to the trip to McKale Center.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got a ton of respect for the University of 蜜柚直播 and what Coach Lloyd is doing, and the tradition and history of the program,鈥 Laird said. 鈥淏ut we鈥檝e got a competitive group in this locker room. We鈥檙e going to be fearless and aggressive and we鈥檙e gonna prepare the same way.鈥
