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5 takeaways from first week of Arizona men’s basketball season

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5 takeaways from first week of Arizona men’s basketball season


Arizona has opened the 2024-25 season with a pair of lopsided wins, beating Canisius 93-64 and then crushing Old Dominion 102-44.

Things get a lot tougher starting Friday at Wisconsin, with Duke coming to town after that followed by the Battle4Atlantis in the Bahamas.

With two games in the books, here are five takeaways from those wins.

1. The Love, Lewis, and Bradley trio

In the first two wins for the Wildcats, all three starting guards had solid performances. Coach Tommy Lloyd has found a way to put all three on the court and have an efficient offense.

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For Caleb Love, it is a year to prove that not only is he one of the best players in the nation, but he should have a shot at being an NBA draft pick. Against Canisius, he had 17 points, four rebounds, and six assists. Love would follow that performance with 10 more points against Old Dominion.

KJ Lewis is the energy guy out of the three guards. He comes in and makes timely plays. Having 14 points in the season opener, he would add eight more in the second game. Lewis’ playmaking comes on the defensive side. Between the two games, he has three steals and three blocks.

If Lewis is the defensive piece of the trio, and Love is the “do it all” piece, Jaden Bradley has been the offensive piece. He had 15 points against Canisius, and seven against Old Dominion.

Bradley also had seven assists in the two games. However, he is not just an offensive player. In the Canisius win, there was a sequence where he had a steal and score, and followed it with another steal and score off of the next inbounds pass.

2. Things get real now

Starting the season 2-0 is always a great thing to accomplish, but now Arizona is facing a tough stretch in their non-conference schedule. On Friday the Wildcats will make a trip to Madison to take on the Wisconsin Badgers. Last season Arizona beat Wisconsin in McKale Center.

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A week later, they come back home for one of the biggest non-conference matchups at McKale Center in recent years. The Duke Blue Devils come to Tucson for the first time since 1991.

Last season, Arizona beat Duke in Durham 78-73. The Blue Devils have the potential number one pick in next year’s NBA draft in Cooper Flagg.

Between the two games, there is a good amount of time between each of them which gives the Wildcats needed time to reflect and fix.

“What it allows you to do is kind of go back and clean things up,” Lloyd said. “It allows you to revisit things you installed earlier in the fall. Then it gives you time to game plan your opponent.”

In the following five days, the Wildcats head to the Bahamas for the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis. They will play Davidson in their first game and two more teams after that.

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“Obviously we have a couple really big single games coming up, you got Wisconsin, you got Duke,” Lloyd said. “Both are going to be incredibly challenging, but what I got to have my eyes on too is, you got three games in three days that are going to be really hard in the Bahamas.

3. Free throw issues?

If there was one thing to critique in Arizona’s first two wins, it would be the performance from the charity stripe.

Going 19 of 27 in the opener may have just been due to first-game jitters. However, going 18 of 29 against Old Dominion is a bit concerning.

Getting to the free throw line has always been part of Lloyd’s offensive philosophy, but the amount of missed free throws has been something that has hindered the Wildcats at times.

Regardless of the percentage from the line, Lloyd is not worried about that aspect for his team.

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“Well, we need to step up and make them,” Lloyd said on the free throw struggles. “We’re not going to make a big deal out of them, I think we’re going to be a really good free throw shooting team in time.”

4. Defensive tenacity

Even with scoring 90-plus points in both wins, one aspect that has been stout has been the defensive performance for Arizona.

The Wildcats combined to force 37 turnovers, which have led to 49 points. Arizona also has nine blocks and 24 steals.

Canisius was held to 43.1 percent from the field and Old Dominion shot 31.6 percent. Arizona is making it tough for teams to score. The Wildcats also held both teams scoreless through the first four minutes in the first half. Lloyd was unaware of just how good of a start the Wildcats usually have to start games.

“It’s great, I didn’t even know that, that’s great news,” Lloyd said. “I’ve really been on these guys to step it up defensively. I want more.”

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5. Strong rebounding

Arizona has controlled the boards in both games this season as it has 102 rebounds. 17 offensive rebounds against Canisius and 24 against Old Dominion.

It’s not just going and getting rebounds, it’s the way the Wildcats are doing it. Grabbing the ball at the highpoint, finding a man and boxing him out, and not letting the ball hit the ground.

Tobe Awaka has been a driving force in that aspect, with nine rebounds in the first game and 15 in the second.

“Just get everything,” Awaka said on his rebounding mindset. “Coach has sort of been harping on us for rebounding with two hands. Making sure you go up with two hands forcefully and bring the ball down.”

If Arizona can continue this trend, it will lead to many more victories.

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Arizona

Arizona State could push Big 12 title chase to final weekend

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Arizona State could push Big 12 title chase to final weekend


TEMPE, AZ (AP/AZFamily) — The Arizona State Sun Devils are set for a huge matchup this weekend when they host the BYU Cougars at Mountain America Stadium.

Saturday’s game in Tempe will have massive implications in the Big 12 Conference with multiple teams chasing a title game appearance.

A win over the 14th-ranked Cougars would massively boost title game hopes for the 21st-ranked Sun Devils. Ticket prices have been soaring for the highly anticipated conference game.

Arizona State Head Coach Kenny Dillingham joined Good Morning Arizona on Thursday to talk about the team’s expectation-busting season. Watch the full interview in the video player at the top of this page.

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Things to watch this week in the Big 12 Conference:

Game of the week

No. 14 BYU (9-1, 6-1 Big 12, No. 14 CFP) at No. 21 Arizona State (8-2, 5-2, No. 21), Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)

League newcomer Arizona State has a three-game winning streak and BYU is coming off its first loss. The Cougars, after losing at home to Kansas, still control their own destiny in making the Big 12 championship game. They can clinch a spot in that Dec. 7 game as early as Saturday, if they win and instate rival Utah wins at home against No. 22 Iowa State.

Arizona State was picked at the bottom of the 16-team league in the preseason media poll, but already has a five-win improvement in coach Dillingham’s second season.

The undercard

No. 16 Colorado (8-2, 6-1, No. 16 CFP) at Kansas (4-6, 3-4), Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET (Fox)

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Coach Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes are in prime position to make the Big 12 title game in their return to the league after 13 seasons in the Pac-12. If BYU and Utah win, Colorado would be able to claim the other title game spot with a win over Kansas. The Buffs have a four-game winning streak.

The Jayhawks need another November win over a ranked Big 12 contender while trying to get bowl eligible for the third season in a row. Kansas has won consecutive games over Top 25 teams for the first time in school history, knocking off Iowa State before BYU.

Impact players

Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht has thrown a touchdown in a school-record 14 consecutive games, while receivers Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel both have more than 800 yards receiving. San Jose State is the only other FBS team with a pair of 800-yard receivers. Becht has 2,628 yards and 17 touchdowns passing for the Cyclones (8-2, 5-2), who are still in Big 12 contention.

Inside the numbers

Oklahoma State goes into its home finale against Texas Tech with a seven-game losing streak, its longest since a nine-game skid from 1977-78. The only longer winless streak since was an 0-10-1 season in 1991. This is Mike Gundy’s 20th season as head coach, and his longest losing streak before now was five in a row in 2005, his first season and the last time the Cowboys didn’t make a bowl game. … Baylor plays at Houston for the first time since 1995, the final Southwest Conference season. The Cougars won last year in the only meeting since to even the series 14-14-1. … Eight Big 12 teams are bowl eligible. As many as six more teams could reach six wins.

Repeating 1,000

The Big 12 already has four 1,000-yard rushers, including three who did it last season. UCF’s RJ Harvey is the league’s top rusher (1,328 yards) and top scorer with 21 touchdowns (19 rushing/two receiving). The others with consecutive 1,000-yard seasons are Texas Tech career rushing leader Tahj Brooks (1,184 yards) and Kansas State’s DJ Giddens (1,128 yards). Cam Skattebo with league newcomer Arizona State has 1,074 yards.

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Devin Neal, the career rushing leader at his hometown university, is 74 yards shy of being the first Kansas player with three 1,000-yard seasons. Cincinnati’s Corey Kiner needs 97 yards to reach 1,000 again.

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What BYU coach Kalani Sitake said about Arizona State game

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What BYU coach Kalani Sitake said about Arizona State game


BYU’s stock plummeted this week.

After suffering a 17-13 loss to Kansas — their first loss of the season — the Cougars dropped from No. 6 to No. 14 in the College Football Playoff Rankings and into a tie with Colorado for first place in the Big 12.

And now they’re 3.5-point underdogs to Arizona State (8-2) in arguably the biggest game on the college football schedule this weekend. The winner will be in the pole position for a berth in the Big 12 championship game; the loser will be all but eliminated.

BYU coach Kalani Sitake knows anything can happen in the Big 12, and the Cougars are still very much alive for a berth in the College Football Playoff.

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“You look at the conference, there’s a lot of parity … anyone has a shot,” Sitake said during his weekly press conference.

Here is a snapshot of what Sitake said ahead of BYU’s game with Arizona State:

Sitake on ASU Coach Kenny Dillingham

“Kenny Dillingham is a really good coach. I have a lot of respect for him and the way he coaches his team. You can tell he’s got a great connection with his players, and he’s a local kid so he’s from that area. He grew up an ASU fan and knows what that program can do. … I think he did it the right way bringing in a lot of local staff. … I know a lot of guys on his coaching staff. They’re really good coaches, good men.

“Looking at the talent that they have, it’s a difficult matchup. You have to be ready. We’re going on the road. We already know the time for that game and that it will be a little better weather than what we have here [in Provo]. Looking forward to the matchup. I think the goal is for us, like we said every week, stay humble, stay hungry and find ways to get better.”

Sitake on ASU Quarterback Sam Leavitt

“Really good player. He comes from a good family. He’s super athletic. He can run, he’s got an accurate arm. I think he’s got a great football IQ. He’s dangerous. He’s got a lot of football to play. I think he he saw some opportunities over there at ASU and you look at him, he’s thriving in it. He’s going to be a difficult matchup for us for sure. But man, it’s good to see good young men that you know are from amazing families get what they want. He’s doing some really cool things and he’s going to be doing really good things for a long time becauase I think he’s only a freshman right now. The sky’s the limit for him. Hopefully we just don’t see that great ‘sky limit’ performance this weekend.”

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Sitake on BYU’s Recent Offensive Struggles

“There’s a fine line between it all … the key to execution is just eliminating the mistakes. There shouldn’t be any mistakes. Whether it’s alignment issues or technique issues or even running the wrong route or not doing the correct assignment. So all that should be cleaned up. But there’s also some room for improvement where you can actually install some stuff. You want to have a foundation of stuff that you’re good at and that you could lean on, but that’s the stuff that everybody knows is coming. So we have to have that and you have to have a little bit of install that gives you the favorable matchup, depending on who you’re going against.”

“That’s what we’re trying to get done. Obviously it’s worked quite a bit, and the offense they’re getting in the red zone. We’ve just got to score touchdowns. It’s hard to get in the red zone and only kick field goals. Even though you have a good kicker like Will Ferrin you’re going to need to score points and score touchdowns and finish the drives. It gives you a little bit more motivation and a little bit more ‘umph’ when you’re trying to get it done, so that’s what we’re focusing on.”

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Five Takeaways: Arizona defense Wednesday press conference (TCU)

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Five Takeaways: Arizona defense Wednesday press conference (TCU)


Fresh off breaking its five-game losing streak last week, Arizona heads back on the road this week to take on one of the most potent passing attacks in the country in TCU.

The Wildcats are coming off one of their most complete defensive performances this past week and figure to be challenged more against the Horned Frogs who head into this week boasting the No. 6 passing offense in the country. They will challenge the banged up Arizona secondary that has had many younger players step into key roles as the season has progressed. We’ve seen improvement across the board from them as they’ve seen more reps on the field.

Here are five takeaways from coach Brett Arce as well as Owen Goss and Dominic Lolesio during Wednesday’s press conference.

Dominic Lolesio getting into the starting lineup

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The injuries continue to pile up on the defensive side of the ball for Arizona that has led to lots of new players stepping into roles they may not have expected to be in at the start of the season.

Redshirt freshman Dominic Lolesio saw the field more last week in what was one of the more complete defensive performances of the season by Arizona. Lolesio recorded five tackles and a 0.5 tackle for loss.

“That’s just the standard,” Lolesio said. “We practice that all week. Our thing is to swarm to the ball and play together and have fun. I mean doing it all week in practice and then being able to go out and do it on Friday felt really good.”

Despite the injuries that have come up for Arizona, the next man up stance remains the same for the team.

“I feel like everyone is just as ready as the next man up,” Lolesio said.

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