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.

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.

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.

“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.

“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.”

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.