Arizona men’s basketball snapped its two game losing streak with a resounding 104-71 win over Davidson in the Battle4Atlantis quarterfinals round Wednesday evening.

Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd had never lost back-to-back games as the Wildcats’ head coach prior to the team’s defeats to Wisconsin and Duke. The losses provided a healthy dose of perspective.

“Having to kind of grind through those feelings the last couple weeks it makes you appreciate how hard it is, and it makes you appreciate the moments when you are successful,” Lloyd said.

Arizona got back into the win column with strong contributions from Caleb Love and Anthony Dell’Orso, who joined Lloyd at the podium after the win Our recap of the game can be found here.

Here’s what they said:

Lloyd on his impressions of the win: “It was good. We needed to get back out there. We needed to play and, you know, sometimes when you’re a program that is on the fortunate side of winning and losing, the losses are tough. Having to kind of grind through those feelings the last couple weeks it makes you appreciate how hard it is, and it makes you appreciate the moments when you are successful. So I’m really proud of the guys. We had a really good overall team performance tonight. there were some mistakes made, but man, Davidson puts you in position to make mistakes. And they run their stuff with really good pace, and they’re really crafty and I think we got a little more comfortable in the second half guarding it, but, man, I did not feel comfortable until that lead got pretty big, and that’s just a credit to them and their system and their program.”

On Arizona’s early turnovers: “I mean a few of them were just passing turnovers. And, you know, I think sometimes these tournaments you get out there, it’s kind of your first time playing on a court hat it’s a brand new basketball. You just got to get a little bit of a feel for things. And our guys were trying to be good teammates and pass the ball. I think a couple of them, three of them were, I think, two or three more interior passes. And then for the most part, we settled in. We know we’re not going to be perfect, but I’m just proud of how the guys kind of hung with it and responded and us coaches are on a pretty hard and maybe got a little frustrated moments here and there, and the players did a great job of kind of taking a breath and working themselves through it.”

On whether this was Arizona’s best offensive performance this season: “It felt like it. And I think just think there was good tempo, there was good ball movement. I think we were kind of getting our break going a little bit north south, and then I think once we kind of settled in the half court, we were getting the ball going east and west, side to side, and kind of finding angles to attack. And our big guys they weren’t perfect, but they’re coming along, and that’s just a general feeling I have on this team. I mean as you reassess your team about a month or so into the season, you’re seeing growth opportunities. And I see so many opportunities for us to grow and and I think, now that I’m getting a little bit better understanding of this group is maybe we had to struggle a little bit and kind of find our way. And then guys have to have these breakthrough moments. And listen, there’s no guarantee that Deli’s gonna play the same game tomorrow, but I think there’s a better chance than there was, two weeks ago. And that makes me excited. But these other guys coming, I can see and feel Henry come, and I can see Krivas coming. Tobe, he’s so close, I mean some of these foul issues he’s having a little bit and kind of figuring out some of our defensive stuff. But he also has a double double in 13 minutes, and then, like there’s more there. So that stuff excites me and and I’m excited we just got to do a great job hanging together and understanding that when you’re a team with a lot of talented players, it’s going to be spread out a little bit, and guys are gonna have different nights, and we gotta roll with that and embrace it.”

On Arizona’s turnaround from the Duke game: “Well, listen I’m not going to act like our practices were perfect because sometimes you kind of emotionally have to work yourself through a tough loss, and then, and then we kind of looking at how we’re playing, and maybe changing a few things here and there, just to maybe fit this team and this personnel better. And I, I thought our guys did a really good job with the adjustments. And the biggest adjustment of all was just trusting their fundamentals and playing together and moving the ball. I don’t think there’s any doubt it was our best ball movement we’ve had as a group all year.”

On the prior game between Oklahoma and Providence: “I mean it’s hard, like in my hotel room, the game’s not on, and then I’m trying to get it on my iPad, so I’ll have time to watch the game tonight. That’s why I need to get this press conference over, and I need to get to work. Because I just wondered, in the sense of, like, we know we’re playing Oklahoma, we don’t know much more than that right early in the game.”

On whether he’s surprised by upsets in the bracket: “There’s no upsets right now. There’s no upsets because, like this so early in the year. I mean, I know they’re upset some paper and and the media wants to make it because it’s a great story. Listen, we’re in the arena. So for us, there’s no upsets. There’s only respect for your opponents and you’re in a battle against another team trying to come out on top. And there’s a lot of good teams out there right now. There’s a lot of parity, and I bet you, in another month, college basketball is going to look a lot different, where teams are gonna start getting a lot better.”

On Oklahoma freshman Jeremiah Fears, who Lloyd coached on USA U18 National Team: “Jeremiah is really talented player. I mean, he’s, you know, he’s got a ton of swag, he’s aggressive. He goes for it. He’s a really talented player. I mean, I know, at the end of those tryouts, you know, kind of the USA stuff, he was right there. And he was a guy I wanted on the team. Maybe the minutes that tournament get kind of tough when you can only play, when it’s harder to play 12 guys, but he’s really talented, and I know he’s playing great now and with a ton of confidence, so he’s going to present a ton of challenges. He reclassed this summer so he should be a senior in high school. So it’s pretty impressive what he’s doing, but he has the confidence and the belief in himself to do it.”

Love on what changed to spur his offensive play: “Just not going out there worrying about anything, trusting in my teammates, and you know how my teammates and coaches trust in me? I just wanted to go out there and have fun. I said that in a press conference before the game, and that’s exactly what I did, you know, but you know, it wasn’t about me, it was about my team.”

On Dell’Orso breaking out offensively: “Deli broke through today. I was proud of him. He was, he was my player the game. I was so happy to see him break through and, you know, make those shots, because, you know, we’re in the gym every day, and I see how hard he works. He continues to, you know, push through mistakes and, you know, hardships. And, you know, I kind of, like I said, I see myself and him a little bit when I was younger and things like that. You know, he’s not that younger than me, but you know, I knew how I watched his highlights. You know, when Coach Lloyd, when he committed, and I know how good he is, how good of a player he is. And you know, like I said, I was happy for him to have this game.”

On getting into a flow offensively in the first half: “It was just a rhythm three. I tried not to, you know, take us, you know, take out the bad shots. And that definitely was a confidence booster. And then going in, I wanted to, you know, attack the basket. That was something that I’ve been good at my whole career, and so I just want to get back to it.”

Dell’Orso on how it feels to have a big game: “Yeah. I mean, it’s been so long since I played a game, you know, I was trying to get out of that practice slump. But like Caleb said, like, we all looking out for each other. We all had big moments today, and that’s a good thing for our team, because we can play together. But yeah, I mean, break that cap of that practice feeling into the game mode again, just like last season, that’s something I was happy for. But also, like, I mean, Caleb’s being humble, but he also had what, 20, five rebounds four assists. So, like, he’s been humble, but he had a great game too. We all have moments, and it’s great for our team to, you know, get that individual success. That way, as a team, we can be better.”

Executions will resume in Arizona following a two-year pause, the state’s top prosecutor says.

In a statement shared with CBS News on Wednesday, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said that she will soon seek an execution warrant for Aaron Brian Gunches, who is on death row after being convicted of killing his girlfriend’s ex-husband.

“My office has been preparing since earlier this year to resume executions in Arizona,” Mayes said. “Back in May, I indicated that executions would resume by early 2025. In accordance with that timeline, I plan to move forward and request an execution warrant from the Arizona Supreme Court in the coming weeks for Aaron Brian Gunches, who was sentenced to death for the murder of Ted Price.”

Mayes said her office had been working with state corrections officials to review and improve death penalty procedures. “I am confident that executions can now proceed in compliance with state and federal law,” Mayes said in her statement. 

Gov. Katie Hobbs had promised not to carry out any executions until there was confidence the state can do so without violating any laws. The attorney general’s office had said it would not seek a court order to carry out the death penalty while a review was underway.

The review Hobbs had ordered effectively ended this month when she dismissed the retired federal magistrate she had appointed earlier to head the review.

The governor’s spokesman, Christian Slater, said Hobbs “remains committed to upholding the law while ensuring justice is carried out in a way that’s transparent and humane.”

Corrections officials “conducted a thorough review of policies and procedures and made critical improvements to help ensure executions carried out by the State meet legal and constitutional standards,” Slater said.

Gunches had been set to be put to death in April 2023. But Hobbs’ office said the state wasn’t prepared to enforce the death penalty because it lacked staff with expertise to carry out executions,. At the time, it also said it could not find an IV team to carry out the lethal injection and didn’t have a contract with a pharmacist to compound the pentobarbital needed for an execution.

Gunches had pleaded guilty to a murder charge in the shooting death of Price, who was his girlfriend’s ex-husband, near the Phoenix suburb of Mesa.

Arizona last carried out three executions in 2022 following a nearly eight-year hiatus brought on by criticism of a 2014 execution and because of difficulties obtaining drugs for execution. In 2014, Joseph Wood was given 15 doses of a two-drug combination over two hours in an execution that his lawyers said was botched. Wood snorted repeatedly and gasped more than 600 times before he died.

The execution of Clarence Dixon, 66, in 2022 ended the nearly eight-year break. Dixon died by lethal injection at the state prison in Florence, Arizona, for his murder conviction in the killing of 21-year-old Arizona State University student Deana Bowdoin.

Q: What’s your relationship like with Kyler Murray and what do you think of the job he’s done?

A: “Right when we met, we became bros. Nothing but respect and support toward him. He was a leader on our team, a great quarterback and made plays. I just feel like mentally he fought through some stuff – the injury thing, got through it – and now he’s back to doing the things that he does. I love that he came back and is doing his thing because that shows a lot about him – where his head’s at, where his heart’s at.”

Q: Is there a ‘Murray Moment’ that’s top of mind?

A: “He got out of a crazy [situation], literally, he was about to get sacked – game over – and he just threw a Hail Mary, and D-Hop (DeAndre Hopkins) caught it. I’ll never forget that game just because that Hail Mary was probably one of the best I’ve been a part of; we won the game (against Buffalo, 32-30) and that year we were on a roll. … I’ll never forget [playing against him in practice], too, because as a DB you’ve got to run across the whole field, you’ve got to stay in coverage. That’s one thing I’ll never forget; he’s one of those quarterbacks that’s mobile and always out there trying to make plays. He was doing whatever at practice, he was going right, left, throwing it deep, it didn’t matter, he kept us on our toes.”