SAN DIEGO – It may not have been pretty, but the top-seeded Arizona Wildcats are going to continue dancing after battling in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament. Before the Wildcats shift their attention to No. 4 Arkansas and the Sweet 16, see what head coach Tommy Lloyd and Arizona players Jaden Bradley, Brayden Burries, and Koa Peat said postgame after the 78-66 win over the No. 9 Utah State Aggies.
Tommy Lloyd:
Lloyd on Arizona’s gritty win over Utah State:
“Just really proud of our guys. Obviously it’s an important game. Season’s on the line. These guys came out and got us off to a great start. We had to weather some storms.
And give Utah State a lot of credit. They create a lot of adversity, switching defenses and they kind of throw you out of your rhythm on offense a little bit. We weren’t as good in the second half of getting the ball inside and just obviously had too many turnovers.
They amped up their pressure and their press, so I’m going to give them credit. But our guys did a good job in there. You hang in there, hang in there. You have a little lead you just need to make one or two plays in a timely fashion, and then you can kind of ride the game out.
And obviously Brayden’s 3 was pretty big-time. And then JB had some great drives and foul pressure down the stretch of that last 10 minutes. And I thought Koa was really special in the second half and had to deal with some foul trouble.
Really proud of our guys. Excited we get another opportunity to play next week.”
Lloyd on the challenges Utah State’s press posed down the stretch:
“For sure, it got us back on our heels a little bit. I just think our guys gotta do a little bit better job of figuring. And I was kind of negotiating my timeouts in my head. How I wanted to manage it, what the point differential was.
I trust our guys to find solutions all the time. And they kind of amped up the heat on their press a little bit. I don’t think our spacing was great. I think our initial thrust wasn’t great. And that’s something that, hey, it’s not easy to do. Everyone on the periphery thinks it should be easy to do. It’s not.
And when you have a desperate team amping up the pressure, and the jump ball’s in their favor, and they’re aggressive, it’s hard. It’s hard.
Our guys did a better job settling it down there the last couple minutes. But for sure, I mean, you know, they’re a pressing team. They press a lot. And they give you different variations of their press. Sometimes it’s soft. Sometimes it’s a harder press with early traps. They do a good job keeping you on your heels.”
Lloyd on Utah State being under-seeded as a 9-seed and how the Aggies stack up against competition Arizona has faced this season:
“For sure, I don’t get, like I said, I’m not a guy that gets into the weeds on all that stuff. But that’s a really good basketball team. I mean, if they were a 5 or a 6 seed, I wouldn’t have been surprised.
I mean if you win the Mountain West regular season and tournament, I mean, I think that’s a pretty powerful statement.
And we felt it out there today. We felt it out there today. I mean, it’s a team that had no quit. And had no quit and they kept coming and they made timely plays and timely shots on both ends of the floor.”
Lloyd on Brayden Burries being so level-headed for a freshman:
“I think Brayden’s a winner, and he has ultimate confidence. And it’s been a joy to coach him. You’ve hit the nail on the head — he’s a laid-back, kind-of-unassuming guy, but he has a killer in him. And that’s a beautiful attribute.
There’s nothing wrong with being a great human being off the court and being a killer on the court. And he definitely has that combination.
I honestly, when he had that ball in his hands at the end, I was trying to figure out ways, obviously I wanted it in JB’s hands, but when Brayden had that kind of that last possession that ended up kind of deep in the clock, I felt pretty good about it.
I know he has an ability to make those shots and get good arc on them. And I also felt pretty good if we get it up and don’t turn it over we can rebound. I think we had 22 offensive rebounds, and obviously you know that’s a key component to our success as well.”
Lloyd on Burries poise throughout the game after picking up two early fouls:
“Yeah, I mean listen he’s a normal 19-year-old guy. He’s had moments where he’s had to learn. And even today, I had to kind of explain to him after the game, he picked up two unfortunate fouls. I probably maybe should have subbed him. He hit a 3 right away. And I’m thinking, okay, I’ve seen this act from Brayden, and he can get hot pretty quick.
And we were kind of managing like a 10-point lead and for most of the second part of the first half. So I just didn’t I thought his foul was more valuable to keep him on the bench and save for three fouls for the second half if we had a lead.
And I knew he was tough enough to me kind of taking his rhythm away from him. Because I just wanted to win the game. And I know he wanted to play, and I’m sure he could convince me that he could play without fouling.
But crazy things happen in these games and I was just, my worst nightmare was he picks up his third and then early in the second half he picks up his fourth. Now it really hurts us.
So I was kind of making a decision for the long run, trying to win the game. And I appreciate him hanging with it.”
Lloyd on what makes his calm and collected demeanor so effective:
“I mean, one look at my mentor. He’s pretty cool, calm and collected — Mark Few. So obviously when you’re with a guy for 22 years, you learn a lot by osmosis, just how he handles himself.
And the other thing, I mean I think the most what’s really cool about coaching and basketball is there’s so many different styles. And I think the most important thing is just to be your authentic self.
I don’t want to be a guy that’s constantly yelling and screaming and nagging. It’s just not kind of who I am. I want to coach to my personality because I think these players, they know truth. They know truth. And they judges of character these guys are.
I think for me to have the best long-term success with them is to be honest with them, have relationships and be myself. It’s not much more complicated than that.”
Lloyd on getting the fans going and the impact of the crowd:
“Well, it’s important. You know, I thought it was, like, I was thinking this morning I should have did a preemptive strike. We need our fans in these environments to be proactive. We don’t need our fans to be reactive and get nervous when the game gets tight.
We know how bad our fans want it for us. So I was hoping they would come and participate. And I thought they did a really good job participating.
And then hopefully we have even stronger contingent at San Jose. And they’re going to be there fighting and pulling us through every step of the way.”
Lloyd on no mid-majors in the Sweet 16 for the second straight year and the changing landscape of college basketball:
“Yeah, I mean that’s a really great question and a deep question. And we could probably go a lot of different directions with it.
I think, look, where I came from. I came from a program that was a mid-major program and that made itself into a major, major program. And I think that parity is great for the game.
But things change. And I think once finances become part of it, there’s going to be a breaking point for some of the lesser programs that just don’t have the finances, and I think that’s just an obvious statement.
I mean, there’s lots of reasons I took the Arizona job. And one of them was kind of forecasting these changes happening, because right when I was getting the job, the NIL deal was rumored. Then it started in July. I figured Arizona’s a place that has a pretty strong, long basketball tradition, and they’re going to be excited to invest in basketball. And we have.
So I’m thankful for where I am, but I think that’s a great question. I don’t have a great answer for you on how to fix it. So let’s just leave it at that. But that’s a great observation to you.”
Lloyd on what Arizona needs to improve on heading into the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament:
“I just think managing segments of the game when you have a lead would be great. What did we get up, 16, something like that, 16, 18? Yeah, I, I mean, can you make the next run?
And I know it’s so easy to say and hard to do. But sometimes if you can make that next run, get up to 23, 24, you can kind of break a team’s will. But that team hung with it today. They were impressive. They had answers for everything, and they hit a bunch of timely shots. And I’m sure they feel like they missed some timely shots or a call or two didn’t go their way. That’s how the game goes sometimes. I respected Utah State a lot going into this game and they did nothing but reinforce that for me.”
Lloyd on Mo Krivas’ improvement on the defensive end this season:
“It’s massive. He’s been a game-changer for us defensively. I know a lot of the analytic gurus out there have studied it probably more than I have. I just know I feel good when he’s on the court. He’s got great instincts. M-O stands for mobility at 7’2”. And he does a great job contesting shots up high.
And he does a great job getting those short little rebounds that come around the basket. Those are really hard to get when you’re up vertical contesting and contesting a shot, to be able to to have good enough hands to get those rebounds.
I need his jump hook to start going in a little bit more, so we’ll talk about that this week because I know he can be a force and really control these games at both ends of the floor.”
Jaden Bradley:
Bradley on Brayden Burries’ maturity as a freshman:
“He’s very mature for his age. And for a freshman. You look at him, you would never know the score if he’s having a great game, if he’s having a rough game.
Just kudos to him. He’s having a great season. Offensively, he’s a team’s worst nightmare, shooter from all three levels, can defend. He’s definitely a great piece to have.”
Bradley on remaining composed when he’s relied on to be “The Closer” for Arizona:
“Just trusting in my work. And I know my teammates believe in me. I got great bigs that can get me open with ball screens and duck-ins and all that stuff. And my teammates give me great space. Just trusting in my work and trying to get to my spots and make plays.”
Brayden Burries:
Burries on how playing in the Big 12 helped prepare Arizona for a game like this:
“I think it’s honestly helps us a lot. I think the Big 12 is one of the best conferences out there. It prepares us physically, mentally, through adversity and stuff because you’re playing a great team night in and night out. So just shout-out to the Big 12.”
Koa Peat:
Peat on how playing in the Big 12 helped prepare Arizona for a game like this:
“Obviously it’s huge for us. Especially last week, we had three tough games, back to back to back. And it definitely helped us leading into this tournament. The Big 12 is the best conference in college basketball. So definitely got us prepared for this moment.”
Peat on his rebounding effort in the win over the Aggies:
“Honestly just trying to be like Tobe, man. I look up to him. He’s a beast on the glass. And Coach is always on my butt about rebounding. So I was just trying to get on the glass today and stay active.”