TUCSON – While it may have been a 9 PM tipoff and an undermanned ASU squad, but that did not stop the Duel in Desert from delivering one of the best offensive games of the season. The Wildcats had five players in double-figures, including a career-high 22 points from Henri Veesaar, and scored the most points in the Territorial Cup since 1998. It was also the first time both teams scored in triple figures in the rivalry since 1973. See what Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd, as well as Tobe Awaka and Henri Veesaar had to say postgame following the 113-100 win over the ASU Sun Devils.
Tommy Lloyd
Tommy Lloyd postgame on if the pace of the Arizona – ASU game made it feel like an NBA game:
“I’ve never coached NBA game. So you’re asking me to right away live in hypotheticals. I don’t know. I think it was just the lack of turnovers. You know, I would be interested to see what the possessions ended up at. But like, neither team turned the ball over, and both shot the ball pretty well and shot a lot of free throws. And yeah, that makes for a high scoring game.”
Tommy Lloyd on Henri Veesaar’s 22-point career-high performance:
“I mean, Henri played well. He played really well. And, you know, he actually threw in a big time right hand jump hook in crunch time, which to me, was the most impressive basket of the day. He made a big three in the corner that kind of went kind of went in out in, which was huge. And then I thought we had control of the game, and he shot another one. And I told him that you better make that one. I mean, that time probably thinking about running a little bit of clock and things like that. So, but, yeah, Henri’s continued to play well. And you know, I’m proud of his progress.”
Tommy Lloyd on Caleb Love, KJ Lewis, and Henri Veesaar finishing with 20+ points against ASU:
“I mean, you know, in college, you’re not scoring 100 points often, especially in a Big 12 game, and it’s great, you know. KJ, you know, was, I thought he played really well. He was aggressive. You know, he knows how teams are kind of guarding him now, and he’s picking and choosing his spots pretty well. And I thought he put himself in a lot of good positions to help us out, make plays, and took care of the ball. So, you know, really proud of his effort.
And I thought Caleb did a good job early, kind of getting going, and making sure you know that that we were, you know, in the lead or in the game, you know, which are just important in the first half. So just, just overall, you know, I’m proud of the way we played offensively. Obviously, we want to play better defensively. And, you know, you know, starting tomorrow, you know, as a staff, will kind of unemotionally figure out what we got to do to be a little bit better defensively.”
Tommy Lloyd on Jaden Bradley’s technical foul and the team and college basketball community feeling the fatigue of the season:
“I talked to our guys about, you know, being classy and understanding that, you know, it’s not about showing someone up, or, you know, anything like that. So, you know, I just know Jaden. Like, listen, Jaden is such a classy, quiet guy. If he’s complaining to official, like, in a way that the official feels like he should T him up, my assumption is he probably got fouled. Now, I have not seen the play. So, so that that’s just me knowing JB the way I know him. So, hey, it happens, emotional game.
And listen, this time of year, I know this, the refs do a great job, you know, overall. Coaches do a great job. Players do a great job. Everyone’s a little bit tired and probably tired of each other, so we all kind of just need to take a step back. And you know what would be awesome if we all had a weekend off and maybe a happy hour to kind of like be normal people again, and then let’s start the push for the postseason. But you know, you’re at that point in the year where, you know we’ve been on the officials hard, and you know they’re on us hard, and the players are out there playing hard, so it’s a lot. And, you know, so I had nothing but respect for the officials.”
Tommy Lloyd on participating in a Senior Night with his son Liam:
“Wow. Can I say business as usual? Like, you know, Liam’s a great kid, and obviously we have a great relationship. But, you know, we approached this year like, you know, we never thought it would happen, because we never wanted it to happen. And I’m not saying that in a bad way, but Liam is very independent. He was on his own journey. He doesn’t need his dad. You know, things happened in his life. Obviously, you see me holding Luca, which is awesome. It’s like literally been the best thing that’s happened to our family, even better than coming to Arizona, you know, which, you know, it’s probably a close second.
So, yeah, so just having him around every day, because I know this, like, you know, you know, my parents, you know, recently bought a house down here, so they’re here more. My wife’s family bought a house down here. They’re here more. And we’re Tucsonans, and you know, you never know if your family’s going to be around every day. And I’m sure all you guys experienced that.
When I when I was 18 – you know, I have awesome parents, and you know, blue collar as can be and worked their assess off. And you know, I just remember when I went to college, I drove myself to college, and they basically told me, you know, coming back home is not an option, and not that, it was a it was a great home, but you’re on your own journey. And so, you know, when Liam left home, Chanelle, and I don’t know, forever gonna be this day to day life ever again and so to have him here has been really cool.
But down in Arizona, I mean, with the basketball program, it’s clearly business as usual. And you know, there’s no nothing extra, nothing this, nothing that. It’s nice that he comes up for dinner a few nights a week, and, you know, and we get to hang out with him and Hallie, you know, his fiancé, and then our daughters and Luca. So, you know, that’s been really special.
Tommy Lloyd postgame on the possibility of starting the Arizona senior walk-ons against ASU:
“I obviously thought about like, oh no, I gotta figure this out. You know what those dudes said? Those dudes told me, you ain’t doing that to us Coach. This is about our team and our program. You’re not putting us in that position because the most important thing is we win that game. And you know, Grant said, ‘I started last year, and I’m never starting again.’ Big Will said, ‘Coach, if you start me, I’ll be pissed.’ Champ was fine, either way. And Liam said, ‘Hell no.’ So it wasn’t a hard decision. When you have, you know, kids like that in your program, you know, it says something. So not one of those guys is about themselves.”
Tommy Lloyd on his relationship with Caleb Love and what Love has meant to Arizona Basketball:
“I mean, he means a lot. You know, you’re talking about a guy that, I just don’t know how many people in my – this is my 26th year at this level of Division I basketball have gone through what he’s went through. And you know, he literally going to be a household name 20 years down the road here, but also in college basketball. How he’s handled himself, you know, through all the ups and downs, has been really impressive.
I don’t know if any one of us in this room, you know, would have handled it with as much class as he has. So I respect that. And I’m thankful to be a small part of it. And yeah, I mean, we’re going to miss him. We’re going to miss him, but you know, Caleb Love and Arizona. It’s always going to be, you know, two words that are said together, and I think that’s really cool.”
Tobe Awaka
Tobe Awaka postgame on the Arizona Wildcats’ defensive issues against ASU:
“I thought effort was good. Just a few, you know, communication things, especially with the ball screen, no one over switch, know when the big is going to stay, when the guard is going to rotate over, things like that. And then also, like when we trap the ball screen, making sure that our full rotations are covered. And, you know, we communicate on that too. So just a few like schematic and logistical things, I would say. But I thought our effort was definitely there.”
Tobe Awaka postgame on the emotions of Senior Night for Arizona against ASU:
“Emotions are always high on Senior Night, you know, last home game for a lot of guys. But you know, with that being said, just, it’s just about, you know, understanding the situation and taking advantage of it and not letting us, you know, play too emotional, but, you know, still with emotion at the same time. And I thought we did a good job with that. You know, they were getting a lot of tough shots, that I’m sure the three point percentage was pretty solid as well. But, you know, we stayed with it, you know, throughout the whole game.”
Tobe Awaka on Arizona’s walk-on seniors declining the offer to start on Senior Night for the overall team:
“I mean, those guys are the most selfless guys I know. I’m sure a bunch of guys would have wanted to have that moment, but you know, they’re so selfless, for the team, and knew kind of the point in the season we’re at, you know where are goals are, and you know, the main goal was just to take care of business, you know, leave here with a win.
Henri Veesaar
Henri Veesaar postgame on finishing with a career-high 22 for Arizona against ASU:
“My teammates were finding me on easy shots. They were finding me down low. I got a couple offensive rebounds that helped me get an easy buy bucket. So that’s about it.”