PHOENIX – It was a close one in Phoenix on Saturday afternoon between old Pac-12 rivals Arizona and UCLA. The Wildcats fell 57-54 agains the Bruins, after not scoring a field goal in the final 8:46 of the game. The Cats also had a season-high 22 turnovers, with just 11 assists in the game. After tough losses to Wisconsin, Duke, and now UCLA, Arizona falls to 4-5 on the season, with home games against Samford and Central Michigan on deck before kicking off Big 12 with TCU at home on December 30. See what Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd, along with Jaden Bradley and Henri Veesaar had to say postgame following the loss to UCLA:
Tommy Lloyd
Tommy Lloyd postgame on Arizona only having one timeout remaining down the stretch in the loss to UCLA:
“I mean, maybe I regret not using it earlier, but we were saving it for that last minute of the game. We’ve been in some close games, and we’ve kind of hung in there with them, but we haven’t been able to get over the top, so I was just trying to see if we could save it and have it down the stretch. We used it to ice the free throw shooter and put us in an end of the game situation. I don’t think it was a wasted timeout – he made the free throws. We set up a play to try and get a three when we thought they were going to foul. We got up a look, so not wasted, but it plays to a bigger thing, obviously their pressure bothered us.”
Tommy Lloyd on the pressure from UCLA’s defense:
They pressed, but where they hit you is they get you in the half court. They’re really handsy, they took the ball from us numerous times today. 22 turnovers and we also called two timeouts in scramble situations, so those are quasi-turnovers right. And then down the stretch of the game, when you have a 13-point lead and you’re trying to nurse it’s a bad way, but you guys understand what I’m saying, trying to navigate down that thing with one timeout. It made it really tough, so UCLA gets a ton of credit for putting our backs against the wall, giving themselves a chance to come back.”
Tommy Lloyd postgame on Arizona finishing the final 8:46 without a field goal against UCLA:
“That’s tough. It’s really hard to win, and we had go flow going there for a little bit, and things just kind of unraveled a little bit. Obviously, with Big Mo not playing, we’re kind of figuring out on the fly how this team’s going to look going forward. Trying to tweak some thing, see if this team has some other strengths. I just didn’t feel like we had a great – and it’s not the players’ fault – a great understanding of how we wanted to attack and play today in pressure situations. Obviously, we’ve got to continue to work on that, and then build that certainty and identity within the guys now that it looks like Mo’s going to be out for a little bit.”
Tommy Lloyd on Mick Cronin’s comments about teams “gelling” sooner having an advantage:
“We’re battling, it’s not coming easy. We’re not going to act like everything’s going great and we’re expecting everything to flow together naturally. No, we’re going to have to fight for it. This team’s going to have to fight. For one, you’re dealing with some adversity, and where’s our confidence at? Do we have our certainties in our back pocket? We’re going to have to keep fighting for that, and kind of establish that. Sometimes it’s not far off. I thought in that second half, we go up a 10-, 11-, 12-point lead, something like that. It felt pretty good, it felt like how we want it to feel.
I looked up at the clock and there was a lot of time left and I’m hoping we can make another little run, so maybe we have a little more buffer to sustain a comeback from them. But, it wasn’t in the cards today. I’m sure I’m going to back and look at that thing, and there’s going to be some coaching miscues. There’s going to be some situations I wish the players were just a little bit tougher, but all in all, I think the most important thing is, and I know this is a cliche, but we’ve got to hang together. We’ve got to hang together. Just because it’s tough, we can’t splinter, and that’s not easy to do.”
Tommy Lloyd on Caleb Love’s lackluster start to the season:
“Caleb gives us a really high ceiling. Teams have been playing him well, but it just hasn’t come easy for him either. We’ve got to figure out why. What can we do to help him? Is it just hanging with it, hanging with it, hanging with it, supporting him, then it’ll figure itself out, or are there tactical things we need to do different? Obviously, Caleb’s a really talented player. He’s proven. It’s just not coming easy for him right now.”
Tommy Lloyd on Arizona’s offensive adjustments and Jaden Bradley in the pick-and-roll:
“They way they were playing, they were really aggressive on the sides. We felt like we were getting some advantages with those middle pick-and-rolls, and JB was doing a good job of navigating it. UCLA is a team, you would say move the ball – it’s not easy, it’s not easy to connect three passes against them. They’re sticky, they’re denying, they’re handsy, so sometimes when you play a team like that, you’ve just got to go a little more simple and maybe keep the ball centered a little bit more. One action, maybe draw one or two guys, make a play out of it, and kind of go from there. It’s not necessarily a ball movement game, it’s more of a direct attack-type game.
It worked for stretches, and then it kind of went away from us at the end. I think we got a little tired maybe down the stretch, and I think we took a few threes that last three or four minutes that if they make it, they look great. But I think we were also in the double bonus and got to keep the game pressure on those guys. It just felt like we were hoping one of those threes would go in, rather than having a little more conviction how we’re going to put points up on the board.”
Tommy Lloyd on center Motijeus Krivas’ lower leg injury:
“It’s a lower foot injury, the same foot. I don’t know if they have a final diagnosis yet. We don’t [have a timetable], because we don’t have a final diagnosis to what it actually – what the full extent of everything is. They’re still working through all that.
Tommy Lloyd on a tough non-conference slate and Big 12 schedule around the corner:
“You know what makes me feel better? Winning. That makes me feel better. We’re at where we’re at. Guys, we’ve lost some really close games. You use the old cliche, it could go either way. We’ve got to find a way to increase our margin for error and get them on our side. That’s going to be the focus of what we’re going to do. We’ve got a good Samford team coming in this week in the middle of the week, and we know that’s going to be a challenge. They’re a team that is known for pressing and doing all that stuff, and I’m sure they’re going to see 22 turnovers and their eyes are going to light up. So we’ve got to find a way to get a win in the middle of this week, and then see if we can – we’ve got Central Michigan coming in on the weekend and see what we’ve got there. We’re literally in true day-to-day mode right now.
Jaden Bradley
Jaden Bradley postgame on trying to make something happen for Arizona down the stretch in the loss to UCLA:
“Just trying to read what the defense is doing. UCLA did a great job taking us out of our offense and speeding us up, so credit to them.”
Jaden Bradley on Arizona’s 13 first-half turnovers versus a clean start to the second half:
“UCLA, they do a great job of turning people over. Probably top in the country at doing that. Tonight, first half was kind of slow, second half, they kind of sped us up a little bit, so us players, we’ve got to do a better job reading that and valuing possessions, and at least trying to get a shot up.”
Jaden Bradley on Arizona’s 11:22 assist to turnover ratio:
“They do a great job speeding you up and making you make decisions. I feel like for this game we took some bad decisions. At some point, we went on a little run and made some great decisions, so we’ve just got to look at the film and clean it up.”
Jaden Bradley on getting a steal, his feet inbounds, and a timeout called before falling out of bounds:
“Just doing whatever it takes to win, and we came up short. Just trying to get an extra possession for our team, and was able to get a timeout. The ref gave it to us.”
Henri Veesaar
Henri Veesaar postgame on a career-high 28 minutes for Arizona against UCLA:
“Nah, my conditioning was good. It felt good to play a lot. After this game, it’s hard to feel good for anybody.”