Big 12 men’s basketball tournament: Arizona Wildcats look inside while you are waiting outside the competition

Arizona got on a plane for his conference tournament on Tuesday afternoon, but instead of walking easily west, it flew east to Kansas City. The arena, which you were allowed to practice that evening, has the same sponsor, T-Mobile, but the similarities end there.

Bye bye Las Vegas and the PAC-12 tournament, Hello Big 12 Country.

The UA goes into its first Big 12 men’s basketball tournament far from the favorite, which is the new territory for a program that won two of the last three PAC-12 tournaments and was number 1 in the third. The Wildcats (20-11) are the No. 3 seeds, but ended five games behind Houston, the overwhelming favorite.

The Cougars (27-4) were +100 to win the tournament Pro Fanduel sports book, while Arizona +700 is.

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Arizona plays in the last quarter -finals on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. PT and plays the winner of the second round of the second round between Kansas No. 6 and UCF No. 14. Because it was only after the local time from 10 p.m. and when it left Tucson, it was still three potential opponents, the trial this week was more than the enemies.

“I think Tommy Lloyd said Tuesday. “You will let it play. You will respect the competitive spirit of a conference tournament. “

Three on Tuesday in the first round, the team was won with lower seeds, with the UCF No. 11 Utah 87-72 defeated.

Here is what you should pay attention to the Big 12 tournament during the first trip of the UA

Has the defense traveled?

Arizona was rated 10^TH In the adjusted defensive efficiency according to Kenpom before a home showdown with BYU on February 22, the wildcats gave up 96 points with this 1-point loss, the beginning of a distance of five games to end the season in which they allowed an average of 85.4 points and lost three times.

Lloyd wondered if the opponents had “cracked” the code on Arizona’s defense after it gave up in the Senior Night 100 at ASU. A week later he was more precise with his analysis.

“Probably just a few too many breakdowns,” he said. “Too many versions. We always rate the program that you have to adapt to College basketball at this time of year. They do that really good teams and we sometimes did it this year, sometimes we fell a little short. I don’t think there is a code or something. I think it only depends on the execution. “

Lloyd said that every defensive game plan has to be based on deciding which areas an opposing crime should concentrate on.

“If you are shining and putting together defense, you don’t feel like protecting everything,” he said. “Sometimes the other team makes the shot. There were probably a few additional “We will live with it”. Let’s say above average. So will there be a regression to the mean? I hope a few of these recordings miss it. ‘

That was possibly the case against Kansas, as a 7-foot 2-senior Hunter Dickinson Was 15 out of 23 of the field, nine of which come to 2 or 3 points. In the last two games he was 4 for 12 at shots outside the color, although he was doubled quite often in these games, while Arizona never brought help.

“Who should say we didn’t say we wanted to double when our boys didn’t do it?” Said Lloyd. “There are many things that go into it. It is not always a hard choice. And he played well. Do you know what he did really good work in this game that he didn’t make every game? I think he took five or six circumference. “

Assuming that the wildcats play Kansas again how Dickinson is defended, a major role in the result will play. This also becomes whether the UA can force sales. Arizona has only nine insights in the last two games, three on steals.

“I think we can be a little scratchy or a little more aggressive,” said Lloyd. “We would like to achieve a few sales, because for us this may begin some of our transition materials. To do this, you have to be opportunistic, you have to be aggressive, but you also have to have a level of discipline about you. You can’t just walk around there like crazy because the teams are well trained until this time of year. “

Will all of the guards appear?

Caleb love Was Arizona’s single parent representative in the Big 12 All-Conference team, which landed in the first team, with Tobe awaka And Henri Veesaar Everyone is mentioned. Love achieved an average of 17 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.3 assists in the conference game, except for his overall season and as well as his 33.1 3-point percentage.

But you never know what love you will get and you achieve six or less on six occasions 20 or more. He met at least four three times nine times and one or less seven times, including a 4-game route in February, when he was 3 from outside for 28 years old.

At the beginning of Big 12 Play, the wildcats were able to overcome a bad lovemaking because one or more are waking up. But during the 3-5 ends up to the regular season, the more frequent topic has disappeared than on the climb.

KJ Lewis Was 1 for 8 in Kansas and took four 3s to reduce his season average to 16.9 percent. Lloyd said the right wrist that was played for nine games was a legitimate injury, but he thinks it is better now.

Lewis is best when he drives into the basket, his 2-point percentage (52.2) from his first year. If there is someone who should shoot beyond the arch Anthony dell’orsoThe 40.4 percent of his 3 Series, but he only took one in Kansas and often finds himself on the track and stuck instead of hunting shots at the scope.

The most constant guard was Jaden Bradley. In the last four games, he has scored an average of 15.8 points, scored 21 points in Kansas at 15 in the second half and made 43 shots from the field and 21 from the line in this period.

But all these efforts at the offensive end may have had an impact on Bradley’s defense. The team leader in Steals at 59 had only 10 in the last eight conference games compared to 22 in the first 12.

March Trey?

In four seasons in Oakland ,, Trey town In March, more than 15 points per game, including a career high of 38 against Milwaukee in the title of Horizon League, scored 17 in the Golden Grizzlies disorder of Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA tournament in the first round in the second round 30.

These were all in a completely different role as Townsend with Arizona, where he became from the bank from the bank in five of the last six games. In the last in Kansas, he scored 13 points on 5-of-9 shootings, including 3 out of 4 out of 3 after scoring over eight triples all season.

“I just thought he was confident,” said Lloyd about town. “When he sometimes had to struggle this year, he was caught between a little. With Trey’s size and at this level you have to have a bit of a mentality, and I think he decided in Kansas. Trey is a guy who played great in big games over the course of his career, so I will always give him a chance in these games. I thought he was a real difference for us in the second half of this game, especially in the second half. “

Vibes venue

The T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas was lovingly known from UA fans as a “McKale North”, but the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City may feel like a street game when Kansas is the quarterfinal region. The Jayhawks campus is only 40 minutes away, and your fans usually buy the most tickets, with Iowa State fans getting a big piece.

Arizona will have its section, but this is not the same environment to which it is used to in a conference tournament.