Tommy Lloyd Analyzes Arizona's Exhibition With Saint Mary's
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Arizona Wildcats men's basketball is officially back as they faced the Saint Mary's Gaels this past Saturday at McKale Center, marking the start of the 2025-2026 season.
The Wildcats beat the Gaels 81-68 in the long-awaited return to the court and featured a look at Arizona's star-studded freshmen as well as its veterans, who will lead the way to hopefully another national tournament bid.
Guard Jaden Bradley led the team in points with 23. He also had four assists, three rebounds and a steal. Motiejus Krivas led in rebounds with 17 while also logging 11 points, two blocks, two assists, and a steal.
Head coach Tommy Lloyd was satisfied with the way his team played, but he still has plenty of work to do in figuring out the final rotation for the regular season opener on November 3 against the Florida Gators.
Here are five interesting takeaways from Lloyd's post-game press conference.
On Jaden Bradley's veteran presence
- "He's a veteran and he's a good player. And Jaden's played with good players his whole life, so he's gotten really comfortable blending in and allowing maybe certain guys to be more aggressive on offense, if that's what worked best for the team and and now, he's a senior. He's put his time in. He's in a program that trusts him significantly and he's got some talented young teammates with them, but there they have to learn the ropes a little bit."
On Krivas' improvement and coming back from injury
- "I like what I saw tonight. I like what I'm seeing in practice. He shot a couple perimeter shots tonight, and that's, I think that's going to be normal for him. I don't think it's going to be a thing that we're not going to probably live and die on it, but he's really worked hard on this game. So, he, the guy had 17 rebounds in that game and impact things around the rim."
On how the defense performed
- "We held them to 39.3% and they turned the ball over 12 times that that's a winning formula. So I felt like there were obviously some mistakes defensively, and a little bit of it, I think, was just due to fatigue and maybe some concentration issues, things that we can, that I think the tape will be a great learning tool to learn from."
On the team shooting 64% on free throws
- "I think we're gonna be a really good free throw shooting team, I really do. I mean, you don't take it for granted. And obviously our guys are practicing free throws. But sometimes that's how it goes. That's why you play these games and that's why it's great it was played under the lights. Let's get guys comfortable making shots."
On figuring out the rotation and starting three guards
- "We're always going to start three guards. I haven't settled on what the starting line is going to look like. We got to kind of do a deep dive and figure out what works best. I'm not necessarily worried about starting five certain guys. I'm more worried about building a rotation that makes sense and kind of connects the dots. So, that's going to be my focus the next couple of weeks when I make those decisions."
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Nathaniel Martinez and a set of shoulder pads at 7 years old. He later graduated from Pima Community College in 2023, where he began writing for the Pima Post. He is working to achieve a Bachelor’s in Mass Communication and Media Studies.