Three Observations From Arizona-Saint Mary's
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Since taking over Arizona, head coach Tommy Lloyd has been one of the most successful up-and-coming coaches in college basketball going 112-33 over the course of the last four seasons making the NCAA Tournament each season and leading the program to three Sweet Sixteen appearances.
This past season, Lloyd and his program entered a new era of Arizona basketball with the Wildcats leaving the Pac-12 and joining the Big 12 Conference. In UA’s first season in a new conference, the team went 24-13 while finishing third in the conference standings.
In the Big 12 Tournament, the Wildcats made it to the conference title game and fell 72-64 to Houston, which would go on to play for the National Title.
Following the end to the season, Arizona lost star guard Caleb Love to graduation and forward Carter Bryant to the NBA Draft where he went No. 14 overall to the San Antonio Spurs.
Plus, Arizona saw two key players in KJ Lewis and Henri Veesaar leave the program and transfer to Power 4 programs.
Despite that, Arizona will be fully loaded again with four key returners in Jaden Badley, Tobe Awaka, Anthony Dell’Orso and Motiejus Krivas. Plus, Lloyd and his staff signed the No. 2 recruiting class according to 24/7 Sports.
We are inching closer to the start of the college basketball season with Arizona tipping off its schedule against defending national champions in the Florida Gators in Las Vegas 15 days from now.
However, before the Wildcats take on Florida in Vegas, Arizona has opened things up in its first exhibition game ahead of the season against Saint Mary’s.
In the past, division one teams were not allowed to play each other in exhibitions and had to face off against D3 schools. Now, that rule is no longer a thing, which allowed the Wildcats to schedule this game against a solid basketball program in Saint Mary’s.
Although the game didn’t count, the Wildcats were able to put together two solid halves of basketball and got production from the whole team, which led to the 81-68 win over the Gaels.
Arizona forward Tobe Awaka didn’t play as Lloyd and his staff made the decision to take precaution with him being a little banged up and the game not counting towards the season.
Leading the way for the offense was senior point guard Jaden Bradley, who scored a team-high 23 points while going 7 of 11 from the field and 2-for-2 at the 3-point line.
On the glass, center Motiejus Krivas led the way with his 17 rebounds and recorded a double-double with 11 points on 4 of 9 shooting from the field.
With the game wrapped up and Arizona moving forward to its last exhibition game, we at Arizona Wildcats On SI have put together our three takeaways from the night.
Three Takeaways
Brayden Burries
- It was clear that Arizona was going to need to rely on its freshmen heavily this upcoming season with seven incoming freshmen from the recruiting class. One of the top players in the class was guard Brayden Burries.
- Against Saint Mary’s, Burries was able to find his groove on the court by scoring 10 points on 5 of 7 shooting from the field.
- Burries has a natural ability to find his spot and is a smooth shooting guard that can provide a massive boost for the Wildcats.
Point Guard Play
- Arizona will be led by veteran point guard Jaden Bradley, who will be one of the top returning points nationally after averaging 12.1 ppg, 3.7 apg, 3.4 rpg and 1.8 spg while shooting 47% from the field.
- This will be the third season in the Arizona system for Bradley, who will be expected to take on a large role in the offensive gameplan.
- Plus, unlike last year, the Wildcats now have a legitimate option at the backup point guard spot with the addition of transfer guard Evan Nelson, who played three seasons at Harvard where he played in 68 games and averaged 8.2 ppg, 2.9 rpg and 2.8 apg while shooting 46% from the field.
Motiejus Krivas
- Last season, center Motiejus Krivas suffered a season-ending injury in practice and now is back looking to improve from his injury and his freshman season.
- Although it was just an exhibition game, Krivas looked good with his mobility and didn’t seem stiff like he was during his freshman year.
- Now, there is still a long way to go before calling Krivas a “proven” player but he is progressing in the right direction.
Arizona will have one more exhibition game against Embry-Riddle on Oct. 27, at 7 p.m. (MST) with the game being streamed on ESPN+.
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Troy Hutchison grew up attending Arizona athletic events, which gave him a unique perspective and knowledge of the athletic department's rich history. He attended UA and began covering the Wildcats in 2018. As the Arizona Wildcats Beat Writer on SI, he is set to deliver wall-to-wall coverage to give fans an in-depth perspective.
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