Arizona’s Lloyd Lauds Dell’Orso’s Effort in Big Win
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The No. 4 ranked Arizona Wildcats had to face plenty of adversity that was infront of them to snap their two-game losing streak, playing without two key players in Koa Peat and Dwayne Aristode while also dealing with the tremendous amount of pressure in what is an inceredibly tough back end of their schedule.
Nonetheless, Arizonna got the job done and outlasted the No. 23 BYU Cougars in a back and forth rematch of January 26's 86-83 win in Provo, UT. Despite the Cougars playing without Richie Saunders, they still found ways to score on the Wildcats however, accurate perimeter shooting paired with a defeaning home court made things difficult for BYU and Arizona was able to come away with a 75-68 victory.
Watch Lloyd's remarks below...
The end of the regular season is near, but the Wildcats still have a handful of tough matches to get through before the start of the Big 12 tournament, including a road game with No. 2 Houston and a rematch with No. 8 Kansas. Head coach Tommy Lloyd is aware of the challenges that lie ahead and will be making sure his team is prepared for what is to come. Here is a collection of five interesting comments he made after Arizona's gritty win over the Cougars.
On Anthony Dell'Orso's 22-point performance and Brayden Burries playing through illness
"It was extremely important. I think Delly is going to be ready to deliver when we need him most. And obviously, I couldn't have predicted that two or three weeks ago, but today there was a significant need and he stepped up. I want to give Brayden a lot of credit. Brayden's not feeling well and he's going to be fine, but he really battled through that game and it's been a tough couple days for him. So, to have that kind of competitive character to come out and play for your team when you're not feeling great says a lot about Brayden as a competitor and a person.
On Sidi Gueye contributing to the team
"I really challenged Sidi to be ready in four weeks to help the team. It probably went a little longer than four weeks, but he got an opportunity because an opportunity arose and it was great. Sidi did a great job and our guys, they practice with them every day and they know how he can impact the game around the rim and how he can catch lobs and such. So, I was really happy for Sidi."
On Arizona's 9-for-21 3-point shooting night
"I felt that we needed to shoot a few threes. I know you guys think I'm anti- three and that's fine, I'll wear that. But, I felt like we got some good looks, especially in the first half. I thought in the second half we should have taken a few more. It's hard for me when I look at that number and I see more three-point attempts than free-throw attempts, but that's what the game called for and luckily, we knocked down nine of them."
On Arizona's press break performance
"It could be better. It's so interesting at the end of these games, watching a lot of these college games and it just seems like it's not as clean as it could be and as a coach, it's tough because you want to call timeouts and and do that, but you have a limited number of timeouts and you need to save a timeout for a challenge at the end of the game. So, sometimes, when you're up seven or eight, you're trusting your guys can get through it. And so, we can clean that up."
On looking ahead to Houston
"They have an amazing identity. They're committed to their values as much as anybody. I'm sure their venue is great, but you could play them on a playground and I'm sure it'd be the same game. They do what they do and they do it really well and it's impressive. So, we have an incredible challenge on Saturday, but these are the games we want to play in. I don't care who shows up. We're just going to have five guys put on our uniform. We got to go to battle and we got to make it a ball game in their building and see if we can figure out a way to win a game like that at the end."
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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.