Arizona men’s basketball started preseason play in dominating fashion with a 93-69 win over San Francisco. Center Motiejus Krivas led the Wildcats with 20 points while forward Ivan Kharchenkov added in 18 of his own.
Freshman Caleb Holt and North Carolina transfer Derek Dixon also had double-digit scoring performances and Arizona forced 19 turnovers. UA plays its second exhibition on Friday against San Diego State.
Our game recap can be found here. Below is what head coach Tommy Lloyd, Krivas and Dixon had to say following the win over San Francisco:
Lloyd on the win: “It was a great experience, and you try not to get too caught up in the minutia. I mean, we just needed reps. We needed reps against somebody else, and to get some live bullets out there and kind of see how guys kind of play and kind of spontaneous situations. I think it’s great. I’m excited to break down the film. I’m sure there’s a lot of really good things, and I’m sure there’s a lot of other things we can learn from as well.”
On what stood out and what could be improved: “I don’t know. The foreign tour was a great experience, but I don’t know if there’s a direct correlation between taking a foreign tour and where your team is right now. It’s just an amazing thing. It’s year 28 for me in college basketball at this level, and I’m just always amazed how you have to start over every single time. Even when you come back from a foreign trip, you feel like, ‘oh no, you have to start over.’ It’s just how it works, and so you better lock into that beginner’s mindset and fall in love with the process and the work, otherwise you’re going to get sloppy and skip steps. So I’m trying to hold myself accountable to be there for these guys and coach them where they’re at, not be frustrated by where you might hope they would be, and experiences like this are amazing catalysts to see what we can do with it and how much better we can be.”
On managing fan reactions to exhibitions: “Well, first off, you don’t get sidetracked by how your fan base might feel. You got to lock into the process, like I said earlier, and you got to help the guys understand what it takes to win, and so that’s what we’ve really been focused on. I have inklings in my mind of what I’m going to see when I watch the film, but I kind of want to watch the film before I come out and say thoughts that may not be entirely true.”
On Caleb Holt’s performance: “Well, Caleb’s really motivated to be a great all-around player and to really understand the nuances of the game, and so he’s shouldered a heavy burden on his own of trying to learn. So, you’re talking about a guy that has just kind of risen through the ranks at the highest levels of kind of high school basketball and international basketball just with his effort and his kind of raw instincts and so now he’s trying to kind of refine himself a little bit. This guy works incredibly hard and he’s really a skilled player, and he’s a unique player. So, I’m just excited to kind of help him on the journey, and then just make sure that I’m trying to teach it, but I definitely don’t want to put the shackles on this guy or make him a robot, because I think he’s a guy that has to kind of be turned loose a little bit. Yeah, there’s probably going to be a few head scratching plays, but there might also be some head scratching plays in a positive direction as well.”
On JJ Mandaquit’s performance: “He was great. JJ has really made a lot of progress in the last month. He really did start practicing for us consistently till about the last month, and I thought he looked great out there and I think as he gets a little bit more comfortable, we get a little bit more comfortable with him, his teammates get more comfortable. I think he’s going to be a guy that really really impacts winning.”
On if there is any emphasis of physical safety given the game doesn’t go on record: “We don’t talk specifically about it. We’re trying not to run the guys into the ground, but you got to take a few minutes and kind of push them a little bit to see where they’re at physically and see if they can fight through some fatigue thresholds and things like that. Then the game is the game. We don’t want to be reckless, but you got to play. You got to play. You got to get on the floor. There’s going to be contact. So, you know, if you shy away from that, I don’t know if you’re going to give yourself a real look. So, no, I know there were some guys on the floor today, and maybe a couple more opportunities we could have gotten on the floor. That’s something we take a lot of pride in.”
On the team’s physicality: “We got a high standard for that. I’m sure there were moments we were, and I’m sure there’s going to be moments I watch that we’re going to be able to ask for more with that stuff. We always want to play a physical brand of basketball. I think that’s the most fun way to play and the most effective way to play.”
On Krivas’ defensive presence: “I mean, honestly, I think I have a crazy high standard for Mo. I thought defensively he was just okay tonight. You know what I mean? I don’t think he was as good in some of those downhill situations. Usually, he’s elite in those. Their guard, the Argentinian kid, played with a bunch of swag and aggression, and had a little bit of success down there. He gets a lot of credit for that, but our guards are part of that equation too. If the ball screen coverage that we got Mo in, you’re going to give up some penetration. Usually, you’re giving up penetration, and you’re able to kind of guard the three-point line a little bit better with it, and you’re relying on them to play oversides at the rim, but your guard’s got to be part of that downhill, and whether that’s breaking on a dump down pass to the big, if it’s choking down on when the guard shoots a floater and Mo can test it, so we got to really go look at it and figure out if they were just one-offs or if there’s some themes that we gotta do. You’re right in the sense that Mo is a really important part of our defense and he’s super impactful there. I know he had some possessions where he did alter shots and I love having Mo on the court defensively for sure.”
On the rotation: “We’re figuring that all out. There’s been a lot of moving parts, so it’s just kind of figuring out what’s going to put the pieces in the right place, and what you think might be that answer today might not be the answer in three weeks from now. So just keeping an open mind and trying a few things, and then kind of evaluating them and then making decisions moving forward.”
On forcing 19 turnovers: “Hopefully we can turn teams over. We really didn’t let loose a lot defensively tonight. I mean, they ended up in a lot of downhill penetration, and that’s high risk basketball. You had to guard small areas against big guys, and those passes could get tough. So maybe we got a few turnovers on that, and then our running game got going a little bit finally towards the second half of that second half when we were able to make a little bit of a run and give ourselves a little bit of a margin.”
On taking care of the ball: “They did a great job taking care of the ball overall. I don’t know if it’s going to be realistic to have eight turnovers every game the way we want to play, but today they did a good job of it. Let’s hope that trend continues.”
On Ivan Kharchenkov’s high motor and energy: “Ivan’s super talented, and he’s super impactful in all facets of the game. The biggest thing I have for Ivan is just staying steady, staying physical, staying on balance. He doesn’t need to do tricky things to impact the game, and just making sure he stays the course when he’s making those types of decisions. So, I mean, Ivan is a key part of what we did, especially in the second half of last year, and obviously it looks like he’s going to need to even expand on that role this year.”
On Mandaquit and Dixon being on the court together: “Going back a lot of years, I’ve always liked having two point guard types on the floor. I think that’s can be a great way to play if you have a group of guys and it makes sense. So I just think it allows JJ, I mean first off it allows Derek to to get some extended run and it allows JJ to kind of get the minutes he needs to get. Those two guys complement each other and obviously I think Derek’s a really good point guard who’s had a really good summer and fall for us. When you put him alongside JJ, maybe he can get off the ball a little bit because he’s also a dynamic shooter.”
On Bryce James starting: “I didn’t want to overthink it. Bryce has had a good fall for us and continues to grow as a player, and I think starting Bryce, I just felt like kind of maybe puts the rotation in the right way and maybe have some good impactful guys coming off the bench. I just kind of wanted to see how that looked and felt today. I don’t know what I’m going to do Friday, and we’ll talk to the staff tomorrow about what we think is best. I’m not going to overthink that one, it’s just the first few minutes of a 40-minute game.”
On handling RJ Godfrey’s eligibility situation: “I make decisions with what I have at hand. RJ couldn’t play today, so there was no thought of anything.”
On having with/without Godfrey plans: “Even if RJ was eligible, I would have a with or without plan. I mean, because he’s not going to play 40 minutes. We’ve been working on plans, kind of what we want to do when RJ’s on the court. We spend a lot of time on that. We spend a lot of time on what we’re going to do when RJ is off the court. So, it’s kind of how we have to build our team. Just based on the different style and different types of personnel we have. I’m going to focus and lean towards the side where I know the guys that can play. I mean, that’s the only common sense thing to do.”
On the status of Evan Otten and Endurance Aiyamenkhue: “Evan is fine. He hopefully, maybe next game, he can get a little bit more run. He’s done a good job and is starting to make progress. Indy. Endi, I think he’s out for a bit, but I don’t think much longer. I don’t have an exact timeline.”
On how the San Diego State exhibition came to be: “Guys on our staff have a good relationship with some guys in their staff, and we have a lot of respect for their program. Obviously, we wanted to play what we felt was going to be like a really challenging game. So we ask them, and they agree. I mean, it wasn’t much more than that. If you’re asking me anything about their team other than how good they have been, I really don’t have any idea. Every team is so new right now, but I’m assuming they got great DNA and they got winning DNA because that’s what that program’s been about.”
On if it’s odd that San Diego State is part of the newly formed Pac-12: “Where do we want to start with odd? Everything’s odd right now. I’m sure it’s gonna be a good basketball conference and with the Pac-12, kind of the old Pac-12, we were part of dissolving. I think the West Coast needs a strong basketball conference once again. So hopefully, this new Pac-12 can really provide that.”
Dixon on playing in McKale for the first time: “I felt really good. I’m lucky to play with a lot of really good players, so they make it easy for me. It felt good to come out here and play against somebody else for the first time. I thought the fans were pretty good tonight, and hopefully, we can get them the same way Friday, maybe a little more.”
On if he is a downhill type of player: “I think I try to mix it up. When the driving lanes are there for me, take them and just try to make plays for my teammates when I can. I try to pride myself on being a three-level scorer, being able to get downhill, make plays for others, get to the mid-range, stop and pop if I need it, and then obviously my shooting is something that I can always fall back on.”
On playing with Mandaquit: “I think it’s just different. You have somebody else who’s initiating and creating, so I can try and be a little bit more aggressive coming off screens, coming off actions.”
On having a big backcourt: “I think we’ve got size, like you said, at all positions, which is going to help us really defensively. I thought we could have been better on the boards tonight, which is something we’ll continue to work on, especially with our size being better on the boards.”
On if he feels the team is further along in its development: “I think we’ve had a really good couple months of preseason since we’ve been back, just building up what we’re trying to do and how we’re trying to play. So I definitely felt a little bit better out there. I think the ball moved a little bit better, and yeah, just excited to keep growing.”
Krivas on getting the ball more inside this year:“You probably can see that the ball is like going a little bit more in the paint, and that’s credit to these guys. I don’t know. We just try to play good team basketball and involve everyone and get these shots. Nobody is holding the ball too long.”
On if his conditioning is there to play more minutes: “If I can, I will. Maybe not yet, but it will be.”
On having a big backcourt: “I feel like in the first half we didn’t do a good job on defense. We let their guards get kind of comfortable, but in the second half I feel like we did better jumping. As Derek said, we have to get those balls.”
On defending better in downhill situations: “Just like in the drop coverage, kind of play with them, like make them think what to do. Like, ‘Can I shoot?’ Then they see me, like ‘Can I pass?’ So make them make a decision and impact the ball as much as I can.”
On Kharchenkov’s energy plays: “It’s huge. It’s probably the best play to hype the crowd and the team, and it just shows that guys play with huge effort and makes the team follow.”
On what he remembers about playing San Diego State last season: “I remember it was a really hard game. We couldn’t make threes like that’s how they play. They just make you shoot tough shots and they’re a really physical team, really great program. So yeah, we have to clean up those areas of playing physically from the start.”