2024-25 Arizona Basketball

[AzCatFan2]

We need Townsend to eat up 15-20 minutes and his 5 fouls. When the bench is really short, and you know you need to play long minutes, you tend to let up a little on D so you don't get into foul trouble. You also want to save yourself a bit to have energy on O. Have Townsend eat up 8-10 minutes a half allows KJ and Carter to play 100% on D and not worry quite as much about foul trouble.

We also need ADO to hit some outside shots. Every 2-point shot and assist he gets is a bonus. But his real contribution to the team is hitting the 3. If he's not hitting from outside, he's all but worthless out there. Hate to say it, because I think he's a good kid who is trying. But his game just isn't attuned to this level of basketball, but a guy who can knock down 3s consistently at least has that to offer.

[TheCatInTheHat]

I tend to agree with not going bonkers trying to make some statement in the Big XII tourney. As the Big XII commercial goes, "every conference game is like an NCAA tournament game." It's a tough grind, and while there are legit complaints about officiating errors and inconsistency, at least they let them play all season long. You had plenty of blowouts spaced throughout the Pac-12 season, and you also had plenty of games that deteriorated into free throw contests where the players spent a lot of time walking from one end of the court to the other for a nice chunk of the time toward the end of both halves. The tournament in Vegas was supposedly to toughen up contending teams for the tourney after such a season, and it was special for Arizona fans with their annual takeover. But no such deal in freezing KC near the Kansas schools. Nobody says to tank anything. But you show up, let the chips fall where they may, accept the final loss of your regular season whenever it comes, and focus on rest and NCAA prep.

[Merkin]

I know Martinez and Stephen really lack defense skills, but when Awaka was in foul trouble, and Stonehands Veesaar was gassed, it would have been good to bring in Stephen just for a couple of minutes. Same with Conrad, who is very pesky out there. Just maybe 4 minutes a half.

That 13-0 KSU run to end the half was killer and wore the Cats out trying to make it up.

Unforced errors end of game too were due to fatigue.

[MrKyle]

Busted our ass to win the P12 tourney, Kriisa got hurt as well during that tournament.

I was literally yelling at Lloyd to put in Boswell the last 5 minutes of the Princeton game. Believe Kriisa had a twisted ankle, and really could not do anything end of game. Tubelis was gassed too.

Yep... Boz should have seen way more run in that Princeton game. I think the twisted ankle was the year before, the Princeton game he separated his shoulder in the P12 tourney. Tubelis just looked lost in that Princeton game, couldn't get anything going.

That was a tough one to watch, I was in Vegas for a trade show - had just wrapped up my week in time to run to the hotel bar to catch the Cats game. Watched them choke it away and lose, and then had to drive home the 4 hours to Southern CA...

[pc in NM]

I think the message from last nights game is that the Cats NEED the 8-man rotation - absense of any one of those 8 players seriously extends the rest of the team.

Martinez and Stephen aren't gonna be sufficient to plug the deficits from a 7-man rotation, while they might offer a couple of valuable minutes otherwise. When ADO is the sole sub behind the top-6, that is not a sufficient cushion. 15-18 more minutes from Townsend would have made a BIG difference.

The team was tired last night. I think that really affected three-point shooting the most. Maybe passing too, though I myself didn't see that as much.

Our defense was very good most of the game - both teams took too many contested threes. But the energy required for that defense wore us out.

I did like our rebounding - Carter had 11, BTW, that helped to ameliorate Awaka's having to sit so much in the first half. The 14-point run was more about our live-ball turnovers than poor defense, per se.

We should get Townsend back for the Houston game, and we'll have the home crowd!!

BIGGEST GAME OF THE YEAR!!! BTFD!!!!

[PHXCATS]

Townsend is needed

Lloyd knows what he is doing

Arizona win with him yesterday

[TheCat]

Winning against Houston will be unexpected even a home. They have 3 guys that basically hit the boards hard every play, get the rebound and spray it out to really good 3 point shooters. Tobey will be critical but if he picks up quick fouls we will have little chance. Seeing more of the two bigs was interesting and it is clear they're still learning to play together. That might counter Houston's glass eaters. Based on Tommy's prior comments that was part of the strategy when Mo was around.

[Fishclamps]

Townsend is needed

Lloyd knows what he is doing

Arizona win with him yesterday

We very clearly still would have not won, we turned the ball over 17 times and shot 5% from 3

[dirtbags]

Townsend is needed

Lloyd knows what he is doing

Arizona win with him yesterday

We very clearly still would have not won, we turned the ball over 17 times and shot 5% from 3

yikes - yeah, turnovers have been a little bit of an issue this season. gotta take care of the ball

[pc in NM]

Townsend is needed

Lloyd knows what he is doing

Arizona win with him yesterday

We very clearly still would have not won, we turned the ball over 17 times and shot 5% from 3

In fact, Arizona shot 9.1% from three (2/22), vs. 5.3% for KSU (1/19).

THREE-POINT SHOOTING WAS NOT THE DIFFERENCE IN THE GAME!

AZ outrebounded KSU 46-33, and 13-7 on O boards - keeping us in the game.

KSU lead steals 14-7, and in TO's 10-17.

That is the most significant statistical difference, and why Arizona lost!

[Merkin]

TOs:
JB 5
ADO 2
KJ 3
CB 3
Veesaar 4

Good to see Love and Tobe with none.

Would Trey coming in reduce the number of turnovers? Perhaps. Veesaar might not have been gassed so much since he had to play the 4 for several stretches. But Henri had 12 points, and Bryant had 11 rebounds. Townsend is averaging 1.8 TO per game.

[Lute4God]

Townsend is needed

Lloyd knows what he is doing

Arizona win with him yesterday

We very clearly still would have not won, we turned the ball over 17 times and shot 5% from 3

No we shot 80% better from 3 point range than KSU did:

9 to 5

...percent

[dirtbags]

McKale better be rocking on Saturday.

i don't have any sense of how houston's fanbase travels but i wouldn't be surprised to see a sizeable visiting contingent in town with the holiday weekend and all. i saw on socials this AM that there are a bunch of resale tix up for grabs. hope the 'zoo turns up, weekenders be damned!

[PHXCATS]

Townsend is needed

Lloyd knows what he is doing

Arizona win with him yesterday

We very clearly still would have not won, we turned the ball over 17 times and shot 5% from 3

Okay coach. I am sure none of the turnovers were due to mental and physical fatigue

[pc in NM]

TOs:
JB 5
ADO 2
KJ 3
CB 3
Veesaar 4

Good to see Love and Tobe with none.

Would Trey coming in reduce the number of turnovers? Perhaps. Veesaar might not have been gassed so much since he had to play the 4 for several stretches. But Henri had 12 points, and Bryant had 11 rebounds. Townsend is averaging 1.8 TO per game.

A lot of the impact from Townsend's absence was from his absence from the hard-fought TT game (e. g., Love and Bradley each played 39 minutes with only seven players getting minutes in another very highly contested and physically demanding game with 2 days rest and travel added.

[pc in NM]

TOs:
JB 5
ADO 2
KJ 3
CB 3
Veesaar 4

Good to see Love and Tobe with none.

Would Trey coming in reduce the number of turnovers? Perhaps. Veesaar might not have been gassed so much since he had to play the 4 for several stretches. But Henri had 12 points, and Bryant had 11 rebounds. Townsend is averaging 1.8 TO per game.

A lot of the impact from Townsend's absence was from his absence from the hard-fought TT game (e. g., Love and Bradley each played 39 minutes with only seven players getting minutes in another very highly contested and physically demanding game with 2 days rest and travel added.

In my own playing experience, tired legs didn't much affect ball handling or passing; but jump-shooting could really be affected; even though I felt normal on the release, the shot would be way off from normal. I was a good shot from 15 19 feet. but never played much with threes...

[Postmaster]

JB and Love had 38 and 39 minutes last night. Combined 0-10 3 PT.

ADO played 15 minutes, and has gone 5 games now without a made 3 pointer.

UA is 282nd in made 3 PT %. https://www.teamrankings.com/ncaa-baske ... -point-pct

This season reminds me so much of when UA was bounced in the tourney in the first round v. Princeton playing 7.

Maybe Tommy should do what Lute used, not really give a rats ass about the conference tourney and save the players for the NCAAs. Tommy focusing on winning the regular season PAC, and winning the PAC tourney just wore the players down too much.

This was exactly what I was thinking of, seems very reminiscent of that team losing to Princeton. Busted our ass to win the P12 tourney, Kriisa got hurt as well during that tournament.

We need to have a reliable 7-8 deep who can be counted on for points and minutes. Also need to find some way to bring in some shooters in the next year, its been our kryptonite for what seems like forever now (was York the last real gunner we had from 3PT?)

Lavender

[Postmaster]

TL needs to get more guys in the game. Especially with TT out. It's s odd that he is ok with ADO getting 15-20 mpg but won't give CM or ES 5-8 minutes. I'd like them to get a few minutes even if TT is back. We replaced the minutes MK was getting with HV, but haven't really replaced those minutes with anyone.

[84Cat]

TL needs to get more guys in the game. Especially with TT out. It's s odd that he is ok with ADO getting 15-20 mpg but won't give CM or ES 5-8 minutes. I'd like them to get a few minutes even if TT is back. We replaced the minutes MK was getting with HV, but haven't really replaced those minutes with anyone.

He played CM last night and his guy drove right by him for a layup. He just isn't good enough for the Big12 right now

[Merkin]

York was a career 40% 3PT, with 42% as a senior.

B-Lav was career 42%, 49% as senior.


But those were with the old 3 point line.

[Postmaster]

TL needs to get more guys in the game. Especially with TT out. It's s odd that he is ok with ADO getting 15-20 mpg but won't give CM or ES 5-8 minutes. I'd like them to get a few minutes even if TT is back. We replaced the minutes MK was getting with HV, but haven't really replaced those minutes with anyone.

He played CM last night and his guy drove right by him for a layup. He just isn't good enough for the Big12 right now

I know cm and ES have gotten in for a few seconds but that doesn't help .people blow by ADO and TT quite often. They won't improve on the bench. I guess the other choice is to get a S/C that can get the starters ready to play 45 minutes a night.

I agree he isn't able to hang at this level, but that's what we have right now. I feel like CTL chooses to play too short of a bench overall and it hurts the team when injuries pop up.

[pc in NM]

TL needs to get more guys in the game. Especially with TT out. It's s odd that he is ok with ADO getting 15-20 mpg but won't give CM or ES 5-8 minutes. I'd like them to get a few minutes even if TT is back. We replaced the minutes MK was getting with HV, but haven't really replaced those minutes with anyone.

He played CM last night and his guy drove right by him for a layup. He just isn't good enough for the Big12 right now

I know cm and ES have gotten in for a few seconds but that doesn't help .people blow by ADO and TT quite often. They won't improve on the bench. I guess the other choice is to get a S/C that can get the starters ready to play 45 minutes a night.

I agree he isn't able to hang at this level, but that's what we have right now. I feel like CTL chooses to play too short of a bench overall and it hurts the team when injuries pop up.

It was a one possession Big-12 road loss with an unavailable starter to a very hot team that just smacked KU at home for the third consecutive year and one of only 4 Big-12 teams with a winning record vs top-25 ranked team, reducing our second place conference record to 11-2.

Chill out, y'all!!! CTL is doing pretty well, and, IMNSHO, has earned your compliments and full-throated support more than this nitpicking bs negativity.

BTFD!!!!

[UAdevil]

Good thing we have PC policing the fanbase!

[Fishclamps]

TL needs to get more guys in the game. Especially with TT out. It's s odd that he is ok with ADO getting 15-20 mpg but won't give CM or ES 5-8 minutes. I'd like them to get a few minutes even if TT is back. We replaced the minutes MK was getting with HV, but haven't really replaced those minutes with anyone.

He played CM last night and his guy drove right by him for a layup. He just isn't good enough for the Big12 right now

I know cm and ES have gotten in for a few seconds but that doesn't help .people blow by ADO and TT quite often. They won't improve on the bench. I guess the other choice is to get a S/C that can get the starters ready to play 45 minutes a night.

I agree he isn't able to hang at this level, but that's what we have right now. I feel like CTL chooses to play too short of a bench overall and it hurts the team when injuries pop up.

It was a one possession Big-12 road loss with an unavailable starter to a very hot team that just smacked KU at home for the third consecutive year and one of only 4 Big-12 teams with a winning record vs top-25 ranked team, reducing our second place conference record to 11-2.

Chill out, y'all!!! CTL is doing pretty well, and, IMNSHO, has earned your compliments and full-throated support more than this nitpicking bs negativity.

BTFD!!!!

No one is calling for Tommy's head, it was just a shitty game and we lost.