Freshman Brayden Burries led all scorers with 22 points
It’s hard to come to any form any real opinions from a 20-minute intrasquad scrimmage, one that’s only 10 days removed from the start of preseason practice and a full month before the actual season opener.
But Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd did have high praise for an unexpected newcomer that joined the Wildcats midway through Friday night’s Red-Blue Showcase at McKale Center.
“That new kid Gronkstone, Rocky, that kid’s got some great energy,” Lloyd said, referring to the “transfer” Arizona added at halftime.
Lloyd was referring to UA football legend Rob Gronkowski, who in addition to being a judge—and prop—in the pregame dunk contest—came out in full uniform for the Blue squad in the second half. Wearing a long brown wig, a headband and mustache, his jersey showing 48 on the front and 87 on the back, “Gronkstone” lasted all of two minutes before picking up a pair of technical fouls and getting ejected.
“Got to work on his temper,” Lloyd said after the game and just before heading over to his “night job” as DJ Tomm-E at the Post Move after party. “I’ll tell you what, though: that guy will try to sell anything. He’ll do advertisements for anything, he’ll crush it in NIL.”
It was that kind of night at McKale, where the celebrity sightings were just as notable as the basketball. In addition to Gronk, also in attendance was Shaquille O’Neal and his sons as well as several former UA players and at least one high-profile recruit (5-star guard Caleb Holt).
Gronk, who is the honorary captain for Saturday’s football game against Oklahoma State, also ended up being the de facto slam dunk contest winner after finalists Dwayne Aristode and AddisonArnold both failed to make a dunk. Arnold, a walk-on, had the lone perfect score during the opening round when he took a snap from Gronk and then dunked a football over the former Wildcat and NFL tight end.
As for the scrimmage itself, the Red team rallied from down 10 at halftime to win 45-44. Freshman guard Brayden Burries, who led all scorers with 22 points, hit the game-winning basket with 12 seconds left and then stripped Jaden Bradley on the other end to seal the victory. Bradley had 12 points, as didAristode, who like most of the first-year Wildcats were playing in front of the largest crowd of their careers.
“The first few minutes I was kind of nervous, I’m not gonna lie,” said Aristode, who also competed in the dunk contest. “But as the game went on, I got into shape, got a little sweat out of me, so nurse went out.”
The scrimmage marked the first public action for big man Motiejus Krivas since last December before he was shut down and eventually had foot surgery. Krivas had seven points, five rebounds, two assists and two blocks in 20 minutes.
“We call him Mo and that’s short for mobile,” Lloyd said.
Dell’Orso, who had 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting and made both his 3-point attempts, defeated Mickey Perdue of the women’s basketball team to win the 3-point contest. The senior, donning a fairly thick beard that he says will probably remain, added 25 pounds of muscle in the offseason and looked much more physical than in his first season with the UA.
“This was a great way to burn off those first butterflies,” he said. “We’ll go back, watch some film and get better for the real games.”
Arizona’s first exhibition game is Oct. 18 at McKale against Saint Mary’s, a program that has made the NCAA Tournament the last three seasons. By then Lloyd hopes to have a better idea of what his rotation might be.
“I think we got a good mix of guys,” Lloyd said. “When you’re a coach, these inner squad scrimmages can sometimes be misleading because eventually you’re going to play five guys at a time. You’re not splitting your team in half. So think once we get to putting five guys on the court at a time I think we’ve got a lot of options.”
Category: General Sports
