You can’t win ‘em all, but you can choose how to respond to a defeat. That’s the message Arizona men’s basketball coach Tommy Lloyd ended with Monday after the Wildcats dropped their first game of the season, a 82-78 loss to Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse. Lloyd, known for being even-keeled, offered praise to Kansas for […]
You can’t win ‘em all, but you can choose how to respond to a defeat.
That’s the message Arizona men’s basketball coach Tommy Lloyd ended with Monday after the Wildcats dropped their first game of the season, a 82-78 loss to Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse.
Lloyd, known for being even-keeled, offered praise to Kansas for taking down the No. 1 team, crediting the Jayhawks for going on a second-half run to take control of the game. Lloyd also played down the officiating, despite KU taking 11 more free throws than Arizona.
“I honestly don’t care how the game is officiated,” Lloyd said. “We should be fine. We’re a physical team and we’re built for it.”
Our recap of the game be found here. Below is what Lloyd had to say postgame.
Lloyd on whether Arizona made any adjustments when it learned Darryn Peterson would be out: “Not really. Kansas has a lot of good players and a great coach. Playing them here, we knew it was going to be a dogfight, no matter which guys were wearing the Kansas Jayhawk jerseys. Obviously I’m sure they’re better with Peterson, but we felt like they were pretty good without him tonight as well.”
On Peterson not being listed on Kansas’ injury report: “I don’t even look at that, so no. I don’t even look at that to be honest with you. You guys can dig into that.”
On when he found out Peterson wouldn’t be playing: “10 minutes before the game. Guys, Kansas is a hell of a team. Let’s not make this about Darryn Peterson. He didn’t play because he was sick. They beat the number one team in the country at home tonight. They did a hell of a job, and their coach did a hell of a job that that should be the story.”
On Flory Bigunda’s defensive play and Arizona not finishing inside: “I wish he was guarding our guards. He really impacts the game at the rim. That game comes down to probably, if you have to start slicing and dicing and picking one or two things, and we didn’t finish at the rim well enough. And usually we’re really proficient at finishing at the rim. We’re getting fouled and it’s not very often we get out free throw’d, and it’s not very often we don’t make a higher percentage of our rim shots. So Kansas gets credit for that.”
On playing at Allen Fieldhouse: “It was awesome. Last year was really good. I don’t know how to compare the two. They’re both awesome. So awesome environment, and it makes it really difficult to play. And you guys need to know it does impact the game and and your fans deserve credit like that, just like our fans do at home when we’re playing in McKale.”
Tommy over here,
On what changed in the second half: “Nothing crazy, you know? I mean, I thought they kind of weathered a few runs by us, and then they kind of put their head down and really drove the ball got a lot of free throws. And then, Bidunga threw in a couple hooks, picked up a couple loose balls and was able to get to his jump hook and cashed them in. It it wasn’t like they weren’t making jump shots. I didn’t have to use anything. And then just in these games, they’re possession by possession, and they kind of made a run at the right time to get a little bit of a lead, and they did a good job managing, and did a great job making their free throws down the stretch.”
On Arizona struggling some in the paint: “Sometimes you come play in these hard environments in the Big 12 later in the season, and it’s fine. There’s no complaints. There’s going to be a lot that gets to go in the paint. The refs aren’t gonna guess, probably on both ends of the floor. So if you want to win these games, you got to deliver. You got to deliver when you get the ball inside, you got to be able to play through physical contact. You got to be able to be able to play through what you think are fouls, and you just got to keep it moving.”
On Arizona losing its first game: “Well, if a guy is 38-0 on his home court on Big Mondays, it’s probably pretty hard to win here, no matter what our record coming in is. So we knew it’s going to be a tough game, and we’re okay with it. Like guys, I’m not mad we lost. I can’t wait to get on that plane, get back home, and I feel like our season just started.”
Category: General Sports
