Arizona began practices this week without the full services of a projected starter but it’s still only September.
So, in his preseason news conference Wednesday, UA coach Tommy Lloyd expressed optimism that center Motiejus Krivas will be on the floor when it matters. Krivas has been limited with an undisclosed foot/ankle injury.
“I mean, he’s fine. If we had games today, he’d be playing,” Lloyd said. “Sometimes, you have to take care of things when you can. There’s nothing we’re hiding. It’s just taking a little bit of time to make sure he’s ready for the long haul.”
UA practices are closed and Lloyd is not expected to be available for comment again until after Arizona holds its first Red-Blue Showcase on Oct. 4 at McKale, but Lloyd said he would “assume that everybody’s available until they’re not available” for that scrimmage.
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The fact that UA is treating Krivas cautiously is no surprise. With Oumar Ballo having left for Indiana and an NIL deal worth north of $1 million, Krivas is expected to be UA’s starting center.
Arizona center Motiejus Krivas (14) keeps Arizona State guard Frankie Collins (1) from scoring but gets charged with a foul in the second half of the Wildcats’ Pac-12 matchup last season at McKale Center on Feb. 17 against their rival Sun Devils.
Kelly Presnell photos, Arizona Daily Star
Tennessee transfer Tobe Awaka and possibly redshirt sophomore Henri Veesaar are also expected to play the position at times, while promising freshman Emmanuel Stephen rides a more developmental track.
“I love our collective group of bigs,” Lloyd said. “I really appreciate each of them individually, but I really value how they come together as a core group. … Mo’s obviously made great progress. He’s somebody that we were excited about when he decided to join this program, and we’re excited to move forward with him and watch his continued growth.”
After showing some promise early as a freshman in 2022-23, Veesaar missed last season with an elbow injury suffered in a preseason golf cart mishap. While he was cleared to practice with the Wildcats in January, he continued to sit out, picked up a redshirt season and is now expected to chip in at either power forward or center.
“Henri is probably somebody that a lot of people have forgotten about a little bit,” Lloyd said. “We felt it was in his best interest to redshirt and really give his body and his game another year to catch up… to mature physically, mentally, emotionally and I think he’s made progress in all those areas. He’s been a consistent producer in our practices and we’re looking for him to play an impact role on this team.”
Arizona center Motiejus Krivas, left, watches the final tense minutes of the second half against the Wildcats’ home matchup last season with Washington State on Feb. 22 at McKale Center.
Kelly Presnell, Arizona Daily Star
While the 7-foot Stephen doesn’t project to be in the Wildcats’ rotation this season, his personality and raw talent have raised eyebrows since he reported to campus.
“E-man’s awesome. You guys are going to love him,” Lloyd said. “He’s at that early development stage for a big guy, but he’s got a ton of potential. He just oozes energy and enthusiasm and I think those are going to be resources he’s really going to be able to tap into. With a little more experience, I think he’s going to be a great player at Arizona.”
Green Team grows
The Wildcats enter the season with just 11 scholarship players, two under the NCAA maximum after guard commits Jamari Phillips (Oregon) and Joson Sanon (ASU) went elsewhere.
But they also have what appears to be a program-record nine walk-ons.
Barring multiple injuries, that could give Arizona the best of both words — not too many scholarship players so as to create chemistry issues but enough players overall for flexibility in practices.
As it is now, the Wildcats essentially have enough to create two “Green Teams” of walk-on and backup players who wear green jerseys in practice.
“Some days we do, and it’s been awesome,” Lloyd said. “I’m not making no jokes about it. People think it’s crazy, but it’s really been able to help the way we practice and the repetitions we’ve been getting.”
Northern Arizona’s Liam Lloyd, right, blocks a shot by Michigan State’s A.J. Hoggard (11) during a Nov. 7, 2022, matchup in East Lansing, Michigan.
Al Goldis, Associated Press 2022
Happily downgraded
One of those walk-ons happens to be Lloyd’s son, Liam, who was a starter last season at NAU but opted to spend his extra “COVID” year of eligibility in a mostly behind-the-scenes role at Arizona.
“I think Liam said it best,” Tommy Lloyd said, “when my wife asked if he was going to play, he said, `Mom, if I have to play, dad is not doing his job.”
Tommy Lloyd said his son, who began his career at Grand Canyon, has already been through a lot of “ups and downs” in college basketball and was looking forward to starting his next life journey at Arizona.
That includes becoming a father, since Liam and his fiancée Halle had a baby boy, Luka James Lloyd, in June.
Not surprisingly, Tommy Lloyd beamed when asked Wednesday what the best thing about being a grandpa was.
“This has been really fun watching Liam and Halle become young parents and take it on as their own,” Lloyd said. “My wife and I are really excited. Obviously, having them in town is not something you could ever expect to happen.
“My wife and I look at each other and think, `You know, it seems like yesterday we were in those shoes.’ So to watch them be young parents and be able to be a part of it has been really, really cool.”
Mavericks guard Luka Doncic reacts after a play during the first half of Game 4 of the NBA Finals in June against the Celtics in Dallas.
Julio Cortez, Associated Press
Doncic adopts Wildcats
Another Luka — yes, Doncic — drew social media buzz this week when he told Overtime he would have attended Arizona if he had played college basketball.
“They say it’s good there,” Doncic said, smiling and shrugging.
Doncic played last season with two former Wildcats on the Dallas Mavericks’ roster, Josh Green and Brandon Williams, and there’s little doubt Lloyd wouldn’t mind having him on his roster.
“I think as a community, we need to rally around an NIL plan and see if we can get him here next year,” Lloyd said jokingly. “I’m not on the socials much, so somebody basically told me, and I’m like, `Oh, that’s pretty cool.’
“Luka, I’ve heard from numerous people that he’s a great guy, great with his teammates and fun to be around. And I know great guys that are fun to be around seem to do really well in Tucson. So I think he’d be one of us.”
Arizona’s KJ Lewis (5) leaps over then-teammate Oumar Ballo (11) for the deciding shot in the slam dunk competition during last season’s season-opening Red-Blue Showcase at McKale Center on Sept. 29, 2023.
Kelly Presnell, Arizona Daily Star 2023
Glendale Red-Blue prices drop
Tickets for Arizona’s first-ever Red-Blue Showcase away from McKale Center, in Glendale on Oct. 11, have been discounted to as low as $10 plus Ticketmaster fees when buying in multiples of two. They have been selling in tiers of $200, $75, $60, $35 and $20.
Arizona jumped on a new NCAA rule allowing teams to play up to two preseason intrasquad scrimmages off campus within 400 miles of campus, scheduling one at McKale on Oct. 4 and another in the Phoenix area a week later, but the demand has been low for the Glendale event so far. Ticketmaster’s seat map indicated that most of the lower bowl seats had not yet been sold as of Wednesday afternoon.
“It’s probably a big swing,” Lloyd said. “We were presented with the opportunity and we went for it. We obviously want to continue to grow Arizona basketball throughout the state, and we want to be able to get up to Phoenix.”
“To be honest with you, we need to sell some more tickets. We need a Wildcat nation up there or down here to come up and support the program.”
Lloyd said there have been conversations about making a Phoenix-area event one that could promote the university to future students and engage with alums in the state’s biggest metro area.
“It’s just probably going to take a year to kind of to make it work, but we’re not afraid of making bold moves and in this day and age, we want to separate ourselves from the pack,” Lloyd said. “Arizona basketball is a special brand, and it means so much to so many people that we want to grow it and build it.”
Contact sports reporter Bruce Pascoe at bpascoe@tucson.com. On X(Twitter): @brucepascoe
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Publish date : 2024-09-25 13:35:00
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