Tommy Lloyd, Jaden Bradley, and KJ Lewis’s comments after Arizona lost at home to Duke

Tommy Lloyd has lost games at Arizona, some of them at McKale Centre. But as a head coach, he had never lost back-to-back games. That changed on Friday night when the Wildcats lost to Duke, that was their second straight loss.

Arizona is 2-2, which is their first.500 mark since the beginning of the 2017-18 season, when they were 3-3. Even though the losses have been to good teams and it’s still early in the season, they are still hard to deal with.

Lloyd said, “You ain’t gonna see me out on the town tonight.” “Let’s get to work, I have work to do.” Then let’s check back in a month. If we’re still having trouble, you know what I’ll do? I still have work to do, but I’ll get it done.

This is where you can find our game report.After the loss, Lloyd and guards Jaden Bradley and KJ Lewis said the following:

Lloyd about the loss: “Great mood. We played better than we had hoped, but it was too bad. Duke should take a lot of the blame. They did a great job. Their school and team are both great. This was a great place to play them. I wish things had gone better for us, but that’s how things work sometimes.

On dropping two games in a row, they said, “We had a week where there was a sense of urgency and we felt like we were taking care of things.” We didn’t play very well, just to let you know. Let’s take a step back and look at why. Are there any problems with the schematic? Is there something wrong with the way our staff is put together? We are going to look at those things. I like them a lot. I like the plan, but when things aren’t going as planned, you have to be honest with yourself and try to figure out what’s wrong. We need to figure out what we know for sure and what we have to have. Then, over the next few days, we need to figure out what changes we need to make.

When asked if Arizona’s scoring problems were their own fault or due to Duke’s defence, the coach said, “Probably a mix of both.” I think our good shooters gave us some good chances in the first half that just didn’t go in. Our goal was to get the ball side. They were able to keep it out. Then when we got it in there, I think their length and size made that a little different. I thought Duke came out and fought and played really hard. That didn’t work out the way I thought it would, which was my hope. We have to go back. Most likely some of it is because one of the answers is always “do what we do a little better and fight a little more.” The next answer is always something like “don’t be stubborn.” If there are changes we need to make, let’s figure them out.

They did a good job of pressing our bigs and making our wing touches a little harder. That’s why the offence looked flat in the second half. Our group has always been pretty good at making changes. First, we need to get better at change. Then, when we see chances, we need to take them. We’ve been working on that, but when the games start, some of the players’ choices haven’t been as good as I’d like. Instead of always going for all-for-nothing plays, play on two feet and use a fake.

When asked if he’s worried about Caleb Love, he said, “Of course we all know Caleb. His story is well known, and he’s my guy.” His game isn’t very good right now. No matter what, I have to be honest. But since this isn’t the NBA, it’s my job to hang out with him. There aren’t any deals. Guys, you’re not letting go. I also know that because Caleb has done so well in college hoops, hanging out with him is the right thing to do and will pay off. I’m going to stay with him and have faith that things will get better.

If you ask Arizona if the last two games have been too rough, they say, “I think we’re built for it.” We want games to be like that. There was nothing strange about it. The only thing I think our guys need is a little more guts and to figure out how to use that to their benefit.

What kept you from getting too upset about the 2-2 start? “I’m humble enough to know that it won’t always be easy,” he said. I’ve always thought that the tougher things are, the better, because I think I’m made for them. I’m going to hang out with my group. Tomorrow we’re going to take the day off, and we’re going to work together to figure out how to get to the Bahamas and win each game. Also, wouldn’t it be cool if we switched roles?

“I am an optimistic realist.” I know we’re not perfect and that there may be flaws, but I’m also hopeful that we can get through this if we work on them. We’re 2-2 in college basketball, which is great, and the season is long. We haven’t even played a conference game yet. It’s not that I don’t care about these two loses. They really hurt, believe me. I’ve had a rough week, and tonight is even worse for me and the program because we missed a great chance. But we’re going to get back on track and give Davidson our all. If we’re lucky enough to make it through that one, we’ll give the next part our all as well.

Bradley and Lewis scored 30 points, while everyone else scored 25. “Those guys play really hard, but I need to figure out why the pieces aren’t fitting together as well as I’d like or as well as we’re used to,” he said. And those guys aren’t involved. But I’m paying more attention to the bigger picture now than to how each player is doing because this is a team game for me. What I thought and wrote down today was TTE, which stands for “total team effort.” I don’t think we got that either. I need to go back and really think about what it will take to get everyone to work together.

About being able to keep playing these kinds of home-and-home games: “Of course, I’d love it.” And the best quote came from Jay Bilas. I just talked to him today. And it’s clear that he’s a nice person. He’s a Dukie, but he’s also a great person. I asked him what he thought about college basketball. He said he wished it was more like NBA basketball, where you play big games, win or lose, and move on to the next one. We don’t play basketball like that in college. It gets really scary when a big school like Duke or Arizona loses a game. For me, I love having fun in this. I’m not sure how well I’ll sleep tonight. It could be good or bad. I love playing Duke at home, though, and I wish we had more chances to do things like this when we weren’t so afraid of losing. Because you will never take advantage of a great atmosphere like the one we had tonight if you’re afraid of losing.

Motiejus Krivas was started over Tobe Awaka because, “He’s been practicing better, and we’re kind of stepping him up.” It’s possible that starting him today wasn’t the best choice. He’s just starting out, but he didn’t play very well. There was no reason for Tobe not to start because he’s been playing so well. Trying to figure out how to play these four bigs has to be it. I’ve mostly thought that Big Mo and Trey Townsend could work well together, and then Henri Veesaar and Tobe could work well together too. After that, the game became strange. These games do happen, and you get your first media time when you’re under 16. After about three or four minutes, we usually would have subbed in around that time, when it reached thirteen. I did not want to waste a jail time. I need to look at that and think about it some more. Big Mo is a great player who will have a great season, but he’s still recovering from his injury.I believe this will be a great chance for him to learn, and for me to figure something out.

He was asked if the newcomers are having trouble meeting the Arizona standard. “Everyone has a standard, and I’m not going to pick on newcomers or returners,” he said. We need to all get better. I mean, I told our guys that today, no one in the locker room should blame anyone else. First, everyone is looking at themselves, and then they are looking at the group. That doesn’t make sense to me at all.

When asked if he would change his starting lines depending on the team they were playing, he said, “I have to figure out what makes our players most comfortable and most effective.” I likely didn’t do Tobe any favours today. I told him about this idea kind of before the game, and he was so cool with it because he’s such a cool dude, but he’s been playing really well. It might not have been the right time to do it tonight, but I was just thinking about matching those bigs, so I’ll figure it out.

“I’ve heard a lot of stories about that last time Arizona played in the Battle4Atlantis,” Arizona said. I’m not sure what time our Wednesday game against Davidson is. Let’s just win this time. That’s how people will think. After that, we’re not going to or looking at anything else. The day-to-day deal is back.

Bradley said this about Duke’s defence: “They threw some new things at us.” They are pretty active. Their five-man down there blocks shots pretty well. We just need to be good at spotting the defence and executing.

“We have to use this to help us grow as a team,” he said about getting back on track after two straight losses. We have four games left, and the season is long, so we can’t give up. In these situations, we need to stick together even more and trust that our guys will just play hard and do what Coach says. We had a great plan. We didn’t follow through on our end.

How to trust the system: “Coach Lloyd has been here for a while, and the things he’s done before have worked.” So we know we need to really trust the system and take the next few days to get to know each other and figure this out.

Lewis said this about Duke’s halfcourt defence: “Their 5-ball screen would hedge, hard hedge, make us get the ball out of our hands fast.” From one to four, they would switch. When we got a switch and put it in the post, they would trap it. I believe we need to learn how to move the ball better, be stronger with it, and come up with new ways to be good on offence.

Is there time to fix things before the Bahamas? “Yes, there is time to work on things.” I think we’ll get together tomorrow as a group to watch a movie, talk things over and then practise on Sunday. We still want to win the title. We need to get closer than we’ve ever been as a group.

“The guys who were here last year are trying to get all the new guys on the same page and get them to the stand over Arizona basketball,” he said about everyone finding their place. Again, it’s a new environment and way of doing things for them. We all need to work on being better as a team to help them fit right in with what we want. This goes for the coach.

About Caleb Love: “There’s a reason he’s an All-American.” He is very sure of himself, and we are very sure of him. Once more, this is only the fourth game of the year. We were aware that every team we played would have different things to throw at him. It’s our job to help him get open looks and settle in. Not yet, we haven’t done that for him. This makes me and JB feel like we’re mostly to blame for his anger because we need to do a better job of getting him open without the ball.