The parallels between the Arizona Wildcats' first few weeks of last season and this one are striking.
To start last season, Lloyd's first as the Wildcats' head coach, Arizona raced over its three low-major opponents at McKale Center, and it still wasn’t clear who they were. Then they went to the Las Vegas Main Event, where they beat Wichita State and Michigan, and center Christian Koloko was named MVP.
The Wildcats' next game is Thursday against Utah, part of the Pac-12’s effort to stuff two conference games around the football championship game, and they have upcoming tests against No. 11 Indiana at Las Vegas and No. 23 Tennessee at McKale Center . Ballo averaged 21.0 points and 11.7 rebounds per game in Maui, while power forward Azuolas Tubelis averaged 18.7 points and 8.3 rebounds. Together, they helped the Wildcats outscore their three Maui opponents 136-71 in the paint, while holding them to a respectable 47.3% from 2-point range.
2 . They’re more balancedOne reason why the Wildcats’ inside players are putting up the numbers they have is that Arizona is also shooting 45.0% from 3-pont range, the fifth-best mark in Division I. The Wildcats benefit the other way, too. After scoring 21 points on 8-for-12 shooting against San Diego State in the Maui semifinals, guard Courtney Ramey said the perimeter shooters had better shots to take because of the attention Ballo and Tubelis were drawing inside.
3. They may be even more togetherWhile Lloyd managed to work in key holdovers from the Sean Miller era in Mathurin, Terry and Koloko last season, this season's rotation is made up entirely of players he recruited — plus Baltic brothers Kriisa and Tubelis, two guys who have embraced and excelled in Lloyd’s European-influenced system.
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