Arizona showcases depth, deft hands in exhibition win over Lewis-Clark State
Arizona forced 21 turnovers — 17 of them steals — and converted those into 35 points Friday night in a 110-70 exhibition win over Lewis-Clark State. The Wildcats scored 42 fastbreak points as six different players recorded multiple steals.
In the first of two tune-up games before the new season officially opens, Arizona was without likely starters Oumar Ballo and Pell Larsson. Freshman center Motiejus Krivas also did not play. Coach Tommy Lloyd had 10 available scholarship players, and every single one of them saw the court within the first seven minutes of the game.
North Carolina transfer Caleb Love led the way for the UA with 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting. He added seven assists, four rebounds, and two steals without a turnover in 24 minutes.
Love was one of six Wildcats in double figures. Keshad Johnson added 19 points, five assists, and four steals. Kylan Boswell had 15 points and five rebounds while KJ Lewis totaled 13 points, four rebounds, and three steals. Dylan Anderson added 12 points and Filip Borovicanin tallied 10 points and eight rebounds in 18 minutes of action.
“It was good to kind of put some guys in some uncomfortable situations maybe a little earlier than I would have liked,” Lloyd said after the game. “But I feel good about overall how the guys responded throughout the course of the game. I just wanted to get our team onto the court against someone else where you may not be prepared for every scenario.”
Arizona led 57-38 at the halftime break. Love drained a 30-foot buzzer-beater to cap a 17-2 run into the half.
Early in the second half, Arizona flowed from defense to offense with ease and ripped off a 25-2 run to blow the game open. With 10:35 left in the game, the Wildcats led 84-48.
The transfer additions to the lineup looked to immediately mesh, but the bigger story was the activity on defense.
“I think we have guys that have good instincts to make steals,” Lloyd said. “We don’t talk a ton about, ‘Hey, we’ve got to get steals, we’ve got to do this, we’ve got to do that.’ I think they’re just a byproduct of our personnel and how we play.
“We want to apply ball pressure and we want to be opportunistic. I still want to see our defense grow and get better in those situations. I think that’s what caused some of those over-rotations today that opened 3s.”
Arizona closes out the exhibition slate with New Mexico Highlands on Monday, Oct. 30.