Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd knew UCLA would come in with a gameplan for his standout freshman Koa Peat.
After scoring 30 points on defending national champion Florida in the season opener, Peat found it tougher to get into a rhythm against the Bruins. When he caught the ball inside the arc, defenders slid into the gaps to cut off driving lanes. When he did his spin move, UCLA swarmed him, hunting for the ball.
Peat ended the game with 7 points, 6 turnovers and no assists. The Wildcats’ other five-star freshman Brayden Burries knocked down an early 3-pointer but finished with five points on 1-of-9 shooting. Freshman Ivan Kharchenkov started the game but played only 14 minutes and scored 4 points.
There’s no doubt this year’s freshman class across college basketball is one of the most talented in recent memory. But there’s a reason why so many teams are leaning toward older rosters: Experience tends to come out on top.
“We know that young guys are getting a lot of attention, but make no bones about it, we need our vets,” Lloyd said. “They’ve been in these games before, and I’m asking them to make some sacrifices, try to have a big picture in mind.”
Senior Jaden Bradley scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half — the majority coming in crunch time — as the No. 5 Wildcats pulled out a 69-65 win over their former Pac-12 rivals, handing No. 15 UCLA its first loss of the season. Another Arizona senior, Anthony Dell’Orso, knocked down four 3s on his way to 20 points off the bench, capitalizing on the Bruins’ decision to play a ton of help on defense.
“(Bradley) has a great ability to figure it out and then just a great ability with his experience to be fearless and not be afraid to make the big plays,” Lloyd said.
Lloyd’s offense looks for high-low passes and other ways to get the ball into the interior. For most of the game, the Bruins gave Arizona’s offense trouble by putting multiple defenders in the paint and forcing the Wildcats to finish over bodies. Arizona scored 28 first-half points on 36 percent shooting.
But the offense got a jump-start late in the second half after a suggestion from assistant coach Ken Nakagawa, according to Lloyd: Give the ball to Bradley in a high pick-and-roll and clear the paint to let him create.
On the next play, UCLA switched the screen and Bradley dumped the ball to Motiejus Krivas down low. The Bruins doubled from one pass away, and no defender rotated to Bradley, who knocked down the 3 to give Arizona the lead with just over a minute remaining. Krivas finished with 10 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists.
Peat, Burries and Kharchenkov will have the opportunity to bounce back. But having a strong veteran group supporting their young core gives the Wildcats a safety net in high-pressure matchups.
The Bruins’ first real test
After three games against mid-major programs, UCLA faced its first marquee opponent. The Bruins defense gave Arizona trouble in the first half, but the Wildcats converted 60 percent of their shots from the field in the second half.
Donovan Dent, the former New Mexico star whom The Athletic ranked this offseason’s No. 3 transfer, finished with 11 points and 8 assists but shot 5 of 16 from the field. He struggled to get separation going to the rim, and Arizona’s backline size led to contested finishes and blocks.
On this possession, Dent got to the rim but was met with a great vertical contest from Dell’Orso, with Peat also in the vicinity, turning a solid drive into a contested floater.
Dent is a blur getting to the rim, and when he gets two feet in the paint, he generally makes the right decision. However, UCLA tends to slow the ball down on offense to call set plays, an approach that takes away opportunities for Dent to attack the defense with his speed in transition.
It is still early in the season for the Bruins, and as Dent gets more reps in the two-man game with Xavier Booker and Tyler Bilodeau, the offense should improve. He has also missed time in practice due to injury. UCLA’s defensive physicality in the first half was encouraging against a massive Arizona team. But in order for this team to be a contender, it will need to figure out how to maximize Dent.
Arizona adds another signature win
When Tyler Bilodeau knocked down a 3-pointer off an Arizona defensive lapse amid a 12-2 run that turned a five-point deficit into a five-point lead in the second half, the Bruins’ student section erupted from the Intuit Dome’s infamous “Wall” section. Yet the Wildcats remained composed, UCLA’s offense started to bog down after Skyy Clark and Dent couldn’t score on isolation possessions, and Bradley began to take over.
The win against Florida was all about Peat, who overwhelmed the much older Gators frontcourt on both ends of hte floor. Friday night, the Wildcats had to win a different way.
“I knew that they were going to load up (on defense) today,” Lloyd said. “But at the same point, one of the things that makes Koa good is how physical and aggressive he is. I didn’t want to overdo it with him and have him go into the game fearful, but I think it’d be a great learning experience. … For me, I see that as an opportunity and we can create a lot of offense out of that, so I can’t wait to get a hold of the film for him and for Brayden to see where the adjustments they can make that can make the game come easier.”
Peat attempted to get his offense going against a size mismatch in Trent Perry, but the Bruins sank into the gaps. Here, Peat tried to get a post catch and made the correct decision in throwing the skip pass, but he sailed it into the stands.
Peat showed his adept vision against the Gators, but he was a tad sped up by the Bruins’ aggressive help defense.
“I think everyone knows they’re great players, whether they’ve proved it on this stage yet or not,” Dell’Orso said. “We don’t take that as a doubting factor. The best thing I can do, JB, (Tobe Awaka), Krevis, us vets, we can just take him under our wing, kind of let him know that we live to see another day. There’s plenty of basketball to be played. Watch the film, the good or bad, and just come back and get to practice and don’t stress about it, really, because they’re good enough guys so they can take the criticism and move on.”
