Arizona Vs Purdue 🏀 Game Preview/Discussion Thread 12/16/23 At 230pm Peacock

[arxpert]

Not as much of a measuring stick game as some think. Interesting though. I still don't understand who thought it was a great idea to schedule 1 game a week like this. Maybe it is helpful since this stretch is full of ranked games. Not sure. Looked like we handled it well vs Wisconsin. Hard to tell if momentum could slide. Have to play a very diligent game while still remaining loose enough to compete on our terms.

Have to stay away from dumb fouls. Pelle must continue to listen and not try to slide under anyone to draw charges. We need him on the court for this one. Keshad has to keep his composure. Ballo and Krivas will be expected to battle Yao Edey, but not put him on the line as Edey can make FTs. I'd rather see Ballo/Krivas getting bad charge calls on Offense being aggressive than see him give up soft And-1's or cheapies to Edey on the defensive end.

I will not be shocked to see something like a Boswell, Love, Lewis, Pelle, Keshad lineup (or Ballo for Keshad) in some stretches to try to out run Purdue. Giving up a 2 for 2 is not bad if we are tiring them out in the process.

We can't fall in love with the 3 ball if it's not dropping, but we have to test their perimeter defense. Wish we had more set plays for catch and shoot from 3, but mostly I have seen Keshad sagged off of so he takes the shot or Pelle takes one off a basic pass. Nothing that drawn up. Especially with Boswell and Love.

Attack the basket. ATTACK THE BASKET. Force the refs to blow that whistle. FORCE IT. Take a charge call if you must. Establish the fact you will not stop attacking the rim and you won't settle for jump shots. It cannot be a charge every time.

Guard the perimeter. Do not let Purdue make their 3's. They are not predicated on the 3, but we can't casually allow them to hit 7 to 10 3's in this game. Don't make them better than they are. Make them Run and play in chaos. When they slow it down, pressure the ball, don't sag off worrying about their version of a moonball lob to Yao Edey.

This will be a March Madness style game. It's a faux road game. Purdue is about an hour to 90min from this arena. The atmosphere should resemble that of a Regional Madness game though. Sure, Purdue will have their fans, but it is also a big event in general in a big *ish* city so a lot of people from all over the Midwest will show up and not all of them are Purdue-Friendly.

I think we will have fans there and/or people rooting for us. And if not, then we are going to hurt a lot of corn fed feelings.

I rarely do this Mid-Game, but if Tommy doesn't stop what he is doing, we will lose by 20+. If this is Tommy's plan then he needs to play Ballo with Krivas and seal Edey on the offensive end because our Guards can get into the lane anytime they want. Defensively, let Ballo and Krivas worry about Edey and actually Guard the perimeter. Stop the entry pass with Ballo in front of Edey. If this is going to be Purdue's day to hit 20 3's then so be it, but don't be playing scared. That is unacceptable.

Ballo is incapable of keeping up. I can't trust him to front Edey and still close out on a Jump shot. However this should have been tested already after Edey's first trip to the bench when he came back in. Now I don't know if we can afford to try the adjustment because of our deficit. Tommy cannot do the same thing and expect different results. Purdue can come back down to earth and start bricking 3's, but that is not a strategy. That is not Coaching.

No matter what we need to keep scoring and everything else will sort itself out naturally. If we go cold it is done.

Tommy needs to get the team to stop this sag off coverage and actually Guard the Perimeter as I said this week, no more free 3's.

PS - This was the quickest Half Time I have ever seen. I don't know why, but that doesn't favor us either.

Mid-Mid Game post - I think this is the 3rd worst game Tommy has ever coached. #1 being vs Houston in Madness, #2 being vs Princeton.

He is doing everything wrong. Going to a Zone vs a team that is loose and up big having no issues shooting is the antithesis of what needs to be done. Caleb Love will need 40 today and Purdue will need to stop hitting shots.

Stop messing around with this team Tommy. They own you. 4 players on the perimeter. Make Edey work for his 2's. Get out in transition and draw some contact. Stop sagging off of the shooters.

[arxpert]

I'm only going to say this once then I am done with this matchup and onto the next.

Tommy didn't do what I said all week all game. He refused to call for guarding the 3pt line. I said do not let Purdue casually get their 7 to 10 3's by worrying about their entry passes to Edey.

The piddly 2-3 zone only looked good due to Purdue going cold playing with their food. It wasn't a viable strategy because Tommy went away from it down the stretch and Purdue came roaring right back as Tommy went back to the initial strategy that failed. So that was just Luck that got us back into it. Not coaching.

Tommy is not ready for this level yet. He has no set plays for jump shots. He doesn't train our Bigs to pass out of the paint for any Inside-Out game. If he can't bully the paint he is lost. He played this entire matchup scared. Our offense became telegraphed.

Every time we got within 4-6pts, we settled for a dumb 3 and didn't work the offense that was getting us to that point.

It is a massive learning lesson that we are Not good enough.

I won't even bother breaking down how stupid this team played or how Night and Day the Refs were calling fouls in the 2nd half that they didn't in the 1st half.

I also won't go into Boswell being a non-factor in the biggest game of the season.  Basically Zero bench scoring. No grit nor fortitude to even try to control this game.

I will not give any respect nor moral credibility to the comeback. This was a masterclass in how to obliterate Arizona. If only 1 team can do this in this way then so be it. We will probably lose more games this season, but when you have 1 week at a time to plan for games you can't only have 1 or 2 ideas. You should have never been dominated like this. It just proves that we are not at the level nor caliber of teams that have the chemistry I talked about in my original comment.

I will still place this as the 3rd worst loss in Tommy's career. These are the types of games where his inexperience in the heat of the battle really shows up the most.

[arxpert]

Not as much of a measuring stick game as some think. Interesting though. I still don't understand who thought it was a great idea to schedule 1 game a week like this. Maybe it is helpful since this stretch is full of ranked games. Not sure. Looked like we handled it well vs Wisconsin. Hard to tell if momentum could slide. Have to play a very diligent game while still remaining loose enough to compete on our terms.

Have to stay away from dumb fouls. Pelle must continue to listen and not try to slide under anyone to draw charges. We need him on the court for this one. Keshad has to keep his composure. Ballo and Krivas will be expected to battle Yao Edey, but not put him on the line as Edey can make FTs. I'd rather see Ballo/Krivas getting bad charge calls on Offense being aggressive than see him give up soft And-1's or cheapies to Edey on the defensive end.

I will not be shocked to see something like a Boswell, Love, Lewis, Pelle, Keshad lineup (or Ballo for Keshad) in some stretches to try to out run Purdue. Giving up a 2 for 2 is not bad if we are tiring them out in the process.

We can't fall in love with the 3 ball if it's not dropping, but we have to test their perimeter defense. Wish we had more set plays for catch and shoot from 3, but mostly I have seen Keshad sagged off of so he takes the shot or Pelle takes one off a basic pass. Nothing that drawn up. Especially with Boswell and Love.

Attack the basket. ATTACK THE BASKET. Force the refs to blow that whistle. FORCE IT. Take a charge call if you must. Establish the fact you will not stop attacking the rim and you won't settle for jump shots. It cannot be a charge every time.

Guard the perimeter. Do not let Purdue make their 3's. They are not predicated on the 3, but we can't casually allow them to hit 7 to 10 3's in this game. Don't make them better than they are. Make them Run and play in chaos. When they slow it down, pressure the ball, don't sag off worrying about their version of a moonball lob to Yao Edey.

This will be a March Madness style game. It's a faux road game. Purdue is about an hour to 90min from this arena. The atmosphere should resemble that of a Regional Madness game though. Sure, Purdue will have their fans, but it is also a big event in general in a big *ish* city so a lot of people from all over the Midwest will show up and not all of them are Purdue-Friendly.

I think we will have fans there and/or people rooting for us. And if not, then we are going to hurt a lot of corn fed feelings.

If this entire Preview write up wasn't the truth then I don't know what is real anymore. Tommy failed at all the key points noted here. Wow. It's like I pay close attention.

[Keithjacksontucson]

worst fan ever

[arxpert]

worst fan ever

Truth hurts. I get it.

Come up with your own sports intelligence based previews if you want to make a point that matters.

[LeftCoastCats]

I think we just tried to beat Purdue instead of simply playing our game. Way too reactionary game plan. Hopefully we learn from this to stay more true to who we are and what got us to this spot in the season. Arizona Wildcats are an elite basketball team and we need to stay on brand until an opponent forces us to adjust.

Loved the zone call. It really took Purdue out of what they like to do. Not sure we need to ever see it again, but being that dynamic is a testament to who we are as a team.

Boswell needs to take this loss for what it is and commit to improve - which he obviously will. He's our leader sand his work ethic is elite. Not worried about it at all.

Love was exactly what we needed him to be. Took some insane shots, but that's who he is and you need to live with the absurdity if you love the rest of it.

Ballo was the most impressive player for us today. His growth has been incredible and I think he comes out of tonight with extreme confidence.

Keshad is our rock. Love his game. He puts us on his shoulders effortlessly.

Pelle needs to be better. Simply too inconsistent still. There's no rhyme or reason to his game. Seems always off cadence. Love the guy, but he's gotta be incredibly frustrating to coach.

KJ had some good run, but he's still young and has a long way to go. Bradley is still incredibly uncomfortable in our offense but is strong defensively. Luckily, it looks like we get a couple years with those boys.

Krivas did exactly what he was supposed to. I wish we stopped bringing the ball down in the low post, but - meh, small criticism in the scheme of it all.

I'll put this loss squarely on Tommy. He got out coached today, but I still commend him for his ability to adjust and keep our boys in it when it could have easily gotten out of control. He needed to take a timeout earlier in the game and likely abandon his game plan earlier too. Small things in a likely hall of fame career.

Disappointed. Not devastated. Still think we're the best team in the country overall.

[Keithjacksontucson]

On a neutral court or at home, we are the best team . Only injuries would keep us from FF

[Keithjacksontucson]

Let's fire LLoyd and get Pastner. Ha ha ha
Who is better than Coach Lloyd, all you smart guys

[arxpert]

Bill Self coached Kansas back @Indiana today from a disaster. Right when we hit the inflection point where we were enroute to pull ahead, Tommy went back to the exact plan that got us in the hole in the first place and it all fell apart. He had too much time to plan for this to be the brutal domination that it was.

#1 Kansas
#2 Purdue
#3 Houston
#4 UCONN
#5 Arizona

[CatInFL]

Bill Self coached Kansas back @Indiana today from a disaster. Right when we hit the inflection point where we were enroute to pull ahead, Tommy went back to the exact plan that got us in the hole in the first place and it all fell apart. He had too much time to plan for this to be the brutal domination that it was.

#1 Kansas
#2 Purdue
#3 Houston
#4 UCONN
#5 Arizona

Purdue might be in Indiana, but Indiana is NOT Purdue.