Arizona Vs Iowa St 🏀 Game Preview/Discussion Thread 3/1/25 7PM ESPN

[Sy1960]

This team has no chemistry. I don't see Lloyd being the coach to bring back the days of Olson. Love can't leave too soon. He is a killer in so many ways. Yes, he has days or a string of games where he is lights out and gives fans some worthless hope but ultimately we know, he's going to kill us as soon as the next game.
Come March Madness, we'll be gone by the sweet 16. Unfortunately for AZ, not unusual.... no matter who the coach is. Must be some kind of curse...

[arxpert]

This team has no chemistry. I don't see Lloyd being the coach to bring back the days of Olson. Love can't leave too soon. He is a killer in so many ways. Yes, he has days or a string of games where he is lights out and gives fans some worthless hope but ultimately we know, he's going to kill us as soon as the next game.
Come March Madness, we'll be gone by the sweet 16. Unfortunately for AZ, not unusual.... no matter who the coach is. Must be some kind of curse...

It isn't a curse. Your first post does however resemble the typical 'woe is me' opinion of an Arizona fan which I won't blame anyone for. It does always seem like this school's men's basketball team always gets the short end of the stick when it matters.

I also agree Tommy is not in control of this program and he has a limited mental capacity on how to handle his tool belt/tool kit. He has all the items on the shelf, but he can't get them to play the game properly.

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[KansasCityCats]

When you see the team in person, it's obvious that they have chemistry, with the exception of Love's erratic play, which kills the ability to consistently run the offense that was so effective over the prior three seasons.

ISU smothered us in the half court last night, similar to Houston earlier this season. We couldn't move the ball and they deserve props.

The only difference in this game was three point shooting. It's strange to say it after it "feels" like we were dominated last night but the stats don't lie:

Arizona had fewer turnovers
Arizona committed less fouls
Arizona was better from the FT line
Arizona had more offensive rebounds (and tied overall)
Arizona had more steals

Seven more Cyclone threes killed us. Their guards released the ball quickly and didn't try to force "hero-ball".

Hopefully Arizona plays angry against Hurley and has momentum, going into Lawrence.

[Cactus🌵Cat]

AZ took more 3pt. attempts than Iowa State did.

AZ's 3pt.% is 310th in the country, AZ's distribution of points coming from 3pt. shots is only 25% which is 336th in the country.

[KansasCityCats]

Arizona had one more attempt (not "attempts") 😉

I consider it a positive attribute that we don't rely heavily on our outside shot because we'd be dead if outside shooting accounted for more than 1/3 of our points.

We can get to the hoop, draw contact, make free throws (for the first time since Ballo arrived) and take mid-range jumpers.

[arxpert]

When you see the team in person, it's obvious that they have chemistry, with the exception of Love's erratic play, which kills the ability to consistently run the offense that was so effective over the prior three seasons.

ISU smothered us in the half court last night, similar to Houston earlier this season. We couldn't move the ball and they deserve props.

The only difference in this game was three point shooting. It's strange to say it after it "feels" like we were dominated last night but the stats don't lie:

Arizona had fewer turnovers
Arizona committed less fouls
Arizona was better from the FT line
Arizona had more offensive rebounds (and tied overall)
Arizona had more steals

Seven more Cyclone threes killed us. Their guards released the ball quickly and didn't try to force "hero-ball".

Hopefully Arizona plays angry against Hurley and has momentum, going into Lawrence.

That is too long of a way to say that the game of basketball is a product of "Make or Miss", they made shots, we missed shots.

If you watch the games, teams like BYU and Iowa State run actual plays which lead to open shots and thus usually better chances to succeed. If you watch Arizona you would know that Tommy is just letting them weave the perimeter until Love or someone chucks one up.

So your comment of "we have chemistry except Love's erratic play".... Well that Erratic play accounts for so much of the all around Offense that you can't ignore it like it some random outlier.

There is no chemistry if there is erratic play. The Coach is responsible for stopping the Erratic play.

Or is "Chaos" Tommy's strategy this year?

[KansasCityCats]

We ran the same effective plays against BYU but Iowa State deserves credit in Ames because their defense prevented us from moving without the ball.

Arizona still scores more PPG than any other school in the Big-12, so Lloyd's "chaos" is obviously working on most nights.

The major adjustment that Arizona needs on defense is fighting through screens at the top of the key and/or effectively switching, to avoid open threes.

Otherwise, it's truly a case of whether our guards hit their jumpers. That's always the determining factor in our wins this season because we do everything else well (post scoring, free throws, interior defense, etc).