Arizona Wildcats Have Golden Opportunity To Right Ship Against UCLA Bruins
The Arizona Wildcats have been one of the most surprising teams in college basketball thus far this year, but not for a positive reason.
A top-10 team in the preseason polls, they handled business against the Canisius Golden Griffins and Old Dominion Monarchs with ease out of the gate. They headed on the road for a true road game against the Wisconsin Badgers, which they lost 103-88.
Back home for their next contest, they welcomed the Duke Blue Devils to Tucson. It was another loss, as a troubling trend has been developing thus far.
Arizona is handling the lower-tier teams they are facing off against, steamrolling Quad 3 and 4 opponents. But, they are struggling mightily against Quad 1 foes, going 0-4 to this point; in the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis, they lost to the Oklahoma Sooners and West Virginia Mountaineers.
4-4 on the season, they are a tough team to evaluate at this point.
There is no shortage of talent, but chemistry and cohesion are lacking.
Head coach Tommy Lloyd is still trying to find the right lineup combinations after losing four starters from last year’s team.
Figuring things out on the fly is certainly a challenge, but the Wildcats have been afforded ample practice time in recent weeks.
Since their holiday tournament, they have played only one game; a blowout victory over the Southern Utah Thunderbirds.
They will be taking the court again on Saturday for one of the biggest non-conference matchups of the season against their former Pac-12 rivals; the UCLA Bruins.
The neutral site matchup, which will be held at Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona, home of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns, is one of the featured games of the weekend in the opinion of Neil Paine of ESPN.
“We already covered Arizona above, so we won't belabor the point except to say that UCLA offers the Wildcats their last chance to score a Quad 1 win before conference play starts in the Big 12. And for the ex-conference rival Bruins, it's a chance to add to a résumé that also includes a recent signature win against Oregon. Early signs point to coach Mick Cronin's squad reloading for another tourney run this season after a down campaign in 2023-24.”
This is a huge game for Lloyd and his squad.
The Big 12 schedule will provide ample opportunities to rack up Quad 1 wins, but they have to start building some positive momentum sooner rather than later.
With matchups against the Samford Bulldogs and Central Michigan Chippewas on deck, this is a golden opportunity to right the ship and get on track.
Riding a four-game winning streak into conference play would be a huge confidence boost for the team.
