Tag: tommy lloyd

Wisconsin basketball vs. Arizona: Full matchup preview for Friday’s game

Wisconsin basketball vs. Arizona: Full matchup preview for Friday’s game

Wisconsin basketball (3-0) returns to the hardwood for its fourth game of the 2024-25 slate on Friday night for a matchup against the Arizona Wildcats (2-0).

The Badgers enter the contest after a 87-56 win over Appalachian State last Sunday. The performance was easily UW’s most impressive of the season — the Badgers rattled off a 23-0 scoring surge in the first half to virtually seal the triumph at the Kohl Center.

Arizona, meanwhile, is 2-0 to start the year with an average margin of victory of 43.5 points per game. Its most recent win arrived in a 58-point triumph over Old Dominion on Nov. 9.

Led by guard Caleb Love, Arizona rosters seven players who score at least nine points per game. The Wildcats hold the No. 9 ranking in the nation and have become one of the top programs across the entire sport.

Tip-off is set for 9:00 p.m. ET, 8:00 p.m. CT on Peacock. Before that point, here is a full preview of how the Badgers and Wildcats match up:

Statistical Preview

KenPom Rating:

  • Wisconsin: No. 39 overall (No. 34 offense, No. 63 defense)
  • Arizona: No. 7 (No. 11 offense, No. 12 defense)

ESPN BPI

  • Wisconsin: No. 27 overall (13.2) — No. 5 in the Big Ten
  • Arizona: No. 4 overall (19.4) — No. 2 in the Big 12

2024-25 Averages:

  • Wisconsin: 83.7 points per game (47% shooting, 37 % from three), 61.3 points allowed per game (42% shooting allowed, 38% from three)
  • Arizona: 97.5 points per game (50% shooting, 32% from three), 54 points allowed per game (37% shooting allowed, 29% from three)

ESPN Matchup Predictor:

  • Arizona 62.1% chance to win, Wisconsin 37.9%

Wisconsin Key Players

  • G John Blackwell (12.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1 steal on 39% shooting)
  • G Max Klesmit (16 points, 1.0 rebound, 2.0 assists, 3.0 steals on 43% shooting)
  • Wing John Tonje (17.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists on 55% shooting)
  • C Steven Crowl (10 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists on 48% shooting)
  • F Nolan Winter (10.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1 assist on 70% shooting)

Arizona Key Players

  • G Caleb Love (13.5 points, 3.5 rebounds on 46% shooting)
  • F Tobe Awaka (11.0 points, 12.0 rebounds, 1.0 blocks on 69% shooting)
  • G Jaden Bradley (11.0 points, 2.5 rebounds, 50% shooting)
  • G KJ Lewis (11.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.5 steals, 1.5 blocks on 56% shooting)
  • F Carter Bryant (9 points, 2.5 rebounds, on 58% shooting)

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Prediction, betting odds

Spread: Arizona favored by 4 1/2

Moneyline: Arizona minus-115, Wisconsin plus-105

Over/Under: 152 1/2

All College Basketball Odds via BetMGM.

Wisconsin has played extremely well in all three second halves of their first three games of the 2024-25 season. Backed by 17.7 points per contest from transfer wing John Tonje, the Badgers have put together an extremely efficient season from all three levels of the hardwood. UW also opened its season with two 7-footers down low in Steven Crowl and Nolan Winter, a potentially lethal threat against smaller lineups.

Unfortunately for UW, Arizona accounts for 51 rebounds per game and leans on a well-rounded attack from nearly every player in its rotation. In fact, seven players muster at least nine points per appearance.

Prediction: Arizona 92, Wisconsin 78

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Get more betting analysis and predictions at Sportsbook Wire.

Micah Shrewsberry selected as assistant for U.S. junior national team

Congrats, Coach!

[autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag] is trying to remake Notre Dame into a winner, and he’s going through a tough road in doing so. But don’t think his coaching abilities haven’t gone unnoticed, specifically by USA Basketball. His reputation is solid, and it likely was among the many reasons he has been picked as an assistant coach for this year’s U.S. men’s junior national team.

Shrewsberry will be part of the staff to lead the U.S. during this year’s FIBA U18 Men’s AmeriCup, the date and location of which have yet to be determined. Leading the staff will be Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd, and Shrewsberry’s fellow assistant is Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland.

This is Shrewsberry’s first experience as a coach for a U.S. national team. He was a court coach with the U19 team a year ago. That team included Vanderbilt forward Ven-Allen Lubin, who transferred from Notre Dame after one season.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

LOOK: Tommy Lloyd compliments Michigan State basketball program

LOOK: Tommy Lloyd complimented MSU after Thanksgiving game, calling the Spartans a “blue blood”

Michigan State and Arizona went to war on Thanksgiving afternoon, playing a hard fought, made for March basketball game against one another. Both team’s threw blows, and gave each other fits at time, but ultimately it was the Wildcats prevailing in the contest, 74-68.

Tommy Lloyd was very complementary of Michigan State in his post game press conference, calling the school a blue blood program.

When you play a blue blood-type program that’s used to winning, the game ain’t ever over. You’ve got to win it 3 or 4 times.

Tommy Lloyd and Arizona make a statement with early-season win at Duke

Arizona looks the part. USC has a tough task ahead.

We asked our Pac-12 basketball panelists who is the favorite for Pac-12 Coach of the Year.

Matt Zemek and Zachary Neel identified Tommy Lloyd of Arizona. That choice looks good one week into the season. Arizona went into Cameron Indoor Stadium and beat Duke, 78-73, in a battle of brand-name college basketball powers. Arizona’s Caleb Love, who transferred from North Carolina, came back to a familiar building and made Tar Heel fans happy by beating UNC’s archrival. Love said after the game he is “a Tar Heel for life.” Beating Duke reinforces that, but it’s Arizona who gets an enormous resume win in the first week of the season.

Tommy Lloyd developing Love into an improved player makes Arizona the Pac-12 favorite.

Other members of our Pac-12 basketball panel wondered if other Pac-12 coaches could make a run at 2024 coach of the year.

Matt Wadleigh wrote, “Give me Mark Madsen as a sleeper choice. The Golden Bears won three games, I think they finish around .500, and that’s a huge step in the right direction. But, that might be a bit difficult given the way the votes work, so I think the consensus goes with Andy Enfield.”

Don Smalley went with Dana Altman of Oregon. The Ducks look solid two games in. However, Tommy Lloyd is probably the front-runner. Winning at Duke will do that.

Visit our friends at Fighting Irish Wire, Buffaloes Wire, and Ducks Wire.

Analysis: Pac-12 basketball’s future is tied almost exclusively to Arizona

Barring a Final Four run by UCLA or USC in 2024, #Pac12 hoops will need Arizona and Tommy Lloyd to deliver the goods.

The Pac-12 just got eliminated from the 2023 NCAA Tournament on Thursday when UCLA fell to Gonzaga. The Pac-12’s only Final Four trip in the past six seasons was UCLA’s unlikely ride to the 2021 Final Four as a No. 11 seed. That’s it. No other Pac-12 team has reached the Final Four since Oregon in 2017.

With UCLA and USC heading for the Big Ten in two years, the Pac-12 gets just one more season with the Bruins and Trojans. Both UCLA and USC could be really good next season, but after that, they’ll be in another conference. The Pac-12 might have two or three Final Four contenders next season, but if 2024 doesn’t deliver the goods, the Pac-12 will have to face a very inconvenient reality: Arizona will be the one program in the conference with a realistic chance of winning a national title.

Yes, San Diego State could come over from the Mountain West and become the league’s second March threat, but we have to wait and see if the Aztecs can become a top-tier NCAA Tournament seed the way UCLA and Arizona have been in recent seasons. SDSU is a 5 seed in this year’s Big Dance, and the Aztecs are still alive as we write this article on Friday morning before the team’s Sweet 16 game against Alabama. However, San Diego State has not regularly been a top-four seed in the NCAA Tournament. The 2011 team with Kawhi Leonard was a No. 2 seed, but that’s the exception and not the rule.

Other than SDSU, the only other possible candidate for NCAA Tournament championship contention might be Oregon if Dana Altman can author a resurrection. Yet, Oregon has been below average the past two seasons and needs a reboot. Some quality recruits are coming in, but Altman has swung and missed in the transfer portal, where he had done a really good job in previous seasons.

Washington, Washington State, Oregon State, Stanford, Cal, Utah, Colorado, and Arizona State — eight of the conference’s long-term members when USC and UCLA leave — are in no position to contend for the Final Four, let alone the national title. It’s Arizona, maybe SDSU, maybe Oregon. That’s it. If neither USC nor UCLA can make a big run in 2024, it’s going to be Arizona’s conference to run unless Dana Altman can revive Oregon.

No pressure, Wildcats.

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Kerr Kriisa transfers out of Arizona, which is definitely good for the U of A

If it’s good for the U of A, it’s not good for USC. Tommy Lloyd knows his backcourt wasn’t good enough; he wants an upgrade.

When players hit the transfer portal in any sport, one obvious question we have to ask is whether the transfer is a net positive or a net negative for the program. Connected to that question is the matter of whether a transfer was player-initiated or coach-encouraged. Some players want to leave a program while the coach hopes they will stay. Other players never want to leave a school, but the coach makes it plain that the roster calculus demands turnover and change.

We can pretty clearly say that Kerr Kriisa’s entry into the transfer portal — leaving the Arizona Wildcats — was a coach-encouraged transfer. Kriisa loved wearing the Arizona uniform. He was a pot-stirrer who brought energy and personality to the Wildcats. He enjoyed irritating opponents and expressing his emotions on the court. He was having a grand old time in Tucson.

Kriisa’s departure is an obvious product of coach Tommy Lloyd having a frank conversation and declaring an intent to upgrade the Arizona backcourt for next season. Arizona’s guards clearly lacked the dominant, all-court skill of Bennedict Mathurin, who helped the Cats earn a No. 1 seed at the 2022 NCAA Tournament. Arizona’s guards were unable to do much of anything in the final eight minutes of a supreme implosion against 15th-seeded Princeton in this year’s edition of March Madness.

The Wildcats are going to get better at this position. That’s not good news for USC or anyone else in the Pac-12.

USC guard Reese Dixon-Waters is transferring. Is that the same as this Arizona move with Kriisa? Maybe.

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MBB Recap: Arizona blows past Oregon with 40-point game from Tubelis

Oregon gave up 40 points to Azoulas Tebulis, and allowed a 21-2 Arizona run in the first half. It was a tough night in the desert.

In reality, it’s not like the Oregon Ducks played poorly on Thursday night against the Arizona Wildcats.

The final score, an 91-76 Arizona victory, may paint the picture of a lopsided win in which we saw the bad version of the Ducks. However, were it not from the absolutely stellar play from Arizona’s Azoulas Tubelis — who scored 40 points in the game — then Oregon might have had a real shot at winning in the desert.

Instead, it was another loss for the Ducks, but not one that is too detrimental to Oregon’s postseason hopes. With some big games remaining on the schedule, Dana Altman’s squad is still in a position to make some noise late in the season. Here’s how everything went down on Thursday.

MBB Recap: Ducks upset No. 9 Arizona with shocking 87-68 blowout

With a 21-point blowout win over No. 9 Arizona, the Ducks picked up their defining win of the 2022 season.

With that much talent, and one of the best coaches in the college basketball world, it makes sense that the Oregon Ducks were able to turn things around at some point in the 2022-23 season, doesn’t it?

I can’t say I expected them to turn things around against the No. 9 team in the nation, though. I will be completely honest about that.

Dana Altman’s Ducks shocked the Arizona Wildcats on Saturday afternoon in front of what turned out to be a raucous and rambunctious Matthew Knight Arena crowd. It featured the energy and effort that has been lacking in so many lackluster performances this season and gave Oregon it’s defining win of the season thus far.

An outlook that featured missed tournament bubbles and potentially another trip to the National Invitational Tournament now has experienced a shakeup. With a resume-building win like this on the record, Oregon should feel good about playing in March if they keep things rolling. If they play as well as they did on Saturday afternoon, then the Ducks shouldn’t feel crazy about entertaining the notion that a couple of weekends may be possible in the tournament.

It was a celebratory day for the Oregon program which has seen so many disappointments over the past month. Here’s how everything went down: