LAS VEGAS - The Arizona men's basketball team enters the 2024 Pac-12 Tournament at T-Mobile Arena as the No. 1 seed for the second time in the last three years. The Wildcats will play No. 9 seed USC on Thursday. The two teams split their meetings this season, with each team winning at home.
Thursday's game will tip-off at 12:00 p.m. MST on Pac-12 Network with Roxy Bernstein, Matt Muehlebach and Jordan Kent on the call.
STARTING FIVE
1) Arizona is 41-15 (.732) all-time at the Pac-12 Tournament and has won nine titles. The Wildcats lead all conference schools in wins, winning percentage and titles.
2) Senior Caleb Love is the 10th player in Arizona history to be named Pac-12 Player of the Year and the second in three seasons under Tommy Lloyd (Bennedict Mathurin - 2022). He's a likely All-American who is 4th in the Pac-12 in overall scoring (18.7), 3rd in FT% (87.2), 4th in 3FGM (2.65), 7th in assist/turnover ratio (1.74) and 9th in assists (3.4).
3) Senior Oumar Ballo earned his First Team All Pac-12 honors for the second year in a row and was also on the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team. He averaged 13.1 pts, 10 reb. this season.
4) Pelle Larsson is a Second Team All Pac-12 honoree, the first all-conference team recognition. He increased his scoring from 9.9 pts last year to 13.0 this season. He is shooting 53.5% from the floor and has career highs in assists and steals this year.
5) Tommy Lloyd is 6-0 at the Pac-12 Tournament, the only coach in the history of the conference that has never lost a game at the Pac-12 Tournament.
NOTING THE WILDCATS
• Senior Keshad Johnson earned Pac-12 All-Defensive Team Honorable Mention and freshman KJ Lewis received Pac-12 All-Freshman Team Honorable Mention status.
• Sophomore Kylan Boswell is averaging 11.4 points, 3.4 assists and shooting 45.8% from the 3-point line over the last 10 games. He had career-high 19 vs. Oregon on March 2.
• Arizona has not lost back-to-back games under Tommy Lloyd, a span of 103 games which is the third-longest streak in Pac-12 history.
• Arizona is 9-1 in games played in Las Vegas under Tommy Lloyd, and 8-1 in T-Mobile Arena.
• According to KenPom.com, Arizona's offense ranks 8th in the country while the defense is ranked 15th. USC is ranked 95th and 86thth, respectively. UW is 41st offense, 96 defense.
• The Wildcats have eight wins in Quad 1 of the NET rankings. Only Houston, Purdue, UConn and Baylor have more.
• Arizona is averaging 89.5 points per game, third-most in the country (Alabama - 90.8)
• The Wildcats have 10+ offensive rebounds in 25 of 30 games, and 15 of the last 16.
• Arizona ranks second in the country in total rebounds/game (42.9) and third in rebound margin at +11.0 per game.
• The Wildcats have scored 100+ points in conference play four times this season, the most since 2003-04 (4); Overall, UA has scored 100+ points in seven games this season - the most in a season since doing it eight times in 1990-91.
• Love was also named to the Naismith Trophy and Wooden Award Midseason Watch Lists and is one of five finalists for the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year award.
• Keshad Johnson was one of 10 players named to the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award late season watch list. He's averaging 11.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and shooting a career-best 38.8% from the 3-point line. Against UCLA, he had seven points and 11 rebounds, his third game this season with 10+ rebounds. He added 17 points (4-5 3FG) and a career-high five assists against USC in the regular season finale.
• Johnson has scored in double figures 22 out of 31 games this season at Arizona. In his four seasons, and 113 games, at San Diego State, he scored in double figures 25 times. He has set single-game career highs in points, assists, steals, blocks, FGM, FGA, 3FGM, 3FGA this season with the Wildcats.
• Sophomore Jaden Bradley had 28 assists and just six turnovers over the last 11 games. He scored a career-high 21 points against Arizona State on Feb. 17 and dropped 13 points on Thursday at USC - his fifth game scoring in double figures this season. For the season, Bradley has a 2.44 assist-to-turnover ratio (66-27).
• According to EvanMiya.com, Bradley is the top rated defensive player in the Pac-12 and 10th overall in the COUNTRY. His DPBR is 4.02 suggests that for every 100 possessions on defense when he is on the court, Arizona will allow 4.02 fewer points than an average D1 player.
• Freshman guard KJ Lewis tallied a season-high 18 points, going 6 of 9 from the floor, and adding five rebounds and four assists in the win at UCLA on March 7. For the season, he is averaging 6.1 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game. He has also posted an assist-to-turnover of 2.44 this season, the eighth-best ratio of freshmen in the country with at least 55 assists. He is two steals shy of breaking into the Top 10 list for steals by a freshman in Arizona history.
• Motiejus Krivas is averaging 5.8 points and 4.4 rebounds while playing 12.7 minutes per game this season. The 7-foot-2 post player from Lithuania is also 47-61 (77.0%) at the free throw line and is shooting 56.8% from the floor. His top offensive game came on Nov. 17 when he scored 20 points against Belmont. He did not attempt a shot from the floor, but he had six rebounds and was a defensive force in the paint at UCLA on March 7.
• Tommy Lloyd is 47-3 at McKale Center as the head coach of Arizona (15-1 this year).
• Arizona has 257 steals this season, marking the third straight season with 200+ steals. The last time Arizona did that in three seasons in a row was 2013-15. To reach the top 10 in Arizona single-season steals, the Wildcats would need to get to 275.
• The Arizona offense has posted a 10-0 run 28 times this season, the sixth-most in the country. Conversely, the Arizona defense has surrendered just eight runs of 10-0 or better, per EvanMiya.com.
• The Wildcats have been ranked 56 straight weeks and 56 out of 58 weeks under head coach Tommy Lloyd. They have been in Top 10 for 45 weeks and in the Top 5 for 25 weeks.
• Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd is in his third season with the Wildcats and has a record of 85-18, the second-most wins of any team in the country over that span. Lloyd is the first coach in Arizona history and the seventh in the history of the Pac-12 to win 20 or more games in each of his first three seasons.
• Under Lloyd, Arizona has recorded 20+ assists in 52 out of 103 games to lead the nation.
• The 2023-24 season marks the 119th year of men's basketball for the University of Arizona, and the Wildcats have an all-time record of 1,886-984.
