Tuesday night, Arizona (3-0) came out on fire against NDSU (2-2), going on an 11-0 run in the first 2 minutes before the Bison could get on the board. The Wildcats offense was on full display from start to finish, winning 97-45 ahead of the team's Las Vegas trip.
"That's a really good basketball program. And obviously, they got a tough hop scheduling. So I want to take my hat off to them, but, you know, I wasn't driving down here today thinking we were going to win by that margin. I was hoping we could hit our coverages. They had some skilled bigs and we did a great job taking them out of the game because we're mobile on defense; we can switch things, give different looks and adjust.
"And even if they switch now, you're posting a guy like Pelle Larsson, who's you guys probably haven't stood next to him, but he's a man. And so, there is no real disadvantage. So yeah, I was just hoping we keep growing our experiences as a group playing against different styles of play because, at the end of the day, it comes down to matchups and a lot of these things. I know that's a cliché, but how you match up with certain people do you have an Achilles heel defensively? You know, and if you don't, or your Achilles heel is hard to find. It makes it hard to play against," said coach Tommy Lloyd on playing a program like NDSU.
After three games of the Lloyd era, it is clear that the Wildcats' style of play is to score as many points as possible.
However, the Wildcats defense has gone under the radar during that stretch and held opponents to 49 points per game with a shooting percentage of 27% from the field.
Against the Bison, Arizona's defense forced 17 turnovers, leading to 21 points and causing 19 fast break points for the Wildcats.
The defense has been so smothering for the Wildcats that it is the first time since the 1949-50 season that Arizona has held its first three opponents to 52 points or less.
""I mean the there's a formula to being a great team and making runs a tournament. We want to try to fight to be a top 20 defense and a top 20 offense. I think one of the big jumps we made at Gonzaga in the last 10 years is we got pretty good defensively. It's funny, you know, defensive coach a lot of ways you can have gurus and this stuff and that stuff and coach Few and I decided not to do that. We just started coaching it ourselves like what's hard to play against, you know, and what bothers us, using common sense, trying to be flexible and playing to your personnel a little bit.
"It's inspiring the way the guys are playing. Now this in it's in three home games. It's early in the year I mean, I don't think we need to anoint these guys the 90s Detroit Pistons. But they're on their way to being a great defensive team and there's nothing wrong with that being your calling card," said Lloyd on the defensive effort his team has displayed.
Arizona forward Benn Mathurin led the Wildcats on the offensive end with his 15 points, four assists, and eight rebounds while shooting 45% from the field.
"I was pretty aggressive coming into the game. I grabbed a lot of rebounds, impacted the game defensively and obviously scored a couple of baskets and had a stronger second half than the first half," said Mathurin on his performance.
Now Arizona will travel to Las Vegas to participate in the Roman Main Event and will open the event Friday against Wichita State (3-0) on ESPNU at 8 p.m. (MST).
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