What Tommy Lloyd, Jaden Bradley and Henri Veesaar said after the Arizona Wildcats’ loss to UCLA

Arizona men’s basketball blew a double-digit lead late in the second half in a disappointing loss to UCLA on Saturday afternoon in Phoenix. You can find our summary of the game here.

Below you can read what Tommy Lloyd, Jaden Bradley and Henri Veesaar said after the loss.

Lloyd on not using his last timeout in the second half at UCLA: “Maybe I regret not using it sooner. I only saved it for the last minute of the game. We were in some close games and held on well with them, but we didn’t manage to get the upper hand. So I was just trying to figure out if we could salvage it and have it on the track. And, you know, we used it to put the free throw shooter on ice and kind of bring about the end of the game situation. So I don’t think it was a waste of time. He made the free throws. We were trying to get a three-pointer and thought they were going to foul and looked at it. So don’t waste it. But hey, listen… They’re really good, you know, they pressure, but when they get you, you end up in the half court. Really practical. They took the ball away from us several times today. We had 22 turnovers and also called two timeouts, these scramble situations, these fall situations. So these are quasi-sales, right? And then, you know, as the game goes on, when you have a 13-point lead and you try to extend it that way, but I think you get what I’m saying. You’re trying to figure out how to navigate down that end with a timeout. We made it a little difficult. It’s to UCLA that has its back against the wall and gives itself a chance to come back.”

On his philosophy of calling timeouts: I kind of leave it up to the players. I mean, we always value possessions. We value possessions. I’m not the type of person to take a break. So sometimes you save them so that players can deal with situations. That’s why I don’t regret the guys who did this. We’ve been in a fight and put ourselves in a position to come out victorious and things aren’t going to be easy for this team. We didn’t make it easy for ourselves. So we just have to keep going. It was obviously a tough day and a great atmosphere. You know, of course we don’t have a good feeling about it, but the sun will rise tomorrow. The world keeps turning. We have two games left this week so we have to keep going.”

At the end of the game eight and a half minutes without a field goal: “This is hard. I mean, it’s really hard to weigh. We had a good flow there for a while. And things just kind of unraveled. Since big Mo isn’t playing, we’re of course spontaneously thinking about what this team will look like in the future and trying to optimize a few things. You may see that this team has other strengths. So I just didn’t feel like we had a great situation, maybe not the players’ fault, but I just don’t think we have a good understanding of how we want to attack and play today, what pressure situations we’re in. Of course we have to continue to work on it and build that certainty and identity with the boys now that it looks like Mo will be out for a while.”

For team cohesion: “We fight. It won’t be easy. We will not pretend that everything is going well and that we are where we are expected to be. You know, everything flows together naturally. We will have to fight for it. This group will have to fight. For one thing, you’re dealing with some adversity. You know, where is our confidence? We have our certainties in our back pocket, so to speak. We have to keep fighting for this and establish it somehow. Sometimes it’s not far away. I thought we built a lead of, I don’t know, 10, 11, 12 points or something like that in the second half. I thought it was pretty good, I mean it felt like what we wanted to feel. And I looked at the clock and there’s still a lot of time left and I’m hoping that we can still get a little bit of a lead and maybe have a little more buffer to sustain the comeback from them. But you know, that wasn’t planned today. I’ll definitely go back and take a look at this thing. There will be some coaching mistakes. There will be situations where the players were a little tougher. But all in all, I think the most important thing is, and I know this is a cliché, that we have to stick together. We have to stick together, just because it’s hard we can’t split up, and that’s not easy.”

On the importance of Caleb Love’s contributions: Caleb gives us a really high ceiling. The teams played well and it wasn’t easy for him either. We have to find out why. What can we do to help him? Is it just a matter of holding on to it, holding on to it, holding on to it, supporting it, and then it will sort itself out? Or are there tactical things we need to do differently? But obviously Caleb is a really talented player and he’s proven that. It’s just not easy for him at the moment.”

To lean more heavily on Bradley and UCLA’s defense: “I mean, the way they played, they were really aggressive on the sides and we felt like we had some advantages. Those middle pick and rolls. And JB managed to navigate it pretty well. So UCLA is a team that you would say moves the ball. It is not easy. It’s not easy to connect three passes against them. They are sneaky, they are in denial, they are clever. Sometimes you play against a team like that, you just have to go a little simpler and maybe keep the ball in the middle a little bit more, and make a move, you know, take one or two guys out of the game, make it a play, and somehow it continues from there. It’s not necessarily a ball moving game. It’s more of a direct attacking game and it worked for a while until it kind of got away from us at the end. I think we maybe got a little tired along the way. And I think we made a couple of three-pointers that lasted three or four minutes. But when they do, they look great. But I think we are also in the double bonus. I think you have to keep the pressure on these guys to play. It just felt like we were hoping for one of those threes to come in instead of having a little more conviction about how we were going to put points on the board.”

What makes UCLA’s defense effective: “They are just very practical. And they’re good in the gaps. A lot of them were like this: You throw a ball to the guy through a tight window and they attack the ball, you know? And obviously they’re good at it, so they’re good at swarming the ball and making you play in uncomfortable, tight spaces.”

On the injury to Motiejus Krivas: “It’s a lower foot injury on the same foot. I don’t know if they have a definitive diagnosis yet.

Whether there is a schedule for how long Krivas will be out: “NO. We don’t have a definitive diagnosis. They’re still working on it.”

Whether it showed up in practice this week: “Yes.”

On the question of whether it could be the end of the season: “That could be it. All of these things are on the table. I don’t know at the moment.”

On the importance of conference and non-conference games: “I think it’s all important. You know, with our non-conference, we didn’t have a tight schedule. You know, the schedule is tough and it’s been a tough time for us. And maybe you look at it for a few years and if things were a little different, we’d be 7-2, and maybe you’ll feel a little different, but we wouldn’t be any better. So we are where we are. We fight. And I don’t mince words. And then I’ll be the captain of the ship and I’ll keep moving forward.”

On whether he feels better knowing Arizona will get plenty of resume opportunities in a tougher conference: “You know what makes me feel better? Win. That makes me feel better. So there is no comfort in anything where we find ourselves. And folks, we’ve lost some really close games that, to use the old cliché, can go either way. We have to find a way to increase our tolerance for error and get them on our side. And that’s going to be the focus of what we’re going to do. We have a good Samford team this midweek and we know it will be a challenge. And they’re a team that’s known for applying pressure and doing all that, and I’m sure they’ll see 22 turnovers in their eyes. So we have to find a way to get a win in the middle of this week and then see if we can do it. Central Michigan is coming this weekend and we’ll see that we’ve made it. So we’re literally in real day-to-day mode.”

Bradley on Arizona’s offensive woes down the stretch: “I try to read along with the defense. UCLA did a great job of getting us out of our offense and getting us up to speed. So a lot of credit goes to them.”

If you don’t shoot late in the game: “I just trust in my teammates and try to get a great look. We had other players who wanted to leave. Henri was strong in the paint. Trey just wanted to get a great look. And UCLA made it difficult for us.”

On UCLA accelerating Arizona: “UCLA has done a great job implementing it. They are the best in the country at this. And tonight the first half was a little slower. They sped us up a bit in the second half. So that’s clear. You have to understand that better, keep track of possession and at least try to get a shot up.”

On the question of whether UCLA’s denial of the ball makes it more difficult to make passes or penetrate: “Yes, they do a good job of speeding you up and then making quick decisions. We made some bad decisions. But eventually we’ll have a little run and we’ve made some great decisions. So watch the film.”

Veesaar on the highlight of his career in a few minutes: “My condition was good. It felt good to play a lot.”