NCAA Tournament: What to watch for when Arizona Wildcats men’s basketball takes on TCU in second round

SAN DIEGO The games get harder and harder from here.

It was Tommy Lloyd message to the Arizona Wildcats after beating Wright State on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, setting up a second-round matchup with the TCU Horned Frogs Sunday night at Viejas Arena. It’s a message he also reiterated after defending national champion and No. 1 seed Baylor’s loss to North Carolina earlier Saturday.

I told them, hey, game one is tough (but) game two is tougher, Lloyd said. That’s what these tournaments are like. TCU has our full attention. We understand that if we don’t do what we need to do, we may not be successful.

The No. 9 TCU (21-12) is coming off its first NCAA Tournament win since 1987, knocking out No. 8 Seton Hall by 27. The Horned Frogs are looking for the program’s fifth trip to the Sweet 16, the first since 1968, while Arizona (32-3) is looking for its first since 2017 and 20th overall.

Here’s what to watch out for when the AU, which according to DraftKings Sportsbook is favored by 9.5 points, and TCU plays for the first time since 1952:

A physical game

TCU is ranked 15^and in defensive efficiency, by KenPom.com, five points ahead of Arizona, and just held Seton Hall to 42 points and 0.65 points per possession. Lloyd said the Horned Frogs use no middle defense, trying to keep you to the side, and they’re good at it, noting most of the Big 12 have gone that direction and Tennessee has done the same. in beating the Wildcats in December.

And then, on top of that, they’re extremely physical, Lloyd said. Theyre a great rebounding team. This has always been a hallmark of Jamies teams.

TCU is the No. 1 offensive rebounding team in the nation, knocking out 37.8% of its misses, while Arizona is 16.^and at 34.6 percent. The Frogs are also in the top 100 in defensive rebounds.

We only won if we passed them, Coach TCU Jamie Dixon noted.

UCLA and Colorado at least in Boulder were the most physical teams Arizona faced in Pac-12 play, but they did so with a different approach to defense.

Nobody plays as committed to the midless stuff in the Pac-12 as these guys, Lloyd said. The first thing to do is to be strong with the ball. And you have to play with a thrust and play with our normal rhythm and movements. And then you have to trust your fundamentals. You have to lock yourself in, play with your feet on the ground, mix up a few back cuts, make false passes. I say to our guys, play some good basketball. That’s what we have to do.

And hey, it was also a physical team. And I don’t want people to think we score a lot of points for not being physical. We are very proud to be able to fight physically. And obviously tomorrow presents a big test.

Dalen Terry’s Revenge Game?

Dale Terry is coming off back-to-back career highs in scoring, getting 16 goals against Wright State after scoring 15 in the Pac-12 title game against UCLA. He embraced a more involved scoring role with Kerr Kriisa missed the last three games and its results.

And just in case he needs a little extra motivation for the TCU game, he can remember that the opposing coach didn’t pick him for Team USA last summer.

I was a little hot about it, Terry says of being kicked out of FIBA ​​U-19 Basketball World Cup tryouts and playing for Dixon, who led that team to a gold medal in Latvia. But it was a good experience. USA U19, just to be on this list, I was even grateful to be there.

Dixon said a committee selects the final roster, ultimately it wasn’t my decision, he said, but it was hard not being able to keep all the talent he worked with.

It’s a challenge, says Dixon. I guess you’re trying to start a controversy, but I’m not going to fall for that. Were going to respect all the guys there. They have a committee, and they do this so that people like you protect us. (Terry) is talented, athletic.

More crowd energy?

Viejas Arena announced a sold-out crowd of over 11,000 for Arizona’s first-round game, but at the start and for much of the first half, there was many empty seats. It was the result of the NCAA cleaning the site between tournament sessions and then letting fans in shortly before the start of the UA/Wright State game.

Combine that with long lines at the entrances, thanks to security checkpoints, and many Wildcat fans missed a good chunk of the game. Lloyd called it odd that the arena was only 33% full at the start and wondered why there wasn’t a big enough gap between matches to ensure a full crowd initially.

He also called out Arizona fans who attended the game, saying they lacked energy. Several times during the contest, he turned to the UA sections behind his bench and implored them to get up and make some noise.

The environment better be great, he said. You’re trying to have a great regular season, a conference season to set yourself up to get a good seed. If you get a good seed, you’re close to home. And that’s supposed to be a big benefit for us. And yesterday we didn’t feel it.

Look, I know we have a big fanbase and I know some will take it personally, but they have to be better tomorrow. They have to bring it tomorrow, as fans. Our fans have to be better. And you know what? Fans who are lucky enough to have tickets for this and can afford it financially, they have to get up tomorrow and bring it. They must help us move forward. This is my message to them: don’t sit and wait; Help us.

Attenuated turnover

Arizona turned it over 19 times against Wright State, three shy of its school tournament record set in the 1997 Elite Eight overtime victory over Providence. Almost all of those errors were direct, but the Raiders didn’t benefit much by scoring just eight points from AU errors.

TCU scored 15 points on Seton Hall’s 16 turnovers and, for the season, forced a turnover on 18.6 percent of the opponent’s possessions. That’s slightly higher than Arizona’s 18.2 percent turnover rate on offense.

The Frogs are even worse with the ball, giving it up 21.5% of the time, better than just one other team in the NCAA Tournament (Memphis, 22.9%).

Turnovers have been recurring for Arizona this season, so it’s not a new problem. It’s also not one the Wildcats seem too worried about.

It’s behind us, said Terry. Turnovers happen. They arrive. We were just playing a little out of control sometimes. But obviously, we had the dubbing. It’s something we have to worry a bit about, but obviously we’re not going to lose any sleep over it. We have to clean everything up if we want to keep winning these games. It is just what it is. We have to improve.