What Tommy Lloyd, Jaden Bradley and KJ Lewis said after the Arizona Wildcats’ home loss to Duke

Tommy Lloyd has suffered losses in Arizona, including a few at the McKale Center. But never before had he lost consecutive games as a head coach, something that is no longer the case after the Wildcats fell to Duke on Friday night for its second straight loss.

At 2-2, Arizona has a .500 record for the first time since going 3-3 to start the 2017-18 season. The losses have come to good teams, and are very early in a long season, but that doesn’t make them any less difficult to deal with.

“You won’t see me out on the town tonight,” Lloyd said afterwards. “I have work to do, so let’s get going. And let’s see where we are in a month, and if we’re still struggling, you know what I’m going to do? I still have work to do, but I will probably make it.”

Our game summary can be found here. Below is what Lloyd and guards Jaden Bradley and KJ Lewis said after the loss:

Lloyd on the loss: “Fantastic atmosphere. Just unfortunately we didn’t play the way we had hoped to play. A big credit goes to Duke. They played a great game. They have a great, great team and a great program. It was an honor to play them here and I wish it had gone a little better for us, but that’s how it goes sometimes.”

On losing back-to-back games: “We had a week where there was a sense of urgency and we felt like we addressed things. Just to come out and we didn’t play well. So now we have to take a step back and find out of why are there any issues with how our staff is made up i love the plan but of course it’s not going as well as you’d like, be honest with yourself and try to figure out what our security is and the things we need to have and then over the next few days if there are adjustments, What we have to do is find out what it is.”

If Arizona’s offensive struggles were their own or because of Duke’s defense: “Probably a combination of both. I feel like we had some good looks in the first half, from good shooters that just didn’t go in. We wanted to try to get the ball to the side. They did a good job of keeping it out. And then when we got it in there, I think their size and length affected it a little bit. I thought Duke came out and played really hard. I was hoping that would be a little bit of an advantage for us, but , but it wasn’t. So we’re going to go back. And probably a little bit of it, one of the answers is always, do what we’re doing a little bit better, and we’re going to fight a little bit more. And then the next answer is always, you’re not going to be stubborn. If there are adjustments we need to make, let’s figure them out.”

On offense looks stagnant in the second half: “They did a good job of pressuring our bigs and kind of making our wing touches a little more difficult. We’ve always been a program that’s been pretty good in transition. We’ve got to get the transition a little bit more, and when we get opportunities, we cashed them in. It’s something we’ve been working on, but you come into these games and maybe some of the players’ decisions haven’t been where I’d hope they would be. Playing on two feet, use a fake instead of go after everything for nothing, play all the time.”

If he’s worried about Caleb Love: “Obviously, we all know Caleb, he’s got a well-documented history and he’s my guy. He’s not playing well right now. I’m just going to be 100 percent honest. But it’s my job to hang with him because this is not NBA. There are no trades. And I know this: Caleb has had so much success in college basketball that it’s the right thing to do and we’re going to be rewarded. so I will hang with him and trust that better days will come.”

If the physicality of the last two games has been too much for Arizona: “I think we’re built for it. That’s how we want games to be. I didn’t think it was anything crazy. I think our guys just have to have a little more energy and find ways to take advantage of it, in our physical state.

By not overreacting to the 2-2 start: “I am humble enough to know that it will not always be easy. I’ve always just felt with myself, the harder things get the better, because I think I’m built for it. I want to hang with my team. We’re taking a day off tomorrow and we’re going to circle the wagons finding a way to go down to the Bahamas and win game by game. And wouldn’t it be great if we flipped the script?

“I’m a realistic optimist. I understand that we may not be perfect, there may be mistakes, but I’m also optimistic that if we fix them, we can come out on the other side. The great thing about college basketball is we’re 2-2 and it’s a long season we haven’t even played a conference game yet I mean they hurt a lot It was a hard week for me and it is tough night for me and the program because we had a great opportunity, but we’re going to come back and we’re going to give Davidson everything we’ve got, and if we’re lucky enough to find a way to get through it, the next component we will give everything we have.”

On Bradley and Lewis combining for 30 points and everyone else 25: “Those guys are playing incredibly hard, but what I need to figure out is why the pieces aren’t coming together as well as I’d like or as well as we’re used to. And it’s nothing with those guys. But I definitely look more at the bigger picture now than just individual performances because for me this is a team game. My thought, what I wrote down in my notes today was TTE, total team effort. And I don’t think we got that. I have to go back and really figure out what it takes to get a unified team effort.”

On being able to continue playing home-and-home games like this: “I would definitely love that. And I think Jay Bilas had the best quote of all just talking to him today. And obviously he’s a great guy. We know he’s a Dukie, but he’s also a great guy. And he told me he wished college basketball had a little more of the NBA feel where you play these big games and you win them or you lose them and you go on to the next one. College basketball, that is it doesn’t. When you’re a program like Duke or Arizona, I mean panic sets in. I don’t know how well I’m going to sleep tonight, maybe good maybe bad i don’t know but i love the opportunity to play duke at home and i wish you know we had more opportunities to do it here and we weren’t so afraid of losing. Because if you are, if you are afraid of losing, you will come never to take the opportunity of a fantastic environment like we had tonight.”

On starting Motiejus Krivas over Tobe Awaka: “He’s been practicing better and we’re strengthening him a bit. Maybe I didn’t make the right decision today to start him. He’s a starter but he didn’t play well. Tobe played so well and Tobe who didn’t started, had nothing to do with him. It just has to be about trying to figure out how to play these big four. My overarching thought has been that Big Mo and Trey (Townsend) could be a good combination, and then could Henri (Veesaar) and Tobe be a good combination. And then the game got a little weird. Sometimes these games happen, you have your first media time at 16. The next thing you know it goes to 13, we would signed three or four minutes earlier. It’s something I have to look at and really think about. He’s going to have a great season, but he’s still coming back from injury .I think It will be a great learning experience for him and something for me to find out.”

If newcomers struggle to meet the Arizona standard: “Everyone has a standard, and I don’t want to highlight new or recurring ones. We all have to get better. I mean, I told our guys that today there’s not one person in our locker room pointing a finger at another person. Everyone looks internally first and then at the group second. So I don’t think so at all.”

Whether he can mix and match his starting lineups based on the opponent: “I have to find out what makes our players most comfortable and most efficient. I probably didn’t do Tobe a good service today. I told him a little before the game that I was thinking about doing this and he was so comfortable because he’s such a great guy, but he’s been playing well. Maybe it wasn’t tonight to do it, but I was just thinking about pairing the big things is my overriding thought, so I’ll figure it out.”

Last time Arizona played in Battle4Atlantis: “I have heard many stories about it. We play Davidson, I don’t know when we play them on Wednesday. Let’s just find a way to win. That becomes the mindset. We don’t have to, we don’t look at anything beyond that. We are back with the daily deal.”

Bradley on Duke’s defense: “They threw some different things at us. They’re pretty athletic. Their five man is a pretty good shot blocker down there. We’ve just got to do a good job of recognizing the coverage and executing.”

On rebounding from consecutive losses: “We have to use this to help us bond as a team. It’s only four games left, it’s a long season, so we can’t let this discourage us. We had to come closer together in these moments and really trust our guys to just play hard and do what Coach says. On our end, we didn’t execute.”

On trusting the system: “Coach Lloyd has been here for a while and the things he’s done in the past worked. So we know we’ve got to really buy into the system and really, just in the next couple of days, bond and really figure this out.”

Lewis on Duke’s court defense: “With their 5-ball screen, they would hedge, hard hedge, get us to get the ball out of our hands quickly. One through four, they would switch. And every time we got a contact and entered it into the post, they would foul. I think we just have to do a better job of moving the ball out, being strong with the ball and just finding different ways to be effective on offense.”

On if there is time to sort things out before the Bahamas: “There’s definitely time to work on things. I’m pretty sure we’ll get together tomorrow as a group, watch some film, figure some things out, practice on Sunday. We still have a goal to win the tournament. We just have to come together as a group and be tighter than we’ve ever been.”

About everyone finding their roles: “The guys that were here last year are trying to get all the new guys on the same page and get them on board with Arizona basketball. Again, it’s a new atmosphere, new system for them. From the coach down to the vets , we just have to be better as a group to help them fit right in with what we want.”

About Caleb Love: “Caleb is an All-American for a reason. He has ultra-confidence and we have ultra-confidence in him. Again, it’s only the fourth game of the year. We knew every team we were going to play was going to throw different things at him and it’s our job to help him get some open looks and find a rhythm so far we haven’t done that for him so I really feel like us, me and JB, we’re taking on most of it to blame for his frustration because we had to do a better job of getting him open off the ball.”