Scouting report for Arizona’s Wednesday game with Davidson

No. 24 Arizona (2-2) vs. Davidson (4-0) | Battle 4 Atlantis First Round Game | Imperial Ballroom, Paradise Island, Bahamas | 17.30 Wednesday | ESPN2 | 1290 AM

G Jaden Bradley (6-3 junior)

G Caleb Love (6-4 fifth year)

F Trey Townsend (6-6 fifth year)

C Motiejus Krivas (7-2 sophomore)

G Mike Loughnane (6-4 years)

G Conner Kochera (6-5 senior)

F Bobby Durkin (6-7 sophomore)

F Reed Bailey (6-10 junior)

C Sean Logan (6-10 junior)

The series: Arizona has only faced Davidson once before, beating the Wildcats of North Carolina 95-69 in the 2002-03 Fiesta Bowl Classic at the McKale Center.

Davidson overview: Longtime Davidson coach Bob McKillop turned the reins over to his son, Matt, in 2022 after 33 years at Davidson. The ride was a bit bumpy in the two seasons since then, with Davidson hovering around .500 and becoming one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the country last season (30.7%). But Davidson returned four starters who have helped the Wildcats win their first four games this season.

The Wildcats start two 6-10 players and rate the no. 26 in average height by Kenpom, which adjusts for minutes played. One of their bigs, Reed Bailey, leads the team in both scoring (19.0) and rebounding (7.8). The other, Sean Logan, was the Atlantic-10’s fifth-leading shot blocker last season and blocks 10.6% of opponents’ blocks when he’s on the floor.

In some cases, especially if foul trouble hits, Davidson will go with one big man and four perimeter players, often with Durkin moving from small to power forward.

At point guard, Mike Loughnane is averaging more than a 3-1 assist-to-turnover ratio while shooting 47.1% from the field and hitting 4 of 10 3-pointers. Wing Bobby Durkin has made 13 of 24 3-pointers so far.

As a team, Davidson is shooting 35.2% from 3 while giving up 38.5%, and it knows how to get an edge at the line. Davidson takes the 51st most free throw attempts relative to field goal attempts in Division I, making free throws at a 77.3% rate.

However, Davidson’s defense has slipped last season so far. Over its three Division I opponents, the Wildcats have averaged 39.4% shooting from 3-point range and 49.5% from two. Davidson is also below average in forcing turnovers (15.7% of the time).

One of Davidson’s key reserves is another big man, Joe Hurlburt, who spent two seasons mostly on the bench in Colorado.

He said it: “Reed Bailey is a really good player, very good at scoring low. Durkin can shoot it from 3. Puts a lot of pressure on you there. And Kochera, he’s their third leading scorer. Those three guys account for 80% of their offense. They are a high-octane offense. They can get going, especially from the perimeter. They will challenge you to play fast and cut hard. Defensively, they will pack it in the paint. They will probably go under some ball screens and make us score from the perimeter.

“We’ve got to get back to rebounding the ball. Obviously, we lost a rebounding game the last time we played (Duke outrebounded UA 43-30). When we rebound the ball, it helps us in every phase, offensively and defense. It gives us an opportunity defensively to get out in transition and offensively, it gives us another chance to defend. They’re kind of like Wisconsin — they’re going to put pressure on you, and you have to defend without making fouls, because if they get to the foul line, they can make their free throws.” — UA assistant coach Jack Murphy, who scouted Davidson

With a father who played basketball at Pittsburgh with former UA coach Sean Miller, Bailey is not only shooting 58.3% from 2-point range over Davidson’s three Division I games, but he’s also drawing the fourth-most fouls per game. 40 minutes at national level (9.6) . When he gets to the line, he takes advantage by hitting 74.2% of his free throws.

Arizona – Jaden Bradley

What may matter as much as Bradley’s performance on Wednesday is how many minutes he has to log. UA coach Tommy Lloyd tested backup Conrad Martinez in UA’s first two games, but held Bradley to an average of 34.5 minutes against Wisconsin and Duke. These games were at least six days apart. It’s not an Atlantis game.

Not long after Lloyd became the Wildcats’ coach in April 2021, Arizona and Gonzaga postponed a game to be played in Spokane, and they have not met since.

But if Battle 4 Atlantis plays as expected, they will meet in Friday’s championship match.

“I don’t think it’s something that anybody necessarily wants to play to get something over the other guy. It’s not like that,” Lloyd said. “But when you have two good programs, eventually they’re going to cross paths . But no potential matchup with the Zags until the third day. So I’m not even there yet.”

Davidson center Bailey, who comes from a proud mid-major program that will now test itself in the high-level Battle 4 Atlantis, says, “it’s hard not to look at some of the names that are here and just be excited about it .”

His coach knows the feeling.

Matt McKillop was a freshman who entered the McKale Center with Davidson to play Arizona in 2002-03, when UA arguably had its best team ever under Lute Olson.

“That team was Jason Gardner, Hassan Adams, (Andre) Iguodala, Luke Walton, Channing Frye. They were so talented,” McKillop said. “Our starting shooter made like two 3s in the first two minutes, but then got two fouls. So I made a lot of plays and made a few shots.

“I remember it was close to halftime and they beat us by 30 or something.”

Another name also burned Davidson in that game: Sophomore Salim Stoudamire had a then-season-high 23 points to give UA a 95-65 victory.

It’s no surprise that McKillop is now the head coach at Davidson. Not only did he play for these Wildcats, who were still among the top 3-point shooters in school history (39.3%), but he also spent 14 years as an assistant there.

Also of note: His father, Bob McKillop, ran the show for 33 years before Matt took over.

It’s continuity defined in a program that still relies on continuity in the NIL/portal era. Davidson also retains players at a high rate, returning four starters from last season.

“No one knows exactly how to approach it right now, and everyone is doing their best,” McKillop said. “Our best is to try to hold on to what has made our program successful, which is stability and continuity.

“There was continuity with our coaching staff in the head coaching change, and we’ve done a really good job of continuity in our roster. When a lot of programs are trying to add the best talent or the tallest guy or the fastest guy. , we’ve built into the development of our players and with those we’ve added to our program, we’re not sacrificing the values ​​of our returning players.”

While Battle 4 Atlantis is held in what is called the “Imperial Arena”, it is actually most commonly known as the Imperial Ballroom. It won’t be fit for NCAA basketball use until after workers spend about 10 days taking down 100 chandeliers while installing lighting, sound, bleachers and a floor.

But the ceiling never changes. It’s only 26 feet above the fairway, which makes for a very different environment, especially for long range shooters.

“It’s a little different,” said Gonzaga wing Khalif Battle, who played in last season’s Battle 4 Atlantis with Arkansas. “We’re used to playing in a stadium, but it’s still a 10-foot goal. Basketball is the same size.”

Louisville guard Chucky Hepburn is also a veteran of the event and will play in the 2022-23 Battle 4 Atlantis with Wisconsin. He shot just 6 of 23 from two, but actually made 4 of 9 3-pointers in the ballroom.

“It’s electric here,” Hepburn said. “The atmosphere is beyond crazy. I told (teammates) ‘It’s going to feel weird the first few possessions when you get on the field. But once you get out there and get comfortable, you’ll be able to play freely.

“Shots may not go in right away, because it feels a bit strange. The ceilings are a little lower, but that’s why we came here and got shots up today (in practice), a lot of shots.”

UA forward Trey Townsend said it was a “cool experience” to play in a similar ballroom environment in the nearby Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship in 2022-23, while teammate Tobe Awaka played a freshman minute for Tennessee in the Battle 4 Atlantis. season.

Lloyd has experienced Battle 4 Atlantis as an assistant at Gonzaga, which also downplays the change.

“The first time you walk in, you think, ‘Oh, this is different,'” he said. “And then the moment the ball goes up or the moment you start practicing, honestly, you don’t even notice.”

1: Arizona losses under Tommy Lloyd in potential scenarios of three games in three days, the 2022 and 2023 Pac-12 Tournaments and the 2022 Maui Invitational. (Arizona lost in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals last season, missing out on a third championship game).

3: Tobe Awaka ranks nationally in offensive rebound percentage (25.1), with Awaka pulling down over a quarter of Arizona’s missed shots.

25: Davidson’s national rank in “minutes continuity,” a Kenpom calculation of what percentage of a team’s minutes are played by the same player from last season to this season.