What Tommy Lloyd, Motiejus Krivas and Koa Peat said after Arizona’s win over Norfolk State

Arizona has completed an unbeaten November, the fourth time it’s done so in five seasons under Tommy Lloyd. While proud of that start, Lloyd said after Saturday’s 98-61 win over Norfolk State that he’s more concerned with what happens next than what’s already occurred.

“I’m still in Build Mode, just where I’m at personally,” he said. “I know we have a long road ahead of us. For us in our program, we want to have a long term approach to this season, and we want to be playing our best basketball incrementally over the course of the season.”

Our game recap can be found here. Below is what Lloyd, center Motiejus Krivas and forward Koa Peat said afterward:

Lloyd on the first 10 minutes: “This is how these games go. You always start out 0-0, the other team has as much of a right to competing and winning as you do. Norfolk State’s a program that has had a lot of success, they have a lot of pride. They won a lot of games. So I knew it was going to be tough. I didn’t have it on my basketball bingo card of them coming out playing a Line and 3 defense. So it just took over the guys a little bit, kind of a few possessions to kind of figure out what was going on.”

On if Norfolk State’s defense helped Arizona get to the line: “There was a lot of space to operate inside, and then there was big gaps in there. You’re kind of face guarding three perimeter players and it creates some huge gaps. It’s not a standard defense by any means, but it makes you a little bit uncomfortable. You have to figure it out. We just got the ball inside at the rim a lot of times, and put a lot of pressure them.”

On Krivas having 20 points: “Mo is getting better. I mean, I think he’s really impacted some of our bigger games. I’m really happy with where he’s at defensively and on the glass. Those are two areas we really wanted to establish with him, and he’s always been a good offensive player, so I’ve never really been panicked there. It’s just a matter of him getting some opportunities, and him finishing shots, making free throws. It’s our sixth guy already this season to have 20 points, so that’s a good sign.”

On what he’s been focusing on with Krivas defensively: “When you’re the center on the defense, you can be like an anchor to the defense. You have so much size at the rim and kind of impact the game in the paint and on the glass and, and it’s just understanding how important that is. It allows us to kind of tilt some coverages to his size, maybe you can get more aggressive in certain areas, understanding you have a big guy kind of waiting behind things.”

On Tobe Awaka’s growth: “I think Tobe, just his fluidity as a basketball player continues to improve. His ability just to find his rhythm in the games, it is really improved. Tobe is obviously a warrior, and he’s a beast, and he really impacts these games. And the beautiful thing about him is he’s one of those guys you don’t have to run plays for. He he finds the ball, he finds opportunities, and that’s really valuable, and it’s just a great insurance policy at both ends of the floor, how he rebounds.”

On Arizona’s bigs: “I think they’re really good. I’ll let somebody else be the judge that they’re the best bigs in the country. But I don’t have any doubt, any night that we can go up against anybody. Just the physical combination of those two guys, I think, really wears on you. Each has different strengths, but force and physicality is part of their pedigree. It’s got to be difficult to play against when there’s really no plays off.”

On Ivan Kharchenkov’s status: “I think he rolled his ankle. Rolled his ankle trying to split a guy, must have stepped on a foot. I didn’t see it. Obviously, hopefully he’ll play next week, but we’ll see.”

On what he said to Dwayne Aristode after confronting a Norfolk player: “I told him, we don’t do that at Arizona. He said he was protecting his teammate, and my response is to him is, I don’t think Koa needs a protector. I think he’s fine. The games get chippy, but you got to stay classy. You have a choice in those moments, and the choice should always be, stay classy. There’s nothing wrong with pushing it to the line, emotionally, physically, but at the end of the day, it’s an easy choice, stay classy. I was just making sure he heard that message from me loud and clear.”

On the first month of college basketball: “There’s a lot of really good teams out there. And obviously, we’ve had maybe some attention-grabbing moments that people have maybe anointed us, maybe a little bit too early, and others teams had some attention-grabbing moments, and maybe they got anointed. And at the end of the day, to be honest with you, none of us know what things look like in 30 days or 60 days or 90 days, so you got to stay the course. You got to stay the course.There’s nothing wrong with being excited and optimistic about where you’re at, but I just know this: false hope and optimism don’t get a lot of results.”

On Evan Nelson’s role: “Evan’s been great. He’s really helped us in practice. And I could be giving him more minutes. That’s my fault, and I’ll own that. But the purpose behind it is, we have four freshmen, and we’re trying to get those guys ready for some tough upcoming games, and trying to get ready for a tough conference. So I’m trying to give them every opportunity I can to get those repetitions that matter. Evan is a great teammate and a great person. I don’t know if he loves it, but I think he understands what we’re doing, and to me, that’s really important. So I love having him, and he’s really, really, really helped us in practice, just to have a guy like that run a point on your scout team that can that can be aggressive and simulate other things and play at the level, it’s really important.”

On having a week until the next game: “Practice is important and preparation is important, but so is having game rhythm. So we just got to figure out that fine balance, you know, of what those two things look like. Just sometimes it’s kind of how your schedule breaks, you end up with some gaps, weeklong gaps. Maybe one’s because of finals week, and maybe another one’s just because just the way the schedule broke, you couldn’t find the right game, and so you just kind of took a gap in your schedule. I’m sure we’ll take at least two days off before the next game.”

On the athletic department’s success in November: “I think it’s great. I’m really proud of my colleagues and the success they’re having. There’s a lot of work behind the scenes with our administration to make these things happen. I’m happy, but for me, I’m still in Build Mode, just where I’m at personally. I know we have a long road ahead of us. So I’m happy for everyone else’s success, but for us in our program, we want to have a long term approach to this season, and we want to be playing our best basketball incrementally over the course of the season. But obviously, really happy for Brent (Brennan). He’s a good friend of mine, and he’s just a great guy, and I know he’s been through a lot, and to see him come out on top just really says something about his character, him as a man. So just really proud of him and what he’s done.”

Krivas on getting better each game: “I missed all last season. It just took me a couple games to comfortable.”

On him and Awaka working together: “It’s really hard when you rotate and the other teams don’t get a rest.”

On where he’s improved the most defensively: “I’d say in drop coverage. I used to do it but now I’m getting better. We worked on some details in the offseason and this season, just the footwork and the feeling.”

Peat on playing alongside Awaka and Krivas: “Obviously they’re different type players, but when I have them with me on the court. I feel like we’re gonna go out here there and compete, and they’re both really good. So having them complement my game, I feel like it really helps me a lot. It helps me get open looks, and it’s easy to drop it off to them as well. I think they’re the best rebounders in the country.”

On why the freshmen have had such an impact already: “Just the camaraderie, like off the court and on the court, we’re all close to each other. Especially the seniors, they welcomed us with open arms, so that really made us want to come out here and work our butts off. I think we’re really talented, and I think we can just keep getting better as the season goes along, and we’re just going to keep getting better.”

On getting to know the other freshmen: “Dwayne called me and Brayden, when I was on my official visit, he just told us that he wanted us to come play with him. And then I committed, and I was recruiting Brayden at McDonald’s, McDonald’s All-American, so we all kind of knew that we wanted to play with each other. I didn’t really know much about Ivan, but him coming over from overseas, he’s been a really complimentary piece, and excited for his growth as well. I think we’re just gonna all keep getting better.”

On Kharchenkov: “Ivan plays with edge. He’s a dog. He plays really hard. He does all the little things, stretches the floor, three and D, plays defense. He’s a really good player, and like I said, he’s just going to keep getting better, and I’m excited for his future.”

On how he’s going to use the time before the next game: “Personally, right after this I’m going to go shoot some free throws. I missed too many free throws this game.”