Arizona basketball uses 'insurance policy' in March Madness win

SAN DIEGO — Jaden Bradley sat at his locker earlier this week, surrounded by microphones, and offered up a comment that proved remarkably prescient.

Bradley had been asked about Arizona’s 3-point shooting in its opening-round win over Long Island, but mid-way through his response, he veered off course.

He wanted to highlight something else entirely.

“And,” Bradley said, “we know we got our insurance policy with Tobe (Awaka) and Big Mo (Krivas) down there rebounding.”
Maybe this is the benefit of having played 146 career games, 22 of them in the postseason: You know what’s coming next.

Barely 48 hours later, Arizona filed an expensive claim on that insurance policy, using it to extend this glorious season to at least one more weekend.

Arizona (34-2) advances to the NCAA West Sweet 16 game at 6:45 p.m.

Thursday against Arkansas (28-8).

The 4th-seeded Razorbacks topped Hawaii on Thursday and High Point on Saturday to set up the matchup.

In a 78-66 win over Utah State, the Wildcats collected 54 rebounds, with 22 on the offensive glass.

They grabbed an absurd 55% of their own misses.

And they limited Utah State to a paltry 26 rebounds, with only eight on offense.

“To get out-rebounded by 28, I’ve never been a part of that,” Utah State coach Jarrod Calhoun said.

Later, still stunned, Calhoun added the obvious: “You've got to be at least (negative)-eight or 10 difference in the rebounding.

Can't be 28.”
But for Arizona, this is part of the strategy.

The Wildcats are now collecting 38.8% of their misses on the year, the fourth-best mark in Division I.

“That's a key component to our success,” coach Tommy Lloyd said.

It’s one of many — part of the multi-layered armour these Wildcats seem to wear.

When Plan A isn’t working, there’s a Plan B.

When Plan B isn’t working, there’s a Plan C.

When Plan C isn’t working, there’s a Plan D.

You get the idea.

It’s what made the Wildcats immune to cold spells during a 34-2 season.

And it’s what they hope will make them immune to the vagaries of this three-week March sprint.

The win over Utah State provided an excellent case study.

For a brief moment, Arizona looked like it would win with Plan A.

In the first 3 minutes, the Wildcats scored in every which way.

There was a Brayden Burries 3 off a kick out from Krivas; a two-handed Koa Peat slam off a post entry; Peat using his physicality to earn a trip to the line; Burries driving and kicking to Bradley for another 3.

At the end of it, Arizona had forced an opponent into a timeout before the under-16 mark for the second consecutive game.

But that high-flying version of the Wildcats — the one where eight players can score from anywhere on the court — proved to be short-lived.

In the first half, they shot just 29% from the field and a jarring 23.8% from inside the arc.

“That was the worst half of basketball I think I’ve seen them play all year,” Charles Barkley said on the CBS halftime show.

For a while, though, it was acceptable.

Arizona led by nine at halftime and by 18 early in the second half.

The Wildcats appeared to be strolling toward the Sweet 16.

Then, the comeback began.

Utah State pulled out the full-court press, forcing Arizona into eight second-half turnovers.

Down on the other end, the Aggies rediscovered some semblance of shooting form, hitting 35% of their 3s — up from a meager 8.3% in the first half.

Suddenly, the margins shrank.

Arizona was being made to pay for its offensive struggles.

And with 6:34 remaining, the lead dwindled to four on a Utah State 3.

So what did Arizona do?

It turned, of course, to the offensive glass.

On the very next possession, Krivas made a tip-in off an Ivan Kharchenkov miss.

A few moments later, he grabbed another board off a missed free throw.

A possession after that, he grabbed another Kharchenkov miss, earning a trip to the line.

The lead, just like that, was creeping back toward the safety of double figures.

“He was a beast on the boards,” Awaka said of Krivas, who finished with a career-high nine offensive rebounds and 14 total.

Sitting one locker over, Anthony Dell’Orso only needed one word to explain why Arizona won.

“Rebounding,” Dell’Orso said.

A moment later, he expanded.

“Shots were hard to get,” Dell’Orso said.

“Offense was hard to flow.

So rebounding is just effort, and we were able to put that effort in and get a lot of second-chance points.”
This is Arizona’s recipe.

It wasn’t pretty.

The interior offense was a grind.

Five players made fewer than 40% of their field-goal attempts.

Bradley, the Wildcats' leading scorer, was not at his best.

The press caused them issues, which will be a focus over the next three days.

And yet, the Wildcats still won — comfortably — because of their rebounding.

“That's one of our identities,” Krivas said.

One of.

That’s the key.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona basketball digs into championship recipe to survive Utah State