Two down, one to go.
Arizona completes its preseason exhibition schedule on Friday night against Eastern Washington, the third warmup contest over a 10-day span at ALKEME Arena at McKale Center. The Wildcats won the first two both by double digits, though last Friday's 82-67 victory over San Diego State was far tougher than the 93-69 win over San Francisco on Oct. 13.
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This will be the UA's last chance to get some "live bullets" as Tommy Lloydsays before the real games start Nov. 2 in Las Vegas against UCLA. And depending on if if RJ Godfreywins his ongoing legal battle to become eligible, this could be the last opportunity to test out lineups before settling on which ones will be part of the regular rotation.
Here's what to watch for when the Wildcats and Eagles meet in an exhibition:
Old friends meet again
Eastern Washington is coached by Dan Monson, who was head coach at Gonzaga nearly 30 years ago when Lloyd was first offered a job there. As the story goes, after Monson led the Bulldogs to the Elite Eight in 1999 and then left for Minnesota, Lloyd told new Gonzaga coach Mark Fewthat Monson had promised him a job.
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Lloyd was brought on as a volunteer that first season and the rest is history.
Monson is entering his third season at Eastern Washington, his fifth head coaching gig following stops at Gonzaga, Minnesota and Long Beach State. He coached LBSU from 2007-24 before getting told he was not being retained, a decision made before he led the Beach into the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
Where he would face Arizona in the first round in Salt Lake City. Lloyd's Wildcats would win easily, 85-65, but afterwards Lloyd went to bat for his longtime friend during a press conference.
"That guy does not deserve that," Lloyd said
. "He's a great man. He deserves another job, another opportunity. That's where my heart goes out to him and his family. That's the other side. That's the stuff we talk about. We don't just talk about—joking about the game, the Princeton offense. We talk about the real stuff. What he and his family are going through right now is hard. There's another side to this business. We know it's a tough business. But still he's got kids in college. Our jobs are pretty special, specialty based. Not a lot of them out there. I hope things go good for him because he deserves it."
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A sizable opponent
The Eagles were 14-19 last season but finished in third place in the Big Sky Conference, the same spot they're picked to finish this season according to the preseason poll. EWU also got five first-place votes and have two players on the preseason all-conference team: guard Andrew Cookand forward Alton Hamilton IV.
Hamilton, who averaged 13.5 points and 5.7 rebounds last season, is listed at 6-foot-9 and 250 pounds. EWU will also start 6-foot-10, 235-pound Emmett Marquardt, who was a part-time starter last season and who had nine rebounds in an exhibition against Cal State Bakersfield.
Throw in 7-2 Zach Trezvant, 6-8 Shaumba Ngoyiand 6-8 Lance Horntvedt Jr.and this will be the most size Arizona has faced in exhibition play. That could lead to a change in the starting lineup, which has seen Ivan Kharchenkovat the 4 and Bryce Jamesin as a third guard.
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How Arizona uses reserve big men Ugnius Jaruvicius, Evan Otten(who didn't play against San Diego State) and Maksim Brnovicwill give Lloyd and his staff an indication of how much they can be relied on for the regular season.
Shot selection
Granted the stats don't count, but through two exhibition games Arizona has shot 43.1 percent including just 34.7 percent against San Diego State. And the latter wasn't for lack of good looks, as the Wildcats missed 14 of 21 layups and got only 32 of its 82 points in the paint.
The preseason is for experimenting, which can explain the UA taking 34 3-pointers against SDSU, seven more than in any game last season. Five different Wildcats made threes in that game, though, same as in the first contest, and a year ago only eight games saw five or more players drain a triple.
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Derek Dixonand Caleb Holthave launched the most from outside, attempting 13 and 10, respectively, while Kharchenkov and JJ Mandaquithave each taken eight 3-point shots. They're making 30.7 percent of those shots, compared to 52 percent from inside the arc.
