Thursday, March 21, Hour 1

This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen fifty powered by Nova Insurance Services and Sure Your Most Prized Possessions kat z R two SAD at iHeartRadio Station. Good afternoon, Welcome down the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm your host for the day, Ja Gonzales. My partner in crime, Steve Rivera, is in Salt Lake City. He'll be reporting in a little later in the show. Today he's out covering

the game and now he gets to stay for the weekend. I've got our our able guest host today, George Midas from Showtime Cards was here yesterday. George, welcome, appreciate you being here again. Thank you so much. I'm fired up today and sids back from spring break. Yep. It'll be here today and tomorrow to run the to run the show for us. So, is everybody breathing easy, everybody feel a little better off the back?

Yes? Yeah? Were you well first? Yes, it was scary scary hmmm, I mean the last minute or so, we kind of we broke it open. Yeah, we were down and then we got up six points going into the Hofs. So before that it was we were missing a lot of layups, you know, missing that's in there. Yeah, right, that was a big deal. And Tommy even said that, he said, look, all we gotta do is finish. And uh, first of all, I'm watching it with my family, my two daughters and my wife.

Okay, they're nervous. They're nervous, my daughter. It's not going well. And I'm like it relaxed, you know, here's how here's how I looked at it. Yes, you know, were you thinking Princeton all over again and all that stuff. Of course you are, of course, of course here because you're thinking, you know, I think they got down what five in the first half. At one point, you got like they couldn't make a shot. Caleb Love couldn't make a shot. They were missing all

those layups, the players, right, they were getting out rebounded. I mean you just thought, God, you know, they're not gonna you know, they're not doing that now, come on. And then, like you said, they had that little run the end of the half they go into they go in, you know, up by six, and I thought, ok, you know, my thinking was, Okay, you didn't play very

well. You know, you missed a lot of opportunities long we stay played out of there, you know what, and you're still up six, you know, just come out in the second half and and get off to a good start, take charge and win the game. And that's exactly what they do. It's exactly what they did. I mean, were you nervous a little bit? But I don't know why this year I felt work. Maybe it's just the edition of Loving that kind of kept me a little better.

But because last year I felt like nobody, nobody wanted the ball, right. You know. It's funny because you think about Caleb Love's game, and we'll be before I go on, I'll mentioned Reggie Gary's going to join us, so he'll help us break this thing down, and we'll see how he was watching the game, what he was thinking. And then Matt Mulebach in the second hour. So we got you a couple of great guests to break this thing down. You know, guys who know and uh you know,

and these guys played guard. The guards very important for Arizona, you know, they always are in the NCAA tournament. Caleb Love did not have a good first half, you know, his he couldn't make a shot, couldn't make it three. I think he was one for seven from three at one point and he ended up three for twelve. I mean, that's not a good shooting day for him at all, six for seventeen overall, but you know what, he scored eighteen points out He had a double double basketball.

Yeah, he had five assists, no turnovers. You feel like he had a bad game, but he had a bad shooting day, but he you know, he was important to what they did. I mean that's how I saw basically. I think from last year's team, this year, we have more players on this roster that can distribute, that can do more, that can score like he sho It's more of a balanced team. Yeah, he can score. He scored today. He picked us up in big, big

point. And then also we talked about yesterday, Kylon was kind of the X factor and Kylon needed to be there and he had a great game. He did played, He played really well. Not I mean he was the leading scorer twenty points, eight of nineteen, four of nine, three pointers, eight assists. I mean that that's the game everybody's been waiting for Colin Boswell to have, right, Yes, And and that's kind of what's been

and we've we've been saying and we've said it all year long. When those guys play like that, you know, Colin Boswell twenty, Caleb Love eighteen, they're really damn good. And and they were and on the defense and the boards, Umar Umar was Umar al right. I mean Davis Gavis didn't even really need to write Umar eleven points, thirteen rebounds. You know, Pellet struggled a little bit. He had some foul foul issues. He's he missed a bunch of of you know, point blank shot Reeves open, but

he he didn't hurt the team. You know, he still had he only he had one turnover, He had five assists. You know, they only had nine turnovers in the game they played. They can play better, but they played a kind of game that they need to keep playing, right And if they keep playing these games like this, they'll they'll keep moving in the

tournament. And that I mean, I'm not saying that everything's okay now because now they got to put another one together, right, But I feel like they they did the things that going in you thought those are the things that they got to do, and they did them. You know, I mean, yeah, we're people nervous I'm sure. Let me look everybody that I've talked to about the game since that first half. Oh god, you know, but they crushed them in the second half. We won by twenty.

Interesting story. Yesterday we talked about the line. The line was twenty twenty and a half and a half twenty and a half, and I was like, way over, it's going to be twenty five, and the other innswered with Sammy, Sammy, he goes, no, no, that's taking the points. I slept on it. I waited till today and I've you know, I had this. I was like, God, if it only comes down one point. It came down to nineteen, and oh did I got

in there at nineteen and a half. Then you and I covered. I still thought it was twenty and a half, and they missed that bunny right at the end, the layup that didn't go in. We were laughing at that because because I thought it was still twenty and a half, I didn't know what had dropped to nineteen two hours prior. Wow, we're good for you, man. I so we both won. I mean, he picked under it and I stayed away from it. I resisted the temptation I took

some other games. I've had a good day so far. I had a good night last night. I had Colorado last night. I felt good about Colorado. I just took some of the morning games because I knew I was going to get to get to watch those, and you know, it would be here and I wouldn't be watching, you know, these games so much, and I'll go home and I'll maybe, you know, play a little bit tonight. But I'm off to a good start and I'm having I'm having fun. No big upsets yet, little upsets, uyu. Little upset to

me. That was not an upset. No, that was not I had to caine and everything that I'm in. I'm you know, I've got a number of brackets. Yeah, I've got to cane in everything that I'm in. And then there's a I feel like there's so many games for the lower seed this year is actually favored in Vegas, No, it is. I think there's a few of those in this tournament. I mean, besides the top seeds. There's so much parody out there. It is. Yeah, and so it's uh, it's it was lucky. It was. It was

a little bit of a nerve wrecking morning. But as the game went on, you saw ires want to take charge. They were just better, you know, they were just better. And I just thought at the end we all played them. Yeah, exactly. They they did what they needed to do and and they uh and they did it. So anyway, so as mentioned, we're going to have a regigiary coming in uh in a little bit. We'll we'll we'll pick his brain on on what he thinks. Uh, he saw. You know, I saw a lot of different things, you

know, coming out of the half. Not that I'm any kind of a great analyst or anything, I thought, you know, I mean, I know they're making some three pointers and stuff like that, but there's been a lot of empty possessions they you know, they their their guards and and their wing guys were missing balls, and say get the ball into Ballow, get the ball into Keishad Johnson. And that's what they did early built up a lead, and then they were able to flow and and and just take whatever

was there. I thought doing that was really important for them. Yeah, I mean, they covered us with a zone, so they kind of kept the ball outside of the first half, so we had to shoot those threes, but we had opportunities to go inside, and we missed some a lot of shots, right right. So you know, I feel like they, you know, took care of business. Absolutely. I think that's really and

that's really what you want to do. You know, if you didn't watch watch the game and you say, oh, they won by twenty, you think it was easy, it wasn't. Really it was easy in the second half. I mean when they got I think Keyshat dunked to put them up ten, and I thought, okay, they're up ten. That's a comfortable lead. But you know, still got some work to do just extended from there, and they did, you know, and I think what they led by twenty three or twenty five twenty at one point, you know, and

so all right, they did what they needed to do. All right, We've got a great show. As mentioned Reggie Geary coming up, Matt Mulebach in the second hour, Steve Rivera is going to give us a call. We're going to talk to him and the last segment so of this first hour, after we're done with Reggie, if you want to call, we've got about five minutes to take a call right now. Five two zero four one six seventy four forty you can give us a call in the last segment after

after Matt Mulebach would love to hear your thoughts. How nervous were you? How confident were you? Uh? Did you have the nineteen and a half or the twenty and a half? Right? Uh? You know? Uh, and just how your how your bracket's going. We've got I'm looking at our at our at our show bracket. We've got twenty eight entries in the bracket. So got uh even are included in that twenty eight So there's twenty six people going after that great grand prize of dinner with Steve and I Sol

all right, So we'll keep track of that as we go along. But uh, you know, this is fun. It's always fun. I know Arizona fans getting nervous and it takes a little of the fun on. But you know what, they got the game over with early, Enjoy the rest of it's a great day. Joy the rest of the day. And now you're rooting for all the good all the good teams to lose and get the hell out of the way. So but we have a time for Saturday's game. Yeah, No, the times will come out after they get all the

all the results to see who's who's in, who's playing. I would imagine Saturday, I would bet in the three o'clock range, being able to it's a West Coast game. Maybe you know the three three point thirty six o'clock time slot, but you never know, a lot of it depends on who's playing who right if you got to you know, if you've got a game where neither of the team is particularly attractive, they might move him around.

But watching the the got the games on right here, Oregon is handing it to South Carolina right now, two minutes left, they're up by thirteen. I liked what I saw again with Oregon last week, and when maybe in Arizona that wasn't a fluke. They were better that day. And Fally Dante, who we talked about yesterday, he's you know, he's a beast right now. And and and Kuznard just you know, Arizona couldn't handle him in

any of the three games that they had with them. Now there's only beat him two out of three, but he scored a ton of points on Arizona and he's doing it again today against South Carolina. So it looks like Oregon is about to move on an eleven seed against them six eleven this year, I guess yeah. So far, Yeah, that team is playing well, though there are moments. I'm in a pool where you pick eight teams, doesn't matter what eight just pick eight teams and you get points based on their

seed. A buddy of mine just text me he took and his eight teams. He took the four eleven seeds and the four twelve seeds to see how to see how that comes out. And he's he's doing pretty good right now and looking pretty good. So, uh, it's all good. The women are going to come on at they come on. I think they're on ESPN either on I think you get them on the on the website. I don't know if you'll be able to see him actually on ESPN, but they come

on at four o'clock. So when that comes on, we'll put it on in here and we'll give you updates on that. But uh, they've got a first four game in stores Connecticut against against yeah, so we'll see how that goes. Seven players, man, I know people say, well, you can play with seven players. Yeah, but you play with seven players, but you have an eighth and the ninth and the tenth. You know, the fall trouble. They said they got nothing. A couple of years

ago, we primarily the roster with seven players. But like you said, they have three other players and give them a few minutes if you get in foul trouble, if somebody's having a bad game, somebody rolls an ankle, anyone of a number of things, you know. I mean, I don't know which game it was. There was a I think it was the first USC game and the double overtime USC game. They played the two overtimes for five players. That's they had five players because two players had falled out,

you know, and they hung with it. They should have won that game. But they had five players for the whole game, and for the whole the two overtimes. That's too thin. That's a little tooth thin. So anyways, it'll be interesting to see how how a dea pulls her troops together. But you know, some of the other games in North Carolina handled Wagner pretty easily, ninety to sixty two. Michigan State, who I just thought, is not any good. I haven't been impressed by him all year long.

A nine seed up against Mississippi and eight seed beat him by eighteen points. So what he does is he scheduled a very tough schedule so they could be ready for this moment, right, Like you said, that's it, that's tom Is you know. Yeah, last year was I think it was very similar. They went on a run, yep, and then b Yu got handled by Ducaine. I actually watched a bunch of a bunch of Ducaine in the in the conference tournaments last week, and so I picked him in

everything that I had, and so that was good. But like, but I told you guys off air, I also had Mississippi State and everything that I had, so so that that was a trade off for me. But all my bad, I don't like I have any perfect And then and then Creighton handled Akrom pretty easily, seventy seven to sixty covered a twelve and a half point line. That's going to be an interesting game, yeah, Oregon, Yeah, create Oregon. That'll be That'll be a war for sure.

All Right, we're gonna take our first break. We're gonna come back. Reggie Geary will be joining us. We'll talk to him and see how he breaks down this. Arizona win tonight today eighty five sixty five against Long Beach State. So stick around for regigary make the right choice for your home when it comes to windows and doors. For more than twenty years, the Window Depot has provided the best price and biggest inventory on in stock windows and doors.

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Steve Rivera and Jacnzalez. Fox Sports fourteenth Big Day, Welcome Back Time on the Balling on Fox Sports fourteen fifty I'm Jacob Zalez. My co host Steve Rivera is in Salt Lake City. He'll be reporting in in the next segment calling in. I've got George Mortis from Showtime Cards here with me as as a guest host and sit on the board and on the phone. Got Reggie Gary, a long time NCAA tournament veteran, a Final four veteran radio analyst

for Arizona during the course of the year. He's here in town, probably doing some real work, Reggie, I guess, right, but obviously paying attention to the game. Yeah, you know, it's always interesting time of year. You know, it's a really exciting time. Obviously you're a college basketball fan or Arizona locket fan, so trying to get some work in between games and scores is always difficult. But you just love this time of year. So I you know, asking around talking to folks. People were nervous

in that first half. Arizona got behind at one point, had you know, made a nine still a run at the end of the half. Well, you know, what's going through your mind? What did you think? What did you see in the first half that was so different in the second half because it was two halves all of a sudden, you know, they squeeze out a six point lead, then they blow them out. Yeah.

I mean I was like a lot of like a lot of a lot of people here in Tussalo walkat fans where those first fifteen minutes of the first half, I'm looking around saying, you know, this is a familiar feeling, and I don't I'm not enjoying this because team not playing well, Temple being slowed, you know, Caleb Loff's still not really finding his range, and so I could see why people were anxiously nervous the first fifteen because we battled back just to get to you know, to tie that thirty five. A

lot to do with Kylon Boswell and his first half play. You know, he had four threes, He was efficient, he was aggressive, and you know he kind of was kind of keeping us in the game. We felt like, and I think we all knew we were the better team. So to Steve then go on and finished the quarter there with a six ozer run and then the second half, you know, really to blow the game wide open. It was a sense of relief for sure, but you know,

there's still some questions. I think we all have. It was great to get to win obviously, right. Well, and let's say, you know, you you mentioned Caleb Love. He you know, he struggled, and he struggled with a shot through the whole game. You know, he did a lot of really good things. You look at his line, you say, Okay, you know you got eighteen points, you know, double double, eleven rebounds, five assists. You didn't turn the ball over, but

you didn't shoot the ball very well. As a guard in a situation like that where you know, Arizona needs Caleb Love to you know, they need him to make baskets from the outside. But when you're in a game like that, you know, do you consciously say if I'm not going to make my shot, I got to do other stuff and you do other stuff.

Yeah, there's definitely some of that. Yeah, you know, like I say, if you're not making shots, well we're saying do something else, make a play defensively, get a loose ball, get to the free to line, do something else to affect this game. But you know, in my mind, it was the perfect game for Caleb Love in terms of there was a game early on he wasn't needed, you know, thankful, thankfully

for you know, Boswell's play, but he got his rhythm back. He got to see the ball go through the rim a few times, and that's all a guy like him needs, you know, he there without question, he was in the shooting swamp for the last three and a half games as not to shot the ball well, not the same energy or body language. But when a player like him sees it go through and he saw three or four three threes go through who you know, that really can energize him.

Where now he's bleeding in himself again, like okay, I'm back. Yeah, I thought he was big. And then then kylein Boswall the game that he had. I mean, that's those that's the game everybody's been waiting for him to have. He's obviously got to do it again. But you know, talk about what you saw with Kylon and you mentioned he was aggressive and he was doing things. Yeah, no, he was aggressive. I thought.

Obviously he got up to a hot start and so that was able to kind of calm his nerves and he was able to kind of you know, ease into the game and kind of feel good about where he was at. You know, he was driving, he had a beautiful lay up there. I think he actually had two in the first half. That's something he doesn't do a lot of. And so he was just in a really good place and and and that's where he need him to be. I've said it on

the radio number of times. When when Kylin, you know, has more than ten points, I think Arizona's now twenty one and one today, when he has twenty points a career high, they're won in zero. So when he's scoring and doing it efficiently or effectively, you know, now Arizona really starts going to the next level. Because we know Love and most Nights, you know, Pablo Larson, most Knights and Umo bable a double double machine.

Most Knights are going to do the thing right right, So again you know they looking at they kind of did all the things that we've all said all year long. You do all these things in one game, you're going to win and you're if you're going to do well. You know, as you mentioned Umar with another double double. Pale had his fifteen points. He didn't turn the ball over a bunch. I mean, you know, he was killing me in that game against Oregon last week, you know with the

I think he had four turnovers in the first half. He only had one today the team had nine, nine total, all those things you pulled them together. Arizone is really hard to beat. You know, they really are. And that's the formula when when they get balanced scoring and follow dominating everyone, you know, doing their thing, that's when they're playing Arizona basketball. And you know, for us not to see that in Vegas, not to see it the first fifteen minutes, definitely a pause, but it's good to

see that. You know, it's the cat that we remember. We still have an opportunity here. We're going to see it looks like a good and a BADA team. Potentially there's about six minutes ago in that game, and and the bad is a good team. And so Longbe State was the perfect first round opponent. We're we're fair by twenty honestly, you know, they were a surprise Big West champion, so you know they weren't the quality of the Arizona team. So it's great to get that win. But it's gonna

get much tougher as we go forward. Right, So, Reggie, you talk about Kylon being the X factor and when Caleb plays well, the two guards, I mean, there were really tough to beat. Do you see any similarities when you were playing with Damon Stodomeyer with with YouTube Guards on your

final four run. Yeah, you know, when I think of when I do think of when I reflect on this team to compare it to teams in the past, I do think of the ninety fourteen I when I look at it, I still look at it the three guards, because that's kind of when we made you know, famous that year with the three guards, Damus

stottr Meyer calibles than myself. I look up a little bit. I see a little bit of that with this group with Boswell Love and then Pela Larson or kind of slash kJ Lewis, and I have these three guards, you know, even Jayden Bradley, and so I go back to more of a three guard look than a two guard look. But you know, Damous star of Mars, one of the greatest players, and you have a history. You know, Boswell's a young point guard hoping to get you know, somewhere

near that level. Caleb Lovin and Calibris great comparison, both big time scores, big bodyguards can get to the ram beat it from three So I love that comparison. And then like Pelo Larson kind of your you know, you're kind of your wild card where your Swiss army knife, where he does a little bit of everything, and that kind of was my thing as well. So I really do like this team. You know, I thought in that little bit of a struggle in the first half, the key shot and his

I don't know if you call it his poison. He made a couple of three pointers, he grabbed some rebounds, got to he sort of I almost felt like he was the key to all of that. He sort of held it all together. I mean, Kylin was doing well, but you know, key shot was sort of I felt like a steadying influence. He got a couple of key rebounds. Like I said, he made a couple of three pointers. He's gonna have he's gonna have to be have that role.

You know, they're kinding on him as somebody who's had the experience got to the National Championship game. He's going to need to do that this whole time in the NCAA tournament, No, without question, And I think that's a great name that he's definitely a little bit of unsung hero, maybe doesn't get as much praise as he should, and he's been just a solid addition to

the team. What the experience, athleticism. You know, he's shooting that corner three now with more confidence over the last three four weeks than we've ever seen him do it. So his timing couldn't be better. And like you say, he's kind of that glue guy. And so yeah, was on to continue to do what they're gonna do and hopefully go on a deep run. They need their five starters to play, you know, at play well

every single time, and that happened today. Yeah, I was joking with some friends that I've said, I think Arizona fans are way more nervous about this game than Tommy Lloyd. He looked so at easy yesterday in his press conference. He's kind of like, I'm gonna let everybody worry about us getting in the final four. I just would need to win this game tomorrow, and a coach has to have that kind of settling effect. How was Loot as far as stuff like that goes, Look, let's remind I guess I

shouldn't I will. Let's remind you guys were coming off of first round lost in the year that you went to the Final four. What kind of how did he have to keep you guys calm and keep you away from thinking about that going into the ninety four tournament. Yeah, you know, I'm gonna say, Coach Olsen, that was one of one of the things that I see. I do see a lot of that and Tommy where you know,

there's the easiness to them, where there there's a likeness. You know, coach was always cool, his hair always looked good, you know what I mean, there was never any panic or doubt. And as you as you guys mentioned, a team takes on the attitude of the coach. You know. So if your coach is jumping up in the wild and complaining about calls, well guess what you're gonna be jumping up and complaining about called. Your coach has an easiness like, hey, we're we we have sound fundamentals,

We've worked hard to get to this point. I'm confident and you and competent in what we do. Then that runs off in the team and you have that effect even in even in high pressure moments. So we're fortunate that Tommy, he's very coach olson esque. And I think the guys enjoyed and I know our fans do. Okay, So now they've got this game under their belt, you know, breathing a little easier. The pressure is off about oh, we got to win this first game, and you know all the

stuff about about Princeton last year. You know what, what are the next couple of days like for these guys, Well, the next couple of hours they get to enjoy this, but wondering about being a number two seed, being areas on the basketball, They're gonna have a target on their back when they wake up in the morning, when they know who they're going to play, and it's way back to business, you know who. You know, it looks like, you know, Nevada is still up eleven here five minutes

ago. If they close it out, you know, your mind goes to the Vada and you start thinking, okay, you know this is a complete business trip. So they can enjoy this for a little bit and yeah, you can breathe a sigh relief, but you know, you know, it's still a long way to go, and you gotta get ready for the next opponent. What a practice is like, you know, the the between day, you know, how hard do you think they'll practice or how hard did

you guys practice? And what did you practice, right, how much could you learn about a team that you're going to play in that short amount of time. Yeah, and I'm sure in most staffs have done this. I'm sure Tommy and I have has done as well. You know, you're getting ready for Long Beach State, but you have one coach working on Nevada, you have the other coach working on Dayton, and you're just kind of looking

for something that not a lot. Are gonna just put put things in during the first week that you might see for that second game, just so it's not cold turkey. Just you know, the players might not even know you're doing it. You're just kind of preparing them for a style of plays we potentially might see. And so tomorrow will be, i say, a light and medium day. You're gonna come in, move around a little bit, you're gonna start walking through some plays. You're gonna do extensive video, both

of you know. You'll do a team one, you'll do position one. We're you'll be looking at you know guys you're gonna be going against. And so it is a lot of preparation. You don't want to overwhelm the guys, but at the same time they know it's a quick turnaround, and you gotta be ready to go right right were you? Were you a lot more nervous, a little more nervous or not any more nervous before tournament games and say, you know, a good regular season game, you know, maybe

a meaningful regular season game. What was the nerve factor there? Well, I mean the adrenaline high, the adrenalins high. You're going to have some nerve I thought obviously, I thought nerve were good. I always played with a sense of, uh, you know, I don't want it. I don't want to lose. I don't want to get embarrassed. You know. I always play with that edge, and that kind of was my feeling the

fire. But yeah, yeah, you know, you're gonna be talking bad and everybody's gonna be kind of bouncing off the wall because you want to get to that next game. So everyone's highten right now and they got which makes this such a fun, fun part of the year. You learn a lot about yourself and the team. Yeah yeah, so, uh, you're this team is just you know, if this team keeps showing up, we think they can go far. What you know, what do they have to avoid

on Saturday? Uh? Just it's not being their own worst enemy. You know, like say, if you know there's gonna be some tough patches, you know, during during this stretch or during this run, and you know, always a fallback on your defense, you know, don't panic. Keep that confidence that Tommy's instilled into you. Hey, we're a good team, but we're only a good team when we're doing X, Y and Z, playing hard, playing together, you know, playing focused and when it comes

to that moment, just staying together. So you know, the staff's doing great. This team has an opportunity there. There's a talent there, but they're gonna need to bring it every night. All right, Hey, Reggie, go back and get some work done if you can. I know, it's it's really hard. I mean I work from home and I'm trying to get some work done and it's really really hard. So good, appreciate it. Thanks for having me on, all right, Appreciate you joining us.

So we'll catch you late. Thank you. All right. That was Reggie Gary. Look, you know he was a ninety three, ninety four, ninety five, ninety six, got to a final four, had had the that other two versus fifteen loss with Santa Clara you know, he's he's seen what we're looking at right now, and he was he's a guard, you know. I mean, he had no good insight on Love and Boswell and what they did today. I thought, I thought that was really good,

really good perspective to see. And you sometimes wonder, like what kind of pressure these players feel, right, and I just I don't know. I know, I've talked to Bollo and he's like, just playing on McHale is tremendous. Yeah, pressure, you can only imagine these times. And in the end, they're kids, man, they are kids, and they're playing on this huge stage. It's crazy. Yeah. So, uh, Nevada

is up by six with about four minutes left on Dayton. Nevad is the ten seed, so they still got a little ways to go on Dayton's still in and so we'll see what happens there. They're going to the under four timeouts. So all right, we're gonna be back. We're gonna get Steve on the line, get his thoughts. He would have been at the Tommy press conference postgame press conference after the game. We'll see what. Yeah, maybe he'll tell us what he's gonna write about for tomorrow. So or for

later today, So stick around. Steve Rivera coming up. If you're an Arizona men's basketball fan, you know it's been successful for nearly forty years. Now take a look back at the Ludolsen era in my new book, Lessons from Loot. It was a labor of love through the eyes of twenty five former players, coaches and friends to give insight to the coach and the man who led them, competed against them, and inspired them. Twenty five chapters

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dot net. This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen to fifteen. Subscribe now to the podcast on the iHeartRadio app Just Surgery. I on the Ball talcome back down the Ball Here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm your host, Jay Gonzales. I've got our able guest host George Midas here from Showtime Cards. Sit here running the board

and on the phone. We've got Steve Rivera, who's in Salt Lake City, was at the game today and fall following up with the press conferences. So he'll he'll have a story coming out on All Sports too, So on a little bit and a story And to call um, Steve, what are you doing? Yeah? I did. My game story was at the game at the end of the game. My column has been up for about thirty minutes. You guys are interrupting my viewing of the next game. I guess

this. I left with about five minutes and it was it's about six points up now I think it's tied, right, Davids come all the way back through up by one. So Steve, Steve Albert seem kind of collapsed here in the last few minutes. Yeah. Anyways, who would be a better opponent for US? I don't think the winnable one would be Nevada, okay, but but Dayton's you know, winnable two. You guys have been here

long enough. I think the first one is always the tough one for Arizona, so you can get to that you're gonna be okay with whomever they play. That was kind of my column today. It was almost like you felt, you felt that there was a lot of tension in the air that they didn't win this game, and in fact, Tommy, I mean, in his opening statement talks about it how how it was important to everybody, not just the team, it was like the family. And then how it affects

everybody. Wow. Wow, so tells you. You know, we had Reddie break it down for us. You know what would he saw like everybody else, He was a little nervous in that first half. You don't get nervous because you don't get a crap. I know that already, so I can say that about you. But you know, what are you thinking in the first half? Well, you know what, You're correct, because I don't give a crap. But I've been through many of these enough before,

and I'm picking. What do I have to sit through another one of these? Because I've been through so many of them. I'm ticking. What do you ask again? I mean, the same questions all over again? How do you get over this? How do you deal with this? But they did well and they didn't have to worry about it. The second half. They played as well as they probably have most of the year, defensively and

offensively, but that first half not so much. Yeah, well exactly, And you know again, you know, we talked about the fact that Caleb love Well, he didn't shoot the ball well, and then that's got to be a little worried. Some he played well in everything else. He had a double double, a bunch of assists, no turnovers. I mean, you look at his game and you go, he didn't play well, But then you look at his line and you said he had to have played well

to to do what he did. You know, he's already kind of beyond his label, right, and his labels he's a shooter, score well, he hasn't done that in three of the last four games, or maybe beyond that four or five, or he's not shooting the ball well, but he's doing other things. Today he had eleven bounds. I think it was he helped with the offense. But there's no question Arizona, if they're going to go deep into the tournament, he needs to play better offensively. Well,

he's got to be able to shoot. He can't. He can't stay in the shooting funk. I think he was six of seventeen or something like that. Caleb Love can't be going six of seventeen and expect, you know, expect him to win these games. Yeah, no question. The guy, the guy that they really relied on was Kylon Klins this game for a peace of mind. He said he has heard the background noise going on with him, but he just kind of has tuned that out and now he just played.

Well, Okay, that's one game. So now you have another game Saturday, another game, maybe Thursday, another game, so you got to kind of every game is the season here and we'll see how they handle it. Yeah, well, what did you think about the way he played in terms of did he I mean looking at him and I don't know how close you are to the court, but did he have a you know, a little swagger about him? Did he look like he was about to have a good game. Yeah, he had a presence. He had a presence.

Uh, he needed to have a presence. In fact, I asked him, how did it feelhen he hit the first one? He says, it felt good, gave him some confidence, and then he was able to hit some more. But you know, he's kind of stable to kind of I think when he hit his third one or whatever it was, he pounded his chest and like he like he like he belonged. But everybody did, I mean, he said, the guy that's kind of probably got unnoticed. This

a horbamo. If you remember he had those three big blocks in the second half, and you're thinking, okay, this seven is kind of wrapped it up on the defensive end. Yeah. Yeah, well, and I mentioned Keishad Johnson, and because in the first half he hit a couple of three pointers, he was grabbing some rebounds, got some baskets. It seemed like he he sort of kind of steadied the whole thing when it didn't look like it was going so well, yeah, you're right, no question, he

played well. He hit those three corner three points in the corner, and they need him, they need him up physically because he's, you know, one of the more physical guys on the team. But you know, then Pelle didn't play well in the first half turned it on in the second. It was all about the second half, which you know, you wonder is it gonna happen? You wonder is it gonna happen? And then it happened in a blur and they scored sixteen to zero run and then you kind of

said, Okay, they got this, they got this under control. So what do you what do you what are you saying in your column? What are you talking about? What was? Well? My lead is about that how kind of Tommy started the press cover thing that this means a lot, you know, not just them to the players, the families. Uh, and they and they feel it the importance of getting through this first game.

And come on, I've been there for East Tennessee State, Santa Clara, Miamuel, Ohio, all these first round games and it's like, oh God, what is going to happen again? And what where do you go from here? Especially a team or a program like Arizona's there. They have a reputation of doing well. They also have a part, but they still not doing well and right now, last year it's about not doing well. So so they kind of exercised that now they can move on. What did the

locker room feel like? Uh? Felt better. It was still kind of quiet, still kind of low key business as usual. Uh. They put Boswell and Glallo in the press room with Tommy and the rest of the guys were there in the room. It was kind of a sedated It was not like a great, you know, we won the world game here, but uh, it's a relief, let's move on the palace that he wanted to play right away. I hear, I hear that. Uh, you know, he looked like he was struggling early, you know, miss missing layups

and uh and that type of stuff. But again then I looked at the line. The team had nine turnovers total. He only had one. And you know that was the thing that that I was really upset with him at or again in the Oregon games. He had four turnovers in the first half that game. But you know, they took care of the ball today. It looked like, right, we want but and ny could I who wouldn't think that? Because they played fast and loose to the ball on both ends.

In the mid court, they were like a like a soccer team where they couldn't get into the goal. But they played you know from the twenties. They kept throwing the ball away. That ball is a funky ball too. Used the same ball last year. It seems like the bounce is more than a normal ball. But you know, they won. The one thing, the one thing that I thought was very interesting is when they were playing close in the first half, You're thinking, I'm not sure, I'm not

sure this team has I mean, that's resolved against Oregon last week. You're thinking this might be the same team, and then they obviously turned it one well, and you know, the thing that I did think in the first half was that long we say it was running up and down the court with Arizona, and I just you know, I said to my family, said, if that's how they're gonna play, they're gonna lose because Arizona is better than them at that and that's that's ultimately what happened. I mean, think

about the teams that Arizona struggled with plotting half court. You know, you have to play offense. If you're going to try and run with Arizona, you're more likely than not going to lose. Yeah, no question. In fact, they're thinking they paying the zone, and you knew they were going to play the zone, and they couldn't play the zone the six and half because they had to catch up, and that kind of played right into Arizona fans, especially when you're hitting shots. Yeah. Yeah, So it looks

like Norton Nevada is about to lose, and they did. Wow. Dayton came back and beat him sixty three to sixty. Wow. So there you go. I picked I didn't. I think I picked the Dayton because I don't believe in Alford. I just don't. Yeah, I know to out to believe in him. So low it happened. Yep, Dayton came all the way back sixteen. I'm going to sit to the press conference see what Dayton says. But that's unbelievable because they had a huge lead. They did,

they did, So how do you see this matchup? Yeah? So now, okay, so here we go. It's physical and they're not a big S point team, so it's gonna be another difficult kind of plotting type of game with Arizona. They do have athletes. They have pretty good athletes in fact, so it should be a fun It will be just jointed for a while for Arizona. But again, if thinking hits the shots, if fall, if if Caleb can come in plenty finally get out of those funk,

I think they'll be okay. But if the back court plays well, we'll see what happens. Yeah, you know, And it's funny because I wouldn't think that Caleb would have any nerve issues with any of this, you know. And and he he didn't play great in in in in Vegas. You know, he didn't play he didn't shoot great in Vegas. He didn't shoot well. Today, it can't be nerves. Is there something? Just

something? But remember who he is a couple of years ago when he Carolin or helped Carolyn gets to the front four, he had a fantastic run at the final four. Uh and then uh and then at the final four, he didn't have a great final four. So he's streaky like that. Most of the guys like him. Uh, he gets streaky. You know, they haven't. Everyone hasn't had a shooter like him in a while. And who can shoot as many shots as go to live the shooter? You know,

I can't remember. You don't like New York Lee wasn't the speaky shooter. You know? He was on? He was on. So you just gotta thirty four games into you guys got to get used to this. You do you do and the game, the game game, Well, I know everything was kind of puckered up for this whole town today in their first half, right Jeorge, I mean absolutely, And if he's talking about you know,

the the families feel the pressure. I mean, it all leads up to this moment and when we fall behind, you can see the confidence and the players were losing it a little bit, and and it just kind of gets scary there for a moment, and uh, luckily we came back those last few minutes and took a six point lead going into half and and kind of we we gained momentum on that and stayed with it. And like you said, Babo had excellent defense that helped, and and obviously Kylon's like hey,

uh X factor. If Caleb both of them could put a game together, absolutely we could be dominant. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, So the work of the day for me, I didn't use it in the story, is exactly your work. It was puckered up for twenty minutes where I know,

I know Sid was, yeah, a little bit. But I think next game it will be interesting if especially if Dayton satan those threes early, because this is Dayon's a team that likes to shoot the three ball, so early on we'll be able to tell if we'll see the old Arizona or the Arizona we want to see. Yeah, exactly, exactly, No, you know, look, I think more than anything, folks are breathing easier because

they got the one game. They're not out in the first round. Of course, I mean they're going to think you should beat Dayton, but Dayton's gonna be a harder game, and so people will expect a harder game. And I think one of the things that upsets folks is that you have a long beach state their fifteen seed. They feel like you should come out and crush their skulls from the get go. But these teams are still pretty good,

and they're still pretty good. It doesn't work that way. You know enough to know that you know you have every game in the crind and and everybody. You know. The funny thing about is all the teams go to it. Maybe not as much as Arizona and maybe a couple of others. That first round is just like, God, just get you the first one. In the middle of the first half. North Carolina was tied with Wagner right in the middle of the first half. And and so it's not it's

not easy no matter who you're playing. And that's just people just have to deal with that, right right. All right, See, we're gonna let you go, uh, you know, go on there. Everybody can follow your stuff on all Sports. Tucson MC column was up and so my game story, all right, so we'll we'll take a look at that and then

we'll get you on the on the horn again tomorrow. Uh, and we'll you know, we'll check out when the press conferences and stuff are so, uh, but we'll we'll find you tomorrow and uh, stay out of trouble. Okay, well something all right, we'll talk to you tomorrow, all right. Steve Rivera reporting from from Salt Lake City. You know, I think you're gonna kind of get the you know, the common theme. Right they play like this where they've got all the pieces doing something and contributing like

that. They're hard to beat. Yeah, I mean they either one of these teams I don't think could keep up with Arizona, you know. So now it's state and then we'll see. And like I said, I think you know, if you're gonna play Arizona's game, then they're gonna beat you, right, all right, Well you got to do is you got to

get them out of their game, out of their element. I don't know where you know what Nevada does as far as that goes, You know, do they make you play half court offense and all that kind of stuff. But if you're gonna try and play Arizona's game, you're gonna lose by twenty like Long Beach State did today and because Arizona's just got better players than you

got. And even on it, you know, they beat you by twenty on a day when Caleb Bluff couldn't make a couldn't make a shot, right, Yeah, the first half, I mean for Long Beach State, the zone seemed to work, and then they couldn't play the zone second half and we broke it open. Yeah. So yeah, you know, well, we'll have a couple of days to figure out you know what what we're thinking. Excuse me, god, the hiccups who were thinking about about Dayton nice

comeback. They're probably they were probably a little nervous as well, but you gotta be feeling good about the fact that they were able to come back and win this game and take their shot at Arizona. You know, I mean a lot of times something like that, even if you don't play well and then win the game. Let's go back to ninety seven. Arizona played awful in its first round game against South Alabama. They were a four seed. Uh uh and and and come back and win that game and the rest is

history. You know, they were national champions. Almost forgot we were a four seed. Yeah, wow, they were for They finished fifth in the Pac ten that year. Wow, you know, it was Loot's worst finished in the Pac ten since since his first year Arizona. And then they just got on the run. They won that Kansas game and there was no stopping them after that. Uh, it was it was crazy. I mean they had a tougher time with with Providence in South Alabama than they had with Kansas,

North Carolina or Kentucky. I mean, well a Kentucky game went to overtime, but still, you know, they had a tough time in the early in the early rounds. All right, we're going to take our break. We're gonn come back. The Sids loaded up with breaking news, right said, I got lots of it, Okay, and then Matt Mulebach will join us. We'll get his take on the game, see what he thought about what what he saw with Arizona and uh, you know again and Matt

was the guard, a point guard on on four Arizona tournament teams. Uh, he was a backup point guard on the eighty eighteen that went to the final four. Wee getting some of his thoughts on his experience versus what he's seen here. So stick around. Breaking news coming up right at the top of the hour,