It was the first Big 12 away game for the men’s basketball team, and the Wildcats narrowly won 72-67 against Cincinnati. Arizona is now 2-0 in Big 12 play. The road trip continues Tuesday with the game against West Virginia.

You can find our game summary here Here. There’s something below Tommy Lloyd and forward Henri Veesaar And Carter Bryant had to say afterwards:

Lloyd on the differences in finish between Cincinnati and UCLA: The biggest situation is we found a way and our guys somehow persevered. We had a big lead and this has happened to us before. This year, this happened a few weeks ago at UCLA. We have a lead of 13 and the games are going to be tough, these other teams are good, they are talented. They increase the pressure. I think our boys held up well. The sales have crushed us. The offensive rebound hurt us. Then KJ Lewis made two amazing drive plays where he didn’t have much at the end, he stood on both feet, pivoted, pivoted and just found a way to score in two baskets. We didn’t do that against UCLA. We couldn’t hold on to this lead any longer and the game ended in a draw. I’m like, come on, we have to find a way around this. These guys deserve it. They are great and it will be a defining moment for our season.

What happened in the final moments of the game: We sort of created something in the time off that we had never done before. This allowed Jaden Bradley to drive downhill and make a layup. The play wasn’t necessarily intended for that, but that was one of the options and he made a layup. I think when the game was tied we had a two point lead and I think we had to stop and from then on, possession by possession so to speak, we were able to find a way.

About Carter Bryant’s appearance: Carter is really making progress and the one thing about Carter, as I told him, is that he checks two boxes that are really hard to check. He is an elite talent and he has an elite character. The game will come to him, the refinement will come, the experience will come. The progress he has made over the last month has been groundbreaking for us and I am really proud of him. If you’re someone of Carter’s stature and come to a place outside of Arizona, the expectations might be a little unrealistic. Sometimes things work out right away for first-year students. A lot of times that’s not the case and you just stick with it and he sticks with it. He has continued to improve, he has an amazing attitude. He’s five for five, three for three. He should have made that other free throw. He had a perfect night. Super proud of him, super proud of him and the person he is.

On Caleb Love’s shooting: They are good defenders. Cincinnati is a great defensive team and we knew that coming in. We knew they were going to pay a lot of attention to Caleb and really make it difficult for him to touch the ball. I thought he had a few good looks and a few drives that were 50/50 fouls that maybe he could have gotten, but that wasn’t the case. I know we ran an out-of-bounds play on him at the end, he got stripped at the top of the key, three that kind of thwarted the game that went to the end. These are shots he should take. He’s a winner. Caleb is someone I love and I love fighting with him and I love that. Sometimes people might not be there for him, guess what? We love the guy and will ride with him every day.

On trying to get away with a 19 point lead: I hope you know that you never know, right? These games are tough and you hope. Of course it’s a great atmosphere if you get there before tip and every place is full, it will be special. I thought for 30 minutes that we did an incredible job of keeping the crowd really quiet, and then maybe we got a little tired. The sense of urgency increased a little bit, there were some turnovers, and they got out in transition and got back into the game. We must continue to pay attention to this. It’s hard to get out to a 19-point lead in a place like Cincinnati, so we have to take that in our pockets and know we can do it. The next question is: How do you do this? I think we can grow there.

How Trey Townsend and Anthony Dell’Orso adapted to expectations in Arizona: Well, they were great. I mean, they’re first class individuals, first class guys. One of the things we try to spend a lot of time on is that some of these guys won’t be in Arizona for three, four or five years. We really do the best we can by educating them about the history and legacy of Arizona basketball, the former players, the great teams and the difficult moments. We spend a lot of time talking about it. There are a lot of conversations between former and current players, they have been great and help us a lot. Everyone who came onto the pitch today really contributed, making it a total team effort.

On Veesaar playing more minutes: The only indication of this team is how the game is going. Henri is getting better and better and Henri knows it. I have been with him through thick and thin and have always been a big fan of Henry Veesaar. He and I always had great conversations. And guess what? Finally he gets his chance. He gains confidence and so does Carter. Game confidence is a big thing to have confidence in games. You get better in practice, you get better in practice, but the ability to do it in games is what really cements it. I think these guys are taking the next steps as players and I’m looking forward to it. They know that tomorrow I’ll probably film three or four things that they can do better, and that’s just the way we work.

On Tobe Awaka struggling in the game: He had a couple of hard fouls, you know, the intentional foul or the flagrant foul, and he had another play where he threw the guy in the lane. Henri comes in there, I think Henri was plus 20. That’s important, you know. I don’t know the statistics at the time of the game, but you can feel him as a coach and as the man who is over 20 and helps you move the ball and deal with the pressure. You kind of fit this guy. Other days it might be Tobe, but Tobe just keeps getting better and better. His feel for the game and his understanding of what we want to achieve are also getting better every day.

On Love and Jaden Bradley playing more minutes: There’s one thing I’m learning about the Big 12 that I don’t think we did early on. Since the year we were founded, they have had longer breaks. These timeouts last approximately three minutes against an opponent. Honestly, it’s like the NCAA tournament. Their guys are resting and there are no back-to-back games. There isn’t a game between games very often. I think you feel comfortable giving some of your guys more minutes.

Lloyd on the importance of equipment manager Brian Brigger: I’m just saying this and probably getting a little emotional. Brian Brigger, that’s a great guy. This guy, he’s a Xavier guy, so he doesn’t like the Cincinnati guys, but what he’s been a part of our program, and he came before I was there, that’s pretty special. Today we need to examine what we told our boys in more detail. Think Brian Brigger. The passion that he brings, and that’s our equipment manager, the passion that he brings every day, the professionalism that he brings to his job, the team player that he is, that says something about our culture and our guys. I think, you know, the easiest guy to pick up. I think they picked him up in the locker room after the game. I thought we might have to wheelbarrow him out, but they picked him up, and hey, I mean, Brian Brigger, someone we love. Our love for him helped us dig a little deeper today. I know coaches don’t usually talk about an equipment manager first at a press conference, but this guy is something different. He is something special.

Veesaar on reacting to losing the 19-point lead: We just knew we had to prevail here. Of course we had the UCLA game, so we already had experience from the season. In this game we just knew we had to win comfortably and progress game by game.

Bryant on his reaction to losing the 19-point lead: Coach Lloyd said it was just one we had to get. We struggled with it. We started building. We trusted our game plan. We executed everything, not necessarily to the tee, but as good as you could hope for given the environment and playing against such a great defensive team.

Bryant on his current role on the team: I’m only ready when my number is gone. I think that myself and everyone else who played made a great contribution, just as we needed. We know it’s going to be someone’s night every night because we have such great players and we work at it every day. I see all these guys in the gym every day, so I don’t think it’s necessarily because of the position or where I’m at. I think it’s just a game-to-game thing.