BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 13, 2025

Tommy Lloyd

Henri Veesaar

Trey Townsend

T-Mobile Center

Arizona Wildcats

Postgame Press Conference

Arizona 88, Kansas 77

THE MODERATOR: Joining us on the dais is Arizona Head Coach Tommy Lloyd, he is joined by Trey Townsend and Henri Veesaar. Coach?

TOMMY LLOYD: Just really proud our guys. Obviously, you know, we have had -- this game we've really looked forward to playing it since last Saturday. We had an awesome introduction to the Big 12 in Lawrence, Kansas, and it was a similar game today and they kinda made the run at the end.

It kind of left a bad taste in our mouth, but by no means does that mean that just because you lost the last one the next one is going to be given to you. So our guys did a great job preparing and making it happen, and proud of our guys overall.

This has been a resilient group. We've had some tough days, but we're here for it, so I'm really proud of how the guys came out and played today.

Q. Coach, after the game in Lawrence on Saturday, you summed it up by saying there was a lot of selfish basketball. Out there tonight it looked completely different. Talk to me about the night and day from last Saturday.

TOMMY LLOYD: I don't know if there was a lot of selfish. Maybe I said that. That's a coach in the heat of the moment. I just thought we could make some better decisions.

When we have certainties and one of our certainties has always been fundamentals, we can count on fundamentals and IQ, it's a game-changer for us. Sometimes those will get lost in maybe hunting too aggressively, hunting shots, or getting in the paint and not playing on two feet.

I thought our guys did a good job of settling in today. Trey, for instance, had a couple of -- I was telling him, I think you can drive the ball on these guys. He took a three and it was wide open, and then I told him that. It wasn't a bad shot, but then the next possession I think in the first half he drove it and he had a dunk attempt.

That's when him and Adams kind of met at the rim. I think once he saw that and settled in played on two feet he was just a difference maker.

So when we can make those kind of adjustments it's a game changer for us.

Q. Tommy, what went into the decision to flip-flop these two guys in the starting lineup? Did you have any idea it would play out the way it did?

TOMMY LLOYD: Listen, I'm not Nostra-Thomas. Isn't that what you called me before? I'm just a coach. I just felt like maybe it would be the right move today. Trey has been trending in the right direction and Trey is a first-class guy.

I mean, last year he's the mid-main National Player of the Year. He comes to Arizona, has some success, but then has some struggle. I moved the lineup around and he was nothing but classy the whole time. I felt like he was trending in the right direction and I felt it was the right move.

And Henri, I asked Henri about it a couple days ago and he totally easily said, Coach, I'm okay with anything. I don't care what you do. You do whatever you think is best for the team. I will start. I will come off the bench. I will be the 8th guy, the 9th guy, the 6th guy, whatever you want me to be.

We have guys that understand it takes a group and more than just a starting five.

Q. Coach, talk about your bench scoring. Henri and the guys had 46 points on the bench and 45 points in the paint for you guys.

TOMMY LLOYD: Well, we make no bones about it. We don't mind playing games in the paint. It's kinda how we're built. And we like throwing in a few threes here and there, too. But we have no problem, you know, playing in the paint.

I think if you look at the guys coming off the bench today for us, you know, you had -- obviously Carter Bryant is an elite talent. You have Henri who has gained experience and really talented. And you have KJ Lewis who is a game-changer with his energy and effort.

Those are three really good players. When you can bring guys like that off your bench and have a team that settles into executing a game plan with poise, I think that's a good formula, and these guys showed something tonight.

Q. Coach, how much was your game plan and strategy going into tonight affected knowing that Kansas had gone 45 minutes the night before?

TOMMY LLOYD: You can talk yourself into everything but, you know, I saw that some of their players played a lot of minutes.

The thing to me, you know, that I thought was -- I wasn't worried about fatigue, but I was like, how can they play 38 and 45 minutes and not be in foul trouble? We've got to play more aggressive and get these dudes in foul trouble.

So that was more my approach, is I wanted to limit their minutes with foul trouble. And, hey, that's why you play a 20-game regular season, and fortunately for our guys we earned the double bye. When you earn something like that, hopefully you can take advantage of it. I'm sure it helped us a little bit today.

Q. Coach, talk about your Texas Tech tomorrow night.

TOMMY LLOYD: They're one of the most disciplined teams in the country. They know what they want to do and they're able to execute it with a lot of certainty. When they make a plan they have a conviction to stick with it and it's really impressive.

Obviously they're playing with great confidence. They're shooting the ball well. They have two guys that are match-up problems, and they're big guys, their 4 and their 5.

It's just a great team and they're having a great season. Guys, talk to these guys. I'm boring. They were the guys out there performing today. I was just able to enjoy the show.

Q. I was going to ask all three of you about the difference in the defense inside than five days ago. What was the difference?

TREY TOWNSEND: I mean, obviously just having played them we had a sense of how they did things offensively. We thought we had a great game plan there; obviously didn't go our way. Coach Murph led the scout and we made some changes and we really stuck to that plan today. We didn't go off, do our own thing, what is players thought was best.

The coaches laid out a great plan for us. And I felt we did a great job executing it today.

HENRI VEESAAR: I agree with what Trey said. Like we just followed the plan. We just had played them so we knew their tendencies. I think we concentrated all week playing for them -- against them, and at their place we left with a bad taste in our mouth like Coach said before, and we definitely wanted to play against them and execute the plan the way we needed to.

Q. Players, you closed the game out 18-8, I think. What did you think your performance that stretch and what dunk of Kansas defense overall?

TREY TOWNSEND: I mean, I felt it was a great basketball game. It was very physical and it comes down to the plan that we had going into it. For me trying to do the best I can to lead through those moments because this is my last postseason playing college basketball, I don't have any eligibility left after this year.

So really locking in on playing every game like it's the last time that I'm going to step on to the court and I'm trying to pass it on to these guys so they can play with that mindset. It's winner go home and we executed that game plan and played with our hearts down the stretch.

HENRI VEESAAR: The guards did a great job getting through the ball screens and helping us bigs. We were able to recover quicker, and at the end of the game that made a huge difference for us.

Q. Henri, how did you keep up your momentum going into the second half to continue scoring?

HENRI VEESAAR: My teammates put me in the right spot to score. They made easy passes, I got easy layups, easy shots. They got me the ball down low, I got to the paint, and then I think playing off two feet helped me, definitely.

TOMMY LLOYD: I don't know if the shots were easy, but I thought Henri did a great job with his physicality and finishing, and that's something we have been stressing and those were tough finishes. Henri deserves a lot of credit for finding a way to stay on balance and get it up and in.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you Coach.