What happened in Vegas stayed in Vegas for Arizona after a season opening loss to UCLA. The Wildcats returned to Tucson and got their first win of the 2026-27 in a 104-84 win over Cal Poly.
The freshman duo of Caleb Holt and Cameron Holmes combined for 34 points alongside a career-high 30 points from Motiejus Krivas. While it was not always pretty, Arizona got the job done and is back in the win column for the first time since the Elite Eight win over Purdue in March.
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Here is what head coach Tommy Lloyd, Holt and Holmes had to say following the win over Cal Poly:
Lloyd on the win: “Obviously we’re happy to get the win, and we don’t make light of any win. I thought Cal Poly presented a lot of challenges with the relentlessness they played with. When you’re willing to shoot that many threes from that many positions, they can stack up on you. Obviously, number 10 had a heck of a game, so I was impressed with how they played. For our guys, we’re still a team trying to figure it out a little bit. There’s hopefully some growth today, but I think all these experiences are kind of stacking, and hopefully provide a great foundation of learning. I know I always talk about that with you guys, but that’s really where my mind’s at. How do we make that next jump and so hopefully today was a step forward.”
On if there was an emphasis to rebound: “I think I’ve been on them like pretty consistently for a while, and obviously I wasn’t good enough being on them, or didn’t do a good enough job leading up to that UCLA game. So obviously, we want to be a team that’s great in the hustle areas and loose balls and rebounds. I know everyone’s focused on everything else, but I mean, loose balls and rebounding are what help you get stops and prevent the team from scoring, and they help you get extra possessions and help you score. So, like, it’s really kind of that simple sometimes. It seems to be a little bit of a mentality, and sometimes you feel like it’s an epidemic, like we just can’t get a loose ball, so we gotta like we gotta grow there.”
On what he wants to get from his team in a game like this: “I think for us right now, probably all the above. We’re just figuring it out, which is awesome. We’ve been together for a while and obviously we did stuff in the summer, and it’s so crazy sometimes how you think, oh, we’re good, we’ve been together, we got to figure it out, and then you go kind of get in these real games and all of a sudden it just doesn’t feel the same. When you’re playing, you’re always fighting for your rhythm, fighting for that feeling of playing good basketball, and you kind of know what it is, but it’s hard to describe. Once you capture it, you don’t get to keep it forever. It kind of ebbs and flows, comes and goes. You just got to find ways to get in that whatever, for lack of a better word, zone more often. I think that’s what we’re trying to figure out: what it feels like to get there, and to get there collectively as a group. What an awesome challenge.”
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On if the first two games have a similar feeling to the first two games from the Lithuania trip: “Losses suck, and I didn’t sleep good in Lithuania after a loss. I didn’t sleep good when we got back from Vegas. So yeah, I was pretty tired till today. It takes a lot out of you, and you get in a mode where you’re you’re just trying to figure it out and and making it as simple as you can for the guys, so you can actually create like achievable things, not just emotional outburst, and so that’s how we’re trying to handle it. We had some conversations, we did a walkthrough. Kind of like a light day on Tuesday, and some of the guys that didn’t play much practiced a little bit, and then yesterday we did kind of a normal practice and got after it a little bit, and even today maybe in shoot around we got after it a little bit more than normally we do on game days. We’re trying to fight for our identity right now, and so I feel like we gotta keep at it, keep at it, keep at it, and then that feeling is going to come.”
On Cameron Holmes’ performance: “Obviously, I was happy to see Cam have some success. He’s an awesome kid. He’s a good basketball player. I was happy to see him have some success. Then there’s a lot of things we can build on. I hope defensively he kind of settles in and kind of quits making up his own rules. It looks like he’s making up his own rules out there, kind of hustling around. It’s not from a lack of effort. It’s just we gotta understand we have a plan for a reason. When you’re at this level of basketball, if you make a mistake, two passes later a guy might get an open three, and that’s kind of what happened on some of those situations. So it’s getting that experience and learning from it. It’s really important to build confidence while you’re doing that. So hopefully his confidence takes a little bit of a jump today, because he’s going to be a really important player for us this season.”
On the freshman gaining more confidence: “It matters. They’re freshmen, so no matter how you slice and dice it, it’s their second official game at this level. There’s a lot of positive things to build on, and I’m sure there’s going to be a few questionable decisions that we can learn from as well. So you know, it’s important you learn from both.”
On what he saw from Ugnius Jarusevicius and Evan Otten and what he wants to see moving forward: “I’m kind of waiting for one of them to kind of step up, and we got to be there for them. Evan got a few rebounds on the stat sheet, which is nice, but you’re just looking for them to kind of figure out what their niche is going to be, and you can kind of give them some ideas. I just always feel it’s so much more effective when the player can kind of get over that hump themselves, and not that we’re not isolating them, we’re helping them and we’re working with them, we’re coaching them, but I just kind of want their their Arizona moment to come because everyone’s gonna have that moment. When you have that moment, man, your sense of belonging really jumps, and once that sense of belonging jumps, it’s amazing how other things can fall into place. It’s not easy to get. I wish there was a magic wand I could just tap somebody on the hand and give that to them. It’s not how it works. You kind of have to go through it, and it’s hard and it’s painful sometimes to get there. So those are two guys going through it, and we’re gonna keep fighting for them, and hopefully there’s a breakthrough.”
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On if there are similarities between this year’s team and the 2024-25 team: “I don’t know. We’re so new into it. I wish guys I could sit here and say, yeah, I knew we were in this position and I knew this was how it’s gonna be, but I didn’t, because I’m not gonna lie to you, I didn’t know. I know we have a good team, and I knew there’d be some figuring it out, but I didn’t know exactly how it’s going to feel. So right now, I can only coach to what I’m seeing, and so I’m just trying to stay in the moment myself, and make sure everyone has a good day off tomorrow, and then we need to spend some time as a staff, kind of figuring out what we want the next push to be, and then we need to have a really good Saturday and Sunday. I mean that’s exactly where my head’s at right now, and I’m looking forward to a day off tomorrow, and hopefully we get a great win in football, and then Saturday I can’t wait to get in that locker room with the team and get back at it.”
On the fine line of taking risks on defense: “You always want to give your players the freedom to make decisions, and taking a risk is making a decision. You just want there to be a little discipline attached to it, because if I have I get these guys so wound tight that they’re afraid to make a decision, now you’re conservative, it’s the opposite. So it’s just really this fine line, you got to be really calculated with the decisions you make. What’s the old generic adage we say in sports, you gotta make a play, you know what I mean. You gotta make sure when you take that calculated risk you can make a positive play for your team otherwise it’s just fake hustle and so it’s maybe kind of identifying some of that, and some of it’s guys like trying hard, wanting to make a play to get themselves going. We probably got to be a little smarter with some of the decisions, and make sure we’re getting some better results from those decisions.”
On his thoughts with the RJ Godfrey situation: “I’m gonna be honest with you. The first time I heard of it was after the game. Nate told me. So I’m being honest with you. I have no comment on it because I don’t really know what I’m commenting on. Secondly, like I’m not pushing any buttons. I guess we’ll learn more, and I’ll learn more tonight and into tomorrow. I don’t even know the specifics or ins and outs of anything. I’m being honest.”
Holt on if the coaches talk to him about slowing down his game: “The coaches harp on breathing. First thing I got here was working on breathing. Staying calm in tough moments, just being poised. One thing I do work on a lot in my workouts is my pace, and that’s one thing I’ve been striving to work on over the course of the season.”
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On if it’s hard to change a game pace that he’s been playing with his whole career: “Coming up, I’ve always been stronger and bigger than everyone. Just using power to get my way. I know as I get to the higher level, that’s not going to be the case. So a lot of pace and ball fakes and playing more under control.”
On being able to score 20+ points without shooting a three: “I’ll just say, that’s just me going out there and hooping without even thinking. I didn’t even attempt a three, so that just shows I feel like I can do a lot more than what I’m showing right now. It’s just however the game was flowing. I wanted to shoot a three, I pumped faked, guy flew right past me. The goal was right there. So you know I didn’t settle for a three just because I haven’t got one up. I’m gonna take good shots, and when those threes come, I’m gonna knock them down.”
On what the coaches say on taking calculated risks on defense: “We are a very aggressive team, and we want to go for a lot of steals. I made a few mistakes on taking a big risk, but he wants us to be smart while being aggressive. So you just got to go back to the drawing board, and I just got to know when to take those risks and when not to.”
On the process of figuring out the team’s identity: “Like Coach has been saying, it’s gonna take some time. I feel like with this group we all love each other, and we all came here from probably different schools. Only returners are Mo and Ivan. So our first couple games, it’s not gonna be all pretty. We all love each other and want the best for each other. So we’re gonna find a way to be even more connected than we are. We get better every day.”
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On the importance of rebounding: “I wanted to emphasize rebounding tonight. I feel like I didn’t rebound how I wanted to in the last game, so I just wanted to come out, do what I do. The biggest thing Coach Tommy said at Arizona is the standard, and the standard is toughness, rebounding, and finishing at the basket, so I just want to meet that standard and raise it as the season goes on.”
On if Godfrey is still engaged with the team despite being ineligible: “RJ is, he just feels like he’s on the floor, even though he’s just practicing. He’s gonna play. We’re real confident he’s playing sooner than later. So, I feel like when RJ gets on the floor, it won’t be like he missed a beat.”
On playing a real game in McKale: “It was lit. For a town to come out at 8:30 at night, probably got work tomorrow, leaving the arena at 11. It was like none other. There’s some dedicated fans. We love them, and I’m gonna do everything I can to get them on their feet every time they come out here.”
Holmes on hitting his first shot and going on a scoring run: “it felt great. My teammates prior to the UCLA game, they were just telling me to be confident in my shot. When I knocked it down, it felt amazing to finally hit one, and know that all the work that I put in is, it’s working. My teammates always have my back. It felt great.”
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On how it felt from the UCLA game to Cal Poly: “It felt a little different, but the same goals at hand. I feel like we were still trying to go out there and just win, clean up our mistakes. Coach has the highest standards for us, so coming out today, I didn’t really care about how many points I scored. I just care about collectively as a group us getting better minute by minute.”
On playing with a guy like Motiejus Krivas: “It’s amazing. Mo is an amazing individual on and off the court. I feel like just the way he carries himself off the court is just a testimony to the work that he puts in. I feel like in high school I didn’t really have a big man to play with, so now fast forward to college, playing with a big man that is as skilled as him, and seeing the work that he puts in is amazing. It’s like a fresh breath of air. Just going out there, being able to play with a skilled big guy, and that can protect the rim, and just wants to win at all costs. So it’s amazing.”
On how the dynamics would change if Godfrey becomes eligible: “Well, I mean RJ as an individual himself already adds so much joy and spirit to the locker room. He’s a guy that you want on your roster if you’re a coach. He’s a guy that’s gonna do the dirty work. RJ is such a high level individual. I feel like being around him, I know Caleb could say as well, I feel like it’s brought us up to be better human beings. RJ is just a great person on and off the court.”
On playing a real game in McKale: “It definitely feels great. The city of Tucson loves basketball. Every time we step into McKale, you know, it just shows how much they love us, and like Caleb said, it just makes us want to push 10 harder every time we step out on the court.”
