Freshman Caleb Holt leads Arizona to 85-54 win over Eastern Washington in final tuneup

Four other Wildcats scored in double figures, with center Motiejus Krivas collecting 12 points and eight rebounds, while Arizona shot 55% from the field and outrebounded the Eagles of the Big Sky Conference 44-30.

Arizona turned the ball over 20 times, but the Eagles scored only 11 points off them - while the Wildcats turned 19 Eastern Washington turnovers into 23 points.

But, regardless, 20 turnovers was a bit much for UA coach Tommy Lloyd to handle. He said the Wildcats have been "a little disjointed" in practices lately, in part because they were stacking up off days to make sure they didn't go over NCAA practice limits.

In what Lloyd said was particularly "tough sledding," Holt had five turnovers, forward Ivan Kharchenkov and point guard Derek Dixon had four each.

"I just thought it was guys being really soft and maybe a little bit selfish," Lloyd said. "I mean, we did things today that I was just like... you remember those Mad Lib books? They were just kind of filling in their own words."

But the fast-moving Holt made up for one of his turnovers. Late in the first half, with Arizona already having gone on an 18-2 run that essentially gave the Wildcats control of the game, Holt drove in for a layup, then stole the Eagles' inbounds pass, and flipped the ball  back in for what was essentially a four-point play.

The Wildcats were never seriously threatened throughout Friday night's game,  building a 50-26 lead at halftime before expanding it in the first half while Lloyd continued to experiment with his rotation.

While reserve center Endi Aiyamenkhue has been out with an undisclosed injury, and forward RJ Godfrey remains ineligible, Lloyd used all 11 of his available scholarship players. Lloyd again started projected reserve Bryce James at shooting guard while also playing reserve centers Evan Otten and Ugnius Jarusevicius together at one point in the second half and deployed several walk-ons.

Lloyd has been going with a smaller lineup featuring Kharchenkov at power forward without Godfrey, but on Friday tried experimenting, somewhat unsuccessfully, with the bigger lineup featuring Jarusevicius and Otten.

"That wasn't very pretty today," Lloyd said. "I didn't sit there and think,`oh, that's great. Let's keep building on that.' Those guys, I mean, here's the deal: If they want to do that, they've got to make it obvious for me. And the way they make it obvious for me is they go in there and kick ass."

The Wildcats remain without Godfrey because of a stay against the preliminary injunction he received in his Georgia lawsuit that initially allowed him to play.

Austin Massey of the Texas Tech-focused Scarlet and Black Insider reported earlier Friday that oral arguments for the five-for-five appeal in the Georgia case are not scheduled until Jan. 12, and that plaintiffs have been considering other avenues. He also posted earlier that Texas Tech’s Jamichael Stillwell is withdrawing from the Georgia lawsuit.  

However,  as he did Wednesday at Big 12 media days, Lloyd said the possibility of Godfrey jumping to a Pima County legal avenue is still uncertain at this point.

"We're not there with any definitive decisions, but I know we're definitely looking at options," Lloyd said. "I just don't have a a good option to give you guys right now that would be worthy of you printing."

Meanwhile, UA was able to officially add its fifth assistant coach, Kevin Pangos, on Friday after about a month of hiring hurdles. A Canadian citizen, Pangos had to obtain a work visa in the United States and then go through UA’s hiring process, being cleared earlier Friday.

"Kevin and I have a long history together, and it's something he and I have been talking about for a while," Lloyd said. "I was lucky enough to recruit Kevin, he came to Gonzaga, and obviously had a great career there, and went overseas and even had a short stint in the NBA.

"I hate the word overachieve, but he got everything out of his potential he could. He's a great student of the game and a great worker, and I think he has a lot of potential as a coach."