Before he takes the Arizona men's basketball team nearly halfway around the world for an exhibition tour of Lithuania, UA coach Tommy Lloyd took a long step in a different direction.
All the way to Japan, that is.
Lloyd briefly left the Wildcats to travel to Nagoya, Japan, to discuss "culture and strategy" as part of a Black Samurai basketball summit organized by his former Gonzaga pupil, Clippers forward Rui Hachimura.
Lloyd was scheduled to appear in Nagoya on Friday and then return over the weekend to Tucson, where the Wildcats have been preparing to leave for Lithuania next week.
Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd leads his team through summer basketball practice inside Richard Jefferson Gymnasium, July 31.
Black Samurai is the nickname and personal brand of Hachimura, who played for Gonzaga between 2016-17 and 2018-19, when Lloyd was an assistant coach for the Zags. The two began building a close relationship once Lloyd began recruiting Hachimura out of Japan in 2014.
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"We could see he had a ton of potential, and we had a good feeling about him as a person," Lloyd said in a 2020 Gonzaga story. "Rui was really motivated to come to America."
Developing into a first-team all-American as a junior in 2018-19, Hachimura became the ninth overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft and has played seven seasons in the NBA. He opted to move from the Lakers to the Clippers last month as a free agent.
Contact sports reporter Bruce Pascoe at bpascoe@tucson.com. On X(Twitter): @brucepascoe
Bruce Pascoe
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