Pelle Larsson has been a glue guy for Arizona, but getting in foul trouble has been one of his problems during his career.
Larsson has been a proficient charge taker during his college career and he has found himself on the wrong side of the calls and finding himself in early foul trouble. Tommy Lloyd said Larsson is too important to the team to be sitting on the bench with foul trouble.
Two weeks ago against Michigan State, Larsson fouled out after only playing 19 minutes. In Saturday’s 98-73 win over Wisconsin he flirted with foul trouble, picking up his second at the 11:52 mark of the first half. Lloyd had to make a decision whether to leave him on the bench for an extended period of time or to play his senior.
Lloyd decided to only leave him on the bench for about four minutes before substituting him back in. During the rest of the first half, Larsson played sound defense without picking up a third foul and scored five points with two assists and helped spark a 20-2 UA run.
“I trust Pelle, I played him in the first half with two fouls and he was a huge part of our run towards the end of that first half.” Lloyd said.
Larsson had his career high in points (21) and finished with four rebounds and four assists.
“Pelle is one of these guys, man,” Lloyd said. “He’s gonna give you what it takes to win and he’s a really good player who’s coming into his own. I know how talented he is and I think he’s one of the better wings in the country without dispute. And I think people are gonna start to see that now over the course of this season.”
Larsson made all six of his field goals including four from behind the arc.
“I actually made a joke to one of our managers that show felt good after one shot and actually should stop, not even warm up,” Larsson said.
After the game, Wisconsin’s head coach gave credit to Larsson.
“When Larsson makes threes, it changes what you can do defensively.” Greg Gard said.