The best week of Anthony Dell’Orso’s Arizona career has produced some much-deserved attention from the conference.
Dell’Orso was named to the Big 12’s weekly ‘Starting Five’ list after back-to-back monster performances off the bench for the Wildcats.
The 6-foot-6 senior guard scored 22 points in wins over BYU and at Houston, setting and tying his best scoring output with the UA. He made eight shots in each game, going 6 of 13 from 3-point range, and in Saturday’s win at Houston added a career-high four steals in 34 minutes.
Advertisement
Dell’Orso had been mired in a lengthy slump before the past week, with only 62 points and eight 3s in the first Big 12 games. But UA coach Tommy Lloyd never lost faith in him.
“Delly, he’s a spitfire,” Lloyd said in Houston. “I don’t know how many of you guys know Aussies, but he’s got some you know what to them. He has a little bit of that, and it wasn’t going his way for a good stretch there, and he hung with it. And our guys hung with him and our staff hung with him and I just told Delly, just hang in there, it’s coming. If there’s little adjustments we have to make we’ll see if we can figure them out, but we trust you and we believe in you and I don’t see any scenario where you don’t get opportunities.
“Our media was getting a little worried back home and I just kept telling them, guys, Delly is going to be at his best when we need him at his best. And I think you’ve seen that the last two games.”
Dell’Orso has been the leading scorer in both games since freshman forward Koa Peat had to sit with a strained leg muscle. He’s also been the main bench contributor with Tobe Awaka in the starting lineup and Dwayne Aristode sidelined with an illness.
