Who turned the calendar to March? The Madness has unofficially begun.
Arizona wasn’t immune to one of the craziest days in college basketball as it fell 79-63 to Colorado on Saturday night.
Arizona fell to 25-3 overall and 15-2 in the Pac-12.
All night – and day – the college basketball so-called powers fell one, by one, by one .. times seven … seven top 10 teams fell in what could now be known as the Saturday massacre.
No. 1 Gonzaga.
No. 2 Arizona.
No. 3 Auburn.
No. 4 Purdue.
No. 5 Kansas.
No. 6 Kentucky.
No. 9 Texas Tech.
It’s the first time the top six teams have lost in the same day.
Like a line of dominoes all came tumbling down.
For Arizona, riding a nine-game win streak, it was all about the numbers. It got killed by the numbers.
Arizona was beat 54-26 in points in the paint.
Arizona had more turnovers than assists, 16-11.
Arizona shot just 39 percent to Colorado’s 49 percent. The Buffaloes shot 65 percent in the all-important second half, one where Arizona was outscored 47-26.
“We got beat by a better team that probably wanted it a little bit more than we did today and played a little bit harder,” Lloyd said told reporters in Boulder, Colorado.
Lloyd didn’t participate in his postgame show. Host Brian Jeffries said it would have been too difficult for Lloyd to get courtside given the chaos on the court after Colorado’s win.
Instead, Lloyd spoke to the media at the arena.
Saturday the numbers didn’t lie. Colorado turned Arizona’s turnovers into 21 points. It killed Arizona on rebounds. It did everything – and more – than what it couldn’t do against Arizona State on Thursday when it was upset.
““You knew they were going to play better,” Lloyd said. “Their program has had a lot of success, has a successful coach, he’s got a ton of pride and he really challenged them and they were great.”
In fact, Colorado looked like the best team in the conference while Arizona didn’t. Nothing seemed to go right in the second half and it surely didn’t in the end when the Buffaloes went o a 9-0 run deep into the second half to all but pull away. Arizona is now 2-7 in Colorado since the Buffaloes joined the Pac-12.
“They were way more physical than us,” Lloyd said. “They kind of got the game on their terms once they got the lead in the second half and were kind of able to control the tempo and everything.”
And Arizona, a team that has been able to overcome most everything this season, couldn’t must much. How it responds will be telling. Arizona faces USC on Tuesday night in Los Angeles.
“We gotta take this one to the chest and remember that,” said UA’s Justin Kier. “Remember all those fans running on the court, and take that as a challenge to not let that happen again. We’re gonna be fine. We’re a very competitive team, so we hate losing, no matter what we’re gonna fight to the end, so we’re gonna bounce back.”
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