Arizona’s good – well, almost everything good – fortune finally ran out on Tuesday night in Manhattan, Kansas.
It’s shooting, ball-handling, poise and precision – all went down in a 73-70 loss to the host Kansas State.
“We didn’t play good enough or smart enough to win on the road,” Tommy Lloyd said after the game in Manhattan.
Arizona, a team that was considered the hottest in the country going in having won 13 of 14 games and six in a row, faced KSU a team that was on the rise after a five-game win streak.
But, oh, what playing on the road is in the Big 12. Arizona fell for the second time on the road in the conference, falling to 11-2 overall in the conference and now one game behind league leading Houston. The Cougars come into McKale Center on Saturday.
But first, the postmortem of Tuesday night, where Arizona had 17 turnovers, which led to 23 KSU points.
“They were handy and aggressive and we didn’t play strong enough with the ball,” Lloyd told reporters at the game. “We had some problems with that earlier in the season and we did a good job addressing it but we reverted a bit.”
That wasn’t good.
And UA shooting 2 for 22 from beyond the 3-point line for its worst shooting percentage since – hell, they painted the line on the court. The bottom fell out because the lid wasn’t open.
Wait, that wasn’t good either for Arizona. Lloyd said “it was one of those nights” but he’s not a guy who thinks the only way we win is, we make shots. Does it make it easier? For sure. It’s an excuse too easy to use.”
He said on the radio:
“Maybe guys are starting to get a little tired,” Lloyd said. “I didn’t realize there were only three made 3s made in the game. That’s not very pretty.”
Arizona’s Caleb Love, who continues to struggle with his shooting, went 3 for 15 for just seven points. He was 0 for 7 from beyond the 3-point line.
“He didn’t play great,” Lloyd said.
Not good.
KSU’s Dug McDaniel had a game-high 24 points, running around hitting shots off the glass and everywhere else.
Definitely, not good.
“They were the deserving team today and I still thought we had it,” Lloyd said on his postgame radio show.
He was referring to being down just two points with seconds left before being down three before Love couldn’t find the magic of last week in McKale when he hit a 65-footer from the left side to get UA into overtime vs. Iowa State. His shot from about the same distance from the right side on Tuesday was way off – as was Arizona’s magic
“We just didn’t play great down the stretch,” Lloyd said. “Kansas State gets credit. It was a great environment. The more desperate team found a way to get it done. We gotta move on from this and we’ve gotta learn.”
What’s to learn? They know better about having 17 turnovers. They know better than hitting just two of 22 3-pointers.
Maybe that every game in the Big 12 Conference will be an adventure – but surely they know that by now, especially with the schedule only getting tougher in the backend of it.
“More adversity is coming,” Lloyd said. “You want to hang with it.”
Houston at home.
At Baylor.
Brigham Young at home.
Utah at home.
Iowa State on the road.
Arizona State at home
And, Kansas on the road.
“I know we can coach better; I know we can play better and I love the position we’re in,” Lloyd said. “You know what? Being in a conference like this, you just got to suck it up. And you got to learn from it. Move on. There’s no reason to hang your head.”
