Three good things will come out of Kansas City on Saturday: barbeque, the Houston Cougars … and the Arizona Wildcats.
One’s tasty, the other tough and the last one gritty good.
If you weren’t impressed with Arizona’s performance – even in the 72-64 loss to Houston in the title game of the Big 12 Tournament – something is missing. Arizona proved worthy against one of the better teams in the country.
“I’m proud of our guys,” said Tommy Lloyd, UA’s coach at the postgame press conference. “We wanted to compete for a championship, and we did. To the last (few) minutes we were there.”
As, Lloyd said, now Arizona – and the other 67 teams getting ready for the NCAA tournament – has “no margin for error.”
Still, Arizona is – and has been getting – strong play from KJ Lewis (something that hadn’t been there); Henri Veesaar continues to shine and trending up; Caleb Love is hitting shots; others are playing better.
Still and again, the rest of the way means one thing: Every game is a season. They’ll have to do it all over again – and only better.
Welcome to March, where teams, players and coaches are measured.
Where Arizona will fall in Sunday’s NCAA Tournament Selection show is anyone’s guess but it’s very likely UA will be a four seed in the tournament. It’s shown enough – recently and beyond – to warrant it.
Yet, when asked Lloyd – still frustrated with the loss – said the seeding didn’t matter.
“List us as a 13 seed, we’ll be fine,” Lloyd said. “We can’t wait ‘til Thursday. Let’s go.
“Whatever they give us, I’m ready.”
Again – and I’ve said this numerous times through the years – if you tell Arizona it can’t, it will or all but die trying. Arizona pretty much died trying on Saturday, but Houston was just too good down the stretch … again.
Great leadership from Caleb Love and Jaden Bradley on their costly turnovers in the clutch:
— AZ Band Cat Sports (@AZBandCatSports) March 16, 2025
"[Coach put] a lot of responsibility putting the ball in our hands in those moments, and we've got to deliver. We'll own it, and we'll be better for it."
(via @Big12Conference) pic.twitter.com/TT4boXDLCg
But there should be no shame from Arizona – it proved it can play with one of the best teams in the country in a style it usually has trouble against. But, this isn’t the team of Arizona’s past.
It’s tougher – but just a bit flawed to get by a team like Houston, a team it’s lost to three consecutive times dating back to the Sweet 16 three years ago and twice this season.
Arizona is much different than the one Houston faced in the Sweet 16 and better suited, but still …
“We’re right there,” Lloyd said, before putting an asterisk on the day because Houston was missing one of its best players. “But it doesn’t matter if you close the gap or not, you gotta get it done. We’re Arizona basketball, and we’re used to winning championships, too.
“We know that’s where we belong and that’s where we want to get. Right now, Houston’s above us. We’re going to do what we can to close that gap.”
The key is they have to be challenged. And they were. Hell, Arizona had the lead with four to five minutes left, before Houston showed its basketball class/pedigree to close out the game.
Arizona has some of that – and proved so the last two games – but the last two opponents weren’t Houston.
There should be no shame, though. Shouldn’t Saturday’s game give you hope for what’s ahead? Arizona played in a slower-paced game and almost pulled it off. It played against a very good team and stayed close.
And before you say, “yes, but they didn’t win” what did you expect? This time the better team won – just as in the last game. Wasn’t Arizona picked to finish fifth in the conference, finishing a respectable third?
“I’m proud we’ve overcome so much adversity and hardship, I’m just proud we made it this far,” said Caleb Love, who had 19 points and was named to the Big 12 Tournament’s all-tournament team. “We’ll be ready for the postseason and March Madness.”
Sound the alarms – it’s here.
