College basketball has re-claimed the Arizona basketball team.
But, really, did you expect top-ranked Arizona to go undefeated this season? Really?
Well, forget that.
Hell, even coach Tommy Lloyd didn’t. He said it on this postgame radio show after Arizona’s 82-78 loss to Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas.
“It doesn’t even register with me,” Lloyd said of the loss that has Arizona 23-1 overall and 10-1 in the Big 12. “We knew we were going to lose eventually. To me, it’s how we respond is all I care about.”
Adding, “It should be a great learning thing for us.”
Class is in session.
His next gauge will be Saturday when a talented Texas Tech comes to Tucson for a huge game. But aren’t they all the rest of the way?
In fact, isn’t this when Arizona’s season starts in part the gauntlet continues on Saturday.
Tech on Saturday.
Brigham Young on Wednesday.
Houston on Feb. 21.
Baylor follows
Then Kansas again.
And finally Iowa State.
Yes, Colorado, too, but they aren’t part of the gauntlet.
You get the point. Who said it would be easy?
It never – ever – is.
Kansas, even without its best player (Darryn Peterson), had a way of making Arizona look beatable. That’s what may be little concerning – if anything. A loss without Petersen is one thing for Kansas, a win for Kansas without Petersen is another.
Reverse it for Arizona and, well, what do you think?
Lloyd said in his post-game press conference KU is the story and not having Peterson wasn’t.
Kansas, he said, is good.
Emotion plays a part in every game. As does the opponent and that crowd was crazy good.
Did Arizona play like it had at any part of the season? In parts yes, but not for long periods. And KU took advantage. Again, Kansas, a good team, took advantage at home.
It happens. All.The.Time.
Here’s a key, too. KU outscored UA 21-8 from the free throw line on the night. And all year, Arizona has lived on the free throw line. And all season, Lloyd was okay in getting to the line and not being a team that hits 3s. Arizona didn’t do either.
“They out-freethrowed us and that’s what it comes down to,” Lloyd said.
When show host Brian Jefferies said “this has nothing to do with the officials” in not getting to the line, Lloyd said … “maybe it does,”
“Let’s not act like it doesn’t,” he said. “It’s part of the game. “In all fairness you’re not going to get calls down the stretch here – you know that. You just have to be tough enough to deliver.”
And Arizona tried but wasn’t. First the why: freshman Koa Peat played one of his worst games of his UA career, getting just six points on 2 for 11 shooting. Tobe Awaka had just three rebounds in 17 minutes.
Jaden Bradley, who has shown up every – EVERY TIME, didn’t make a difference. On Monday, Arizona needed him and he couldn’t get a shot to drop (until the end).
For many of those 23 victories all the magic was there. Isn’t that one of the elements you need when rolling? Magic.
Arizona had it from the start in early November. Sometimes magic isn’t enough.
Even with Mo Krivas, Ivan Kharchenkov and Brayden Burries playing well it wasn’t enough.
“I didn’t think we had a great rhythm on our offense for most of the night,” Lloyd said. “Give Kansas a lot of credit for that.”
Then again, Kansas played its, um, butt off. It owns Big Monday, moving Bill Self’s record to 39-0 on Big Monday.
“We weren’t very good,” Self said on ESPN’s post-game show, “but we literally made them play not their best.”
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