It wasn’t exactly from the mouth of babes, but from a veteran who has some great perspective on a loss or two when it comes to Arizona, now riding a two-game skid.
Senior Tobe Awaka was pragmatic after Arizona’s 78-75 loss to Texas Tech.
“I think I’ve kind of said this before, but March is still March,” he said. “If we do what we do, if we do what we’re supposed to do during that stretch, all this is forgotten. That’s not to say that this doesn’t sting, and that home losses don’t sting.”
And, yes, it stings, given Arizona was able to roll off 23 consecutive wins to set a new school record.
But those who are realistic thought this could have been a possibility. Gauntlets are gauntlets for a reason. Sure, Arizona faced some tough tasks earlier in the season, but it wasn’t like this: back-to-back-to-back-to-back toughies. Arizona is now 0-2 against Kansas and Tech – the latter at home, no less. In Tommy Lloyd’s time UA was 73-6 at home – now McKale Center at ALKEME Arena (even feels strange to type) – but now 73-7.
“We know what the fans mean to us, and just the way that they were able to pack out the stadium today and show their support, and how they’ve been showing support throughout the whole season, it’s tough,” said Awaka, who did his part to try to get through with a win with 16 points and 12 rebounds. “I’m not really worried about my own feelings, but theirs, the effort, the energy that they put into supporting us and making sure that we feel like we have an army behind us.”
True, Arizona’s crowd was at a season best … but it wasn’t good enough for Arizona to get through it all – even with a seven-point lead (64-57) with under four minutes left.
Arizona lost another lead and eventually lost. It did it against Kansas on Monday.
“We felt like we had opportunities, considering all the things that we’re kind of going through, but you just got to get it done,” coach Tommy Lloyd said.
Arizona had no answer for JT Toppin who had a game-high 31 points and 13 rebounds; and Christian Anderson, who had 19 points and eight assists. Everything fell into place for the Red Raiders, who have been able to knock off giants this season: Duke, Kansas, BYU and now Arizona.
It’s strategy was easy: hit first and be physical. It worked to perfection and has for other teams in giving Arizona a good, competitive game. Arizona State did it (in close losses) and Kansas did it on Monday.
“We were 26 to 26 (in points in the paint) and that’s pretty much the stat of the game,” Tech coach Grant McCasland said. “And we pretty much matched them on the glass. …
“You don’t come into this building and have a chance to win unless you are fighting and competitive.”
He added later that in order to beat Arizona “you have to do so many things with everything you’ve got and these guys did it.”
And that hasn’t happened much this season.
Still, lets provide some cushion for Arizona in the loss: Kansas and Texas Tech are pretty good, and UA played without Dwayne Aristode, who is out with some sort of illness. And UA was without Koa Peat in the second half, who suffered a leg injury in the first half. He was ineffective in the 10-plus minutes while he was in there on Saturday.
Adversity has hit the Wildcats, something it hadn’t experienced all season enroute to 23-0.
It has likely dropped Arizona from the No. 1 spot in next week’s poll but has definitely dropped UA in the Joe Lunardi rankings from the best team in the country to the third team. Again, it’s only February with “March is still March” as Awaka said. I would have written the same thing had Arizona won, too.
What will Lloyd tell them?
“You have to be honest with them, and they got to see what their shortcomings,” he said, “where they are, and you got to address them. And then we just got to get back to work.’
He’ll like a day off on Sunday, however, he said.
“These guys are high character guys, they’ve all lost games here and there in their lives; they’re winners, they’ve lost a few games,” Lloyd continued. “It’s not the first time in their life they’ve had this experience, and not the first time I’ve had it as a coach. So, let’s get back to it.”
Could this team be fatigued? Emotionally or physically, given what it’s gone through?
“I think for everybody it is – you just got to be honest with yourself,” Lloyd said. “We’re all human. I mean, the season’s been long, obviously you can see some injuries and illnesses are starting to pile up and catch up with us a little bit. But if you think you’re going to go through a season unscathed, you’ve never done this before.
“We need to keep at it. We need to keep our heads high. There’s no shame in losing to Texas Tech. I mean, we wish we would have (come) out on top and we didn’t. We got to learn from it, and understand we’re still a really good team.”
Recommended for you
