TUCSON – The Wildcats returned home on Saturday after a one-possession loss against Kansas State in Manhattan looking to avoid back-to-back losses for the first time since a disastrous trip to the Bahamas. The McKale Center was rocking, just as it was a week ago against Texas Tech, and No. 13 Arizona played Houston toe-to-toe down the stretch, but struggled offensively in the final minutes of the game. See what Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd, as well as Caleb Love and KJ Lewis had to say postgame following the 62-58 loss to No. 6 Houston.
Tommy Lloyd
Tommy Lloyd postgame on the defensive effort from Arizona against Houston:
“I mean, we made mistakes, and they made a few shots, and, you know, they probably went through all their Rolodex of things they were going to do, and maybe found a few ways to attack us. But, I mean, we played well enough defensively to win the game. We rebounded well enough to win the game. You got to play better offense, and that’s easier said than done against Houston, but we’re capable of playing better offense than we did today.”
Tommy Lloyd on Arizona’s increase in live-ball turnovers the last few games:
“You’re playing against some dudes, good players. They’re active, good hands, and Houston’s the best team in the country at turning teams over and creating the turnover margin. So, I mean, I think you got to give your opponent a lot of credit on that stuff. And listen, we can play with better habits and better fundamentals. You know, I think Caleb had a bunch of passes tipped today. He’s got any better than that. He’s got to be better than that. I don’t care what he shoots. He should never get a pass tipped. And he’s got to be better than that in those situations.”
Tommy Lloyd on Kelvin Sampson’s postgame comments about Arizona playing the game at the pace Houston set today:
“I mean, listen, you don’t get to come up against Houston, especially if it gets a set defense, and you don’t get to pick and choose your shot you want right away. What happens is, they’re so good defensively, the possessions are longer, that’s what shortens the game. And then they might walk the ball up the floor here and there. We got in transition plenty in the second half. We got a lead getting in transition. So, you know, sometimes it’s the ebb and the flow of the game. And, you know, I mean, obviously we want to get transition when we play, because we think that’s, I guess, Houston. I mean, it’s a lot easier to score three-on-two than five-on-five. I mean, I don’t think it’s like anything earth shattering, you know?
So, yeah, I mean, that’s how they always play. That’s how we always play. It was a collision of styles. It was an even game. You know, for the most part, ’til the end, they kind of got that five-point lead, and we tried to rally back. And, you know, you know, I’m still disappointed we have a seven-point lead and, and I thought Henri made a great play on a ball, knocked the ball loose. We pick it up in transition, and they called a foul. You know what?
I mean, like, those games change in those plays, I thought KJ had a ball inside, right in front of our bench. He got fouled. I mean, and like, literally, right in front of us. And, you know, those are tough. Those are tough plays against Houston. I mean, when you have your margin for error is so small. I mean, though those things add up.”
Tommy Lloyd on Arizona’s recent struggles shooting from 3-point range:
“Shoot good shots. Shoot good shots. You’ve got to shoot good shots, you know what I mean? That’s the deal, we’ve got to shoot good shots. And you know, you got, you got to live with the make or miss. And obviously, guys, it’s no secret, I’m not doing anything crazy. We’re not the best three point shooting team. This is not the whatever, you know, 2017 Golden State Warriors. We’re a great team, and it’s a little bit ugly sometimes. But that’s just how we ended up being built, and we’re okay with it. We’ve won a lot of games doing that.
So, you know, I thought we had some good looks at three. It would have been nice if a few extra ones would have went down, and obviously the last couple games would have made a huge difference, but they’re not. But we’re still on the game, giving ourselves a chance to win, and at the end of the day in the Big 12, that matters. You know, I mean, I’m not a guy that’s going to sit here and say, we’ve got to make 10 threes to win the game. No, we just got to score more points to the other team. And we had an opportunity to do that today, and we didn’t, and Houston gets credit, and hopefully we can learn from it.”
Tommy Lloyd on some confusion that sent Henri Veesaar to line instead of KJ Lewis:
“You know what I was disappointed in is, they have a foul and, KJ, what’s KJ shooting, 85? He’s an 85 percent free throw shooter going to line for one-and-one. They say, Five is shooting. Five is shooting. Five is shooting. He got undercut on the play. Another ref goes and reviews it, and they put Henri up there. Like, that’s kind of tough to swallow, you know, like, when you’re sitting in my seat. And then the one ref comes to you and says, ‘Yeah, we had Five shooting. I don’t know why they, I guess he went reviewed, and they changed it to 13.’ Like, those are, those are tough plays when you’re sitting in the high seat to kind of have to swallow.”
Tommy Lloyd postgame on what’s next for Arizona after a hard fought battle against Houston and a tough opponent on the road in Baylor:
“Obviously, Houston’s a great litmus test. See we’re at. And guys, I don’t sit here every day seeing, all I think about is we got to be better than Houston. No, we want to play that way, to our own version of it. And I think we did in long stretches today. We just got to, we just got to figure out a way to play a little better offensively, against a great defensive team. And I know I’m not the only head coach that’s sitting here saying that, so they get a ton of credit.
How long’s Kelvin been there now? 10 years. Okay, you know what? You know how long it took him to establish that? It takes a while. The stuff just doesn’t happen overnight. You’re building a culture. You know, in this day and age, you know how hard it is to build a culture, to build a style of play when there’s so many changes going on. So we’re right – Arizona Basketball is right where it should be. We’re knocking on the door. We’re not there yet, but we’re gonna be, we’re gonna be, we just gotta keep plowing ahead. We gotta keep plowing ahead. And that’s gonna be my focus is just keep plowing ahead.
And you know what? Next year, I want to be better than this year. But this year, I think this team’s got a lot left in the tank, and I can’t wait to see how they show up tomorrow for practice. And I can’t wait to see how we go play at Baylor. Because you know what, you guys all think we’re gonna go get our ass kicked at Baylor. You guys do, you guys think we’re gonna get our ass kicked at Baylor, because we’re tired, we’ve been on a long stretch. We’re gonna play on the road game. Our heads are gonna be down. Let’s see what team shows up. We might get our ass kicked Monday, and then we gotta keep moving, but we might not. I want to see what we have, I want to see what our guys are made of, I want to see how they respond. Our season is not going to be determined today by what happened, but how we respond might have a lot to do with where we go, and so, you know, win or lose today, we got to move forward.”
Tommy Lloyd on Jaden Bradley’s health at this point in the season:
“Maybe? I mean, he hadn’t said anything to me. Jaden’s a competitor. And, you know, we’re at where we’re at, you know? And we need Jaden to be great. I mean, I know this – maybe call them dog days, maybe call them that. I know JB’s gonna be right when when this team needs him to be right. And I don’t think he’s far off right now. He’s my guy, and I’m rolling with him.”
Caleb Love
Caleb Love postgame on if Houston was as physical as Arizona expected it to be:
“Yeah, it was definitely physical. We knew coming into the game, and we had our mind on it was going to be physical. But, I feel like we gave it our best shot, and we just kept coming. They just kept coming. And ultimately, we came up short.”
Caleb Love on his improved defensive play this season:
“Yeah, I mean, just giving more effort, giving what the team needs. And that’s exactly what the team needs, is my defense, and then just feeding off these guys energy. KJ, JB, CB, all those guys giving out that extra effort, and me just pitching in, and taking it personal for whoever I match up with. They’re not getting their average, or they’re shooting inefficient and things like that. And then helping the helper. So I think just giving that extra effort, and having that 1-2 mentality.”
KJ Lewis
KJ Lewis postgame on what Houston did to outlast Arizona after a tight game for nearly 40 minutes:
“I think, you know, obviously the missed free throws that we had, I think, kind of hurt a little bit down the stretch. And then, it felt like we couldn’t score a little bit for maybe a few minutes, like straight, we didn’t get a bucket, and then we couldn’t get a stop. So, I mean, credit to them, they were running timely sets for the players that were scoring. We just, we had to be better on offense, or you could find an easy bucket.”
KJ Lewis on keeping the locker room positive after losing back-to-back games for the first time since the Bahamas:
“Next play, or next-game mentality. You know, we remember the feeling when we were 4-5 in the Bahamas, you know, having that chip on our shoulder where everybody kind of doubted us. And, you know, we’re just going to go into Waco with that same mentality. You know, you got to have a quick turnaround, quick mindset. Because, you know, like, you know, we said we got a good one on Monday, and it’s away.”