Whether Kansas rematch surfaces or not, Wildcats have plenty to do before Big 12 tourney

LAWRENCE, Kan. — While Arizona notably avenged each of its six Pac-12 losses two seasons ago, the Big 12’s bloated membership doesn’t allow for such a thing very easily.

The Wildcats weren’t scheduled for a second crack at Kansas State and Houston after losing to them and lost to BYU and Iowa State after beating those two earlier in the season. They avenged only a Jan. 18 loss at Texas Tech by beating the Red Raiders three weeks later at McKale Center.

But Arizona might get a chance on Thursday to make up for its most recent pain.

Kansas, which handed Arizona an 83-76 loss on Saturday before a rowdy Senior Day crowd at Allen Fieldhouse, will be staring at the Wildcats again in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals if the Jayhawks can beat the winner of a first-round game between two lower-seeded teams, No. 11 Utah and No. 14 UCF.

The Wildcats (20-11 overall, 14-6) finished in a third place tie with BYU (23-8, 14-6) but earned the No. 3 seed because they beat second-place Texas Tech and the Cougars did not. (UA and BYU beat each other in head to head competition).

Perhaps ominously for the Wildcats, Lloyd said he thought Kansas was “poised to make something happen in the postseason,” though he said he wasn’t going to make any assumptions about next week’s bracket.

“I don’t know who they’re going to play and I’m sure whatever opponent they have is going to have something to say about that,” Lloyd said after Saturday’s game. “I would say there’s a likely scenario that we play them again, so we’ll have to revisit what happened, what worked, what didn’t work, and see what that looks like, if indeed that does happen.”

If it does happen, Arizona might start by finding a way to better contain Kansas center Hunter Dickinson, if that’s at all possible.

Once again an all-America candidate, the 7-2 fifth-year center had a game-high 33 points on 15-of-23 shooting and 10 rebounds, even stepping back to hit 1 of 2 3s and a midrange jumper with 2:18 left that put Arizona more than a possession behind for the rest of the game.

“He started making some perimeter shots and, listen, at some point with a guy like him, you’ve probably got to pick and choose what you’re living with,” Lloyd said. “He did a great job. He had his touch going around the basket and it seems like this year, he’s had some games where those balls have just kind of rolled off the rim and it’s hurt them. But today, they all went in.”

Then there’s that perimeter defense. Giving up double-digits 3s in recent games against BYU, Iowa State and ASU, the Wildcats held Kansas to 3 of 11 3-point shooting in the first half – but 5 of 10 in the second.

Part of that problem was that Kansas’ Zeke Mayo threw in 3 of 4 3s after halftime to finish with a 5-of-7 effort from beyond the arc that dazzled the rowdy Senior Day sellout crowd at Allen Fieldhouse.

Giving up “five of seven is tough,” Lloyd said “But he hit one in front of our bench and, you know, if a dude’s gonna sprint 30 feet, put his left foot in the ground, turn, shoot it, twist his hips in mid air and make it, that’s a great shot.

“Like, I don’t know what to tell our guys. We could tackle him, but that usually doesn’t work out too well either.”

Mayo’s last 3 gave Kansas a 73-68 lead with four minutes left and while UA cut it within three points twice over the next two minutes, Kansas guard Dajuan Harris tipped in a miss from Dickinson and Dickinson hit his 12-foot jumper before Harris connected with forward KJ Adams for an all-senior alley-oop.

That sequence all but put the Wildcats away with 82 seconds left and Kansas holding a 79-72 lead.

“It was an up-and-down pace in the second half,” UA guard Jaden Bradley said. “We hit some big time shots, but they came down at the other end and hit even bigger shots. We’ve got to figure out how to string in some stops along the way.”

Arizona also didn’t have any margin for error late because it fell behind by 14 points in the first half and by nine at halftime. Lloyd said the Wildcats were playing selfishly early, while Bradley said the Jayhawks’ defense threw them off early.

The Wildcats shot just 40.7% before halftime and hit only 2 of 3 3-pointers, trailing 39-30 at halftime. A week earlier, they had fallen behind Iowa State 43-30 at halftime en route to an 84-67 loss.

“We just didn’t move it as well as we normally do,” Bradley said after the Kansas game. “We’ve got to get off to better starts as a team.”

Still, the Wildcats’ losses at Iowa State and Kansas could help prepare them for the Big 12 tournament in another way: Both of those UA opponents had rowdy, passionate sellout crowds and they are expected to enjoy the same advantage at Kansas City this week.

Normally complimentary of McKale Center fans, Lloyd went so far as to suggest that there was “a gap” between the atmospheres that Kansas and Iowa State enjoy over what UA has at McKale.

“The last two places we played are electric,” Lloyd said. “I’m an Arizona guy and I love Arizona but — and this is not an indictment on our fans — but we’ve got work to do.”

But in the immediate wake of their loss Saturday, Lloyd said the focus wasn’t on basketball as much as rest. Because they earned the Big 12 Tournament’s No. 3 seed and one of four double-byes, Arizona won’t have to play again until Thursday, when those Jayhawks might just show up.

“It’s huge … the two days off,” Lloyd said. “But the main thing for me is I’m just proud of our guys. You have 16 other teams battling for (double-byes), and only four get it, and we didn’t have the easiest of years.

“Obviously, Houston’s the best team in our conference. Texas Tech’s been unbelievable and for us to be next on the ladder shows something. You see how good Kansas was today and Kansas didn’t get third. I think that’s a testament to our guys.”