About seven months ago, the Big 12’s coaches voted on how they thought the expanded 16-team conference would shake out. Arizona was picked to finish fifth in its inaugural season in the league.
Following Saturday’s 83-76 loss at Kansas, the Wildcats ended up in third place and have earned a double bye in next week’s Big 12 Tournament. Not Better than projected, but still below what Tommy Lloyd would have liked.
“I got really high standards for myself and for the program,” Lloyd said. “I wish we were higher than third, but it’s where we ended up. I don’t think there’s any you know thing to be ashamed of being third in the Big 12.”
Our game recap can be found here. Below is what Lloyd said after the loss:
On the Allen Fieldhouse atmosphere: “The last two places we played were electric. I’m an Arizona guy, and I love Arizona—this is not an indictment on our fans—but we got work to do. There’s a gap. There’s a gap between Kansas and Iowa State and (us) in these gameday atmospheres and their fan support. It was awesome today. I was just out there listening to their senior speeches. I wasn’t listening, I had to speak on the radio, but 90 percent of the fans are still there 20 minutes after listening to the senior speeches. It’s pretty special.”
On how that may have affected the game: “It’s hard to communicate, but it should be fun. I honestly had a lot of fun coaching the game. Down that stretch of that game, Coach Self and I even shared a wink. It’s fun out there competing. It’s fun out there competing in an environment like that. It’s the stuff you dream of as a competitor. Nothing but respect for Coach Self, his program, and Kansas basketball.”
On Arizona’s performance: “I just thought we played selfish. We played selfish, and you’re not going to come to a place like Kansas and play selfish and be successful. We got to play team basketball. We’re a team, and we should have learned that lesson. And I’m proud our guys showed that we did in the second half, and we gave ourselves a chance.”
On not doubling Hunter Dickinson: “With a guy like him you probably gotta pick and choose what you’re living with. 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 were just kind of rolled off the rim and it’s hurt them. But today they all kind of went in and they were great.”
On Kansas’ senior-heavy lineup: “KJ Adams got off to a good start, and obviously had a strong finish with that lob. And Dajuan Harris, that guy’s been around forever. I played against him five years ago at Florida, when he was a freshman. Those guys have been around for a while, and they’re consistent winners. That’s a team poised to make something happen in the postseason.”
On Kansas getting big rebounds: “There’s some give and take there. Obviously we’re playing back on some of those ball screens, and they’re doing a good job kind of shooting those floaters and they’re soft misses, kind of creating a small little number of size advantages on the glass. That’s the give and take a basketball. I thought they did a good job with it. We tried making a few adjustments here and there and I thought we were having more success for a while, and down the stretch they got a couple big offensive rebounds that really kind of broke our back.”
On Jaden Bradley: “He did a good job controlling the game, getting us to our actions. When JB drives to 8, 10 feet and kind of stops and plays with poison on balance, that’s an easy shot for him and easy to pass from there. I just needed him to do more of that. He looked like he was doing more of that in the second half.”
On preparing for the postseason: “We got a couple days to kind of recover and get our minds right and build. Build for this postseason. And so now we got to prepare for the conference tournament, and let’s see what we can do. I’m looking forward to seeing what the Big 12 Tournament feels like, experiencing that. And then I’m looking forward to playing some teams from some other conferences when we get to the NCAA Tournament.”
On getting a double bye: “I’m just proud of our guys. Because you have(15) other teams battling for that, and only four get it. And for us to take third, we didn’t have the easiest of years. Houston’s the best team in our conference, Texas Tech’s been unbelievable, for us to kind of be next on the ladder shows something. Obviously you see how good Kansas was today, and Kansas didn’t get third. I think that’s a testament to our guys.”
On playing the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City: “We know we had McKale North playing in Vegas all those years. And I would imagine that Kansas and Iowa State are going to kind of own the arena. But we’re here for it. We’re here to compete. We’re in the Big 12, that’s where the conference tournament is, so we’re going to show up like everyone else.”