Can Arizona 'upset' Baylor on Monday night? 'I want to see how they respond'
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Just over 48 hours after a physically and mentally draining 62-58 loss to the Houston Cougars, the Arizona Wildcats have to regroup and figure out a way to beat Baylor on the road Monday night.
"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 going to go get our ass kicked at Baylor," Lloyd said after the loss to Houston. "You guys do. You guys think we're going to get our ass kicked at Baylor because we're tired, we've been on a long stretch, we're going to play on the road, our heads are going to be down."
"Let's see. Let's see what team shows up. We might. We might get our ass kicked Monday. And then we've got to 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."
Arizona (17-8, 11-3) has lost two games in a row for the first time since November, and a three-game losing streak would put an end to their fading Big 12 title hopes. The Wildcats are two games behind Houston with six games to play.
Baylor (16-9, 8-6) is coming off a 74-71 overtime win over West Virginia. The Bears are ranked No. 28 in the NCAA NET Rankings and need to finish strong to secure a berth in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. They're currently projected to be a No. 9 seed, and a loss to Arizona could knock them into the "last four teams in" category.
To beat the Bears, the Wildcats are going to have to shoot better than 15% from the 3-point line. In their losses to Kansas State and Houston, Arizona shot a combined 7-of-45 from downtown.
"You've got to shoot good shots. I mean that's it. We've got to shoot good shots. And you've got to live with the make or miss," Lloyd said after the loss to Houst. "It's no secret. I'm not telling you anything crazy. We're not the best three-point shooting team you've ever seen. This is not the 2017 Golden State Warriors. We're a gritty 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."
Caleb Love, in particular, has struggled with his outside shot recently. Love was 1-of-8 from downtown against Houston and is 2-of-21 over his last three games.
Do Love and the Wildcats have enough left in the tank to knock down big shots and beat Baylor? We'll find out Monday night at 8 p.m. MST.
Baylor is favored by 1.5 points, and ESPN's FPI prediction gives the Bears a 53.7% chance of beating Arizona.
More Arizona & Big 12 Analysis
-029877d49238355bd3388a94f90e3c72.jpg "Ben Sherman")
Ben Sherman has been covering the sports world for most of his 27-year journalism career, including 17 years with The Oregonian/OregonLive. A basketball junkie, March Madness is his favorite time of the year.