What Tommy Lloyd said after Arizona's loss to Houston
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The Houston Cougars (21-4, 13-1) showed, once again, why they are the best defensive team in college basketball.
Kelvin Sampson's team held the Arizona Wildcats (17-8, 11-3) to just 10 points over the final 9 minutes of the game to pull out a 62-58 Big 12 victory on Saturday afternoon in Tucson, Arizona.
The win gives Houston a two-game lead over Arizona with just six games to play. The Wildcats are now tied for second place in the Big 12 with Texas Tech (20-5, 11-3).
"We played well enough defensively to win the game. We rebounded well enough to win the game," Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said after the game. "You've 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."
Milos Uzan led Houston with 19 points and L.J. Cryer added 15 points, including two big 3-pointers late in the game. Caleb Love led Arizona with 17 points, but didn't score in the final 9:30 of the game and had 5 turnovers.
Here's what Arizona head coach Lloyd had to say after the game:
Lloyd: 'I didn't love some of our possessions'
"I think they had a little more certainty where they were going to get their shots from and kind of hung with it a little bit better. I didn't love some of our possessions at the end of the game. They're obviously a great defensive team and you just have to have a little more wherewithal on offense."
"We get a lead down the stretch, you want to manage that a little bit better. I thought we got Cryer two three-pointers in a row, and kind of later in possessions. It might have been a late ball screen and might have ended up with a crossmatch situation ... crazy things happen sometimes late in those possessions and you can't give their best shooter a wide open three-point shot. Especially when you have a lead."
Lloyd on the 'weird' officiating
"Tough. Tough. I mean just crazy stuff. They're telling us KJ (Lewis) is shooting free throws and at the last second they're switching Henri (Veesaar) to do it. I mean weird stuff. We asked to get (a play) reviewed at the end of the game with 30 seconds to go. They didn't even look at us. And you guys watch these games — everything gets reviewed at the end of the game. I don't know. There's some tough stuff like that. The officials weren't the problem, but there were some weird situations down the stretch of the game that just make you scratch your head a little bit."
"We have a seven-point lead and I thought Henri made a great play on the ball. Knocked the ball loose, we pick it up in transition and they called a foul. Those games change on those plays. I thought KJ had a ball inside, right in front of our bench, he got fouled. Literally right in front of us. And those are tough plays against Houston. When your margin for error is so small those things add up."
Lloyd: Caleb Love 'has got to be better than that'
"You're playing against some dudes. Good players. They're active, they have good hands and you know Houston's the best team in the country at turning teams over and creating a turnover margin. I think you've got to give your opponent a lot of credit on that stuff.
"We could play with better habits and better fundamentals. I think Caleb (Love) had a bunch of passes tipped today. He's got to be 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."
Lloyd: 'It was a collision of styles'
"You don't get to go up against Houston, especially if it gets a set defense, and pick and choose your shot you want right away. So 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 and we got a lead getting in transition.
"Sometimes it's the ebb and the flow of the game, and obviously we want to get in transition when we can because because we think against Houston it's a lot easier to score three on two than five on five. I don't think it's anything earth shattering. That's how they always play. That's how we always play. It was a a collision of styles. It was an even game for the most part until the end. They kind of got that five-point lead and we tried to rally back. I'm still disappointed."
Lloyd on Arizona's poor shooting
(Arizona was 5-of-23 from the 3-point line)
"Shoot good shots. Shoot good shots. 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. 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."
"I thought we had some good looks at three. It would have been nice if a few extra ones would have went down. Obviously the last couple of games would have made a huge difference, but they're not. But we're still in the game, giving ourselves a chance to win. And at the end of the day in the Big 12 that matters. 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've just got to score more points than 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."
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-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.