How Arizona Met Tommy Lloyd's Challenge Against Kansas

Lloyd called out a particular problem before the win over the Jayhawks.

Feb 28, 2026; Tucson, Arizona, USA; Arizona Wildcats forward Koa Peat (10) celebrates during the first half of the game against the Kansas Jayhawks at McKale Memorial Center. Mandatory Credit: Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images | Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images

No. 2 Arizona has fully adjusted after its recent dry spell, coming up with four straight wins to take a commanding two-game lead in the Big 12 standings entering the season's final week.

The Wildcats' latest win was a dominant 84-61 victory over No. 14 Kansas on Saturday, making up for a previous hiccup and then some against one of the conference's most storied programs.

Big one on Monday. pic.twitter.com/LYNZlGkJEn

— Arizona Basketball (@ArizonaMBB) February 28, 2026

"We understand the magnitude of when these two programs play, what it means," Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd said postgame. "That's just a testament to the history and the legacy of both places. For us, it's one of 18 games in a conference schedule, and it counts just as much as the other ones. We've put ourselves in a good position, and we wanted to take care of business today at home against Kansas."

Bouncing Back with Defense

Arizona faced a tough road game at Baylor on Tuesday. Even though the Bears have struggled in terms of their record this season, they gave the Wildcats a fight. Arizona allowed Baylor to shoot 49% with three double-digit scorers and 40 points in the paint. The Wildcats allowed 41 points in the first half and needed 53 second-half points to pull out a seven-point win, as Baylor became just the fifth team to score 80 against Arizona this season.

Feb 28, 2026; Tucson, Arizona, USA; Arizona Wildcats center Motiejus Krivas (13) blocks a lay up attempted by Kansas Jayhawks guard Elmarko Jackson (13) during the second half of the game at McKale Memorial Center. Mandatory Credit: Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images | Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images

Kansas was another one of those teams, dominating Arizona on the inside and matching its toughness blow-for-blow as it ended the Wildcats' 23-0 start. Flory Bidunga and Bryson Tiller destroyed Arizona in that game but were held to just two points each and six total rebounds in Saturday's rematch.

The only real problem was Kansas star freshman Darryn Peterson, who didn't play in the first meeting and scored 24 of Kansas's 61 points in Tucson. While his point total was high, he only shot 38% on the day, and Kansas shot just 34% overall. Arizona also took control of the paint, allowing just 20 points.

"I really challenged our guys today," Lloyd said. "My focus was, 'How good can we be defensively?' We know we have good defensive numbers, and we know we've had great defensive games. The last game at Baylor wasn't our best defensive game, so we really wanted to tighten things up on the defensive end, and I thought our guys did a great job of that."

The Wildcats rose to the occasion on Saturday, as they have often done this season, displaying yet another emphatic response to adversity. That's a great quality for a contender to have entering college basketball's most important month.

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