TUCSON — Every team will eventually face it, and the moment of adversity’s arrival for No. 1 Arizona came in Saturday’s 78-75 overtime loss to No. 16 Texas Tech.
After winning 23 straight to begin the year, the Wildcats have now lost two straight in conference play, including their first at McKale Center.
“Credit to Texas Tech. They came here, and they got it done,” Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd said. “They obviously had a great game plan, made timely shots and (got) timely defensive stops and that allowed them to get over the top on us.”
To make matters worse beyond back-to-back losses, freshman Koa Peat did not play in the second half due to a lower leg injury. Lloyd did not have an update on what Peat’s injury was or the potential severity of it.
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Star Arizona freshman Koa Peat out for 2nd half of Arizona loss with lower leg injury
On top of responding to its first defeat, the other adversity facing Arizona was its first absence of the year within its cemented eight-man rotation.
It knew that going in. What it didn’t know was another even bigger one would materialize at halftime.
Freshman wing Dwayne Aristode was out with the illness going around, offering an interesting litmus test to Lloyd if he trusted anyone else to expand to eight or even nine guys after all eight had not missed a game. Aristode, to be clear, is the least significant absence possible, reaching more than 15 minutes just twice since conference play began.
But Lloyd stuck to a seven-player unit in the first half, spotlighting even further how Arizona really cannot afford any injuries here over the next six weeks.
And on cue, Peat was ruled out at halftime. With only six of those eight available, Lloyd deployed sparsely used freshman big Sidi Gueye for 1:27 in the mid-second half but mostly rolled just with six.
Arizona struggled immensely on offense, which was even happening before Peat was out. The Wildcats nearly had more free throws (23) than field goals (24) and shot 39%. Its backcourt of freshman Brayden Burries (4-of-12) and senior Jaden Bradley (4-of-14) combined to shoot 8-for-26 (30.8%).
When the shot-making is not there, the Wildcats are in trouble. They were expectedly blitzed on the 3-point line, 11-4, and only generated five steals, which did no favors to finding opportunities in transition for some type of rhythm. It was just the fourth time this season Arizona failed to snag more than five steals.
A +10 edge at the foul line wasn’t enough to carry the load. An Arizona opponent must match the physicality, and the Red Raiders did more than that to win this one. Points in the paint were split at 26 apiece, a credit to Texas Tech’s culture under head coach Grant McCasland that is built around the Big 12’s signature brand of physicality.
“Texas Tech, they do a great job of that,” Lloyd said. “They’re a really physical team; they teach it well. … The first time you play them, it’s kind of eye-opening for your guys.”
McCasland called that draw for points in the paint the stat of the game.
“We just talked about, just have to be a hit-first mentality,” McCasland said. “And if you don’t hit first then you’re losing on everything.”
An elite matchup that came down to balance vs. star power in both the frontcourt and backcourt leaned in the latter’s direction.
Arizona’s well-touted Hydra of a big man trio has a case for the best in the country, while Texas Tech junior JT Toppin was a Second Team All-American last year. And for the guards, Burries is threatening to be a lottery pick, joining Red Raiders sophomore Christian Anderson as two of the biggest risers in NBA draft circles this season. Arizona, of course, is led by Bradley in that backcourt as well.
Toppin and Anderson are arguably the best duo in college basketball. Arizona has inarguably the best starting five in college basketball.
Star power reigned supreme.
Toppin (13-for-22) mauled Arizona with 31 points and 13 rebounds. Anderson added 19 points (6-of-18) with eight assists.
Both were dynamite. Toppin’s wonderful post-game and activity around the rim caused constant fits. Anderson was outstanding as a lead ball-handler by taking what the defense gave up to either jack up a pull-up 3, create some for his teammates off terrific kick-out passes or run a two-man game with Toppin.
Anderson almost took more 3s than Arizona on his own and made two more, going 6-of-15 from deep compared to Arizona’s 4-for-16 team mark. Texas Tech was 11-of-33.
Toppin scored nine of those points in the last eight minutes of the second half and produced Texas Tech’s first six of OT. Arizona rarely double-teamed Toppin, who admitted afterward he was surprised not facing the swarm he normally sees, and Tech was able to create some advantageous switches late too.
In a game featuring zero double-digit leads, a rarity for Arizona, it made the biggest “run” of the game by scoring on six out of eight possessions to lead by six with 4:10 left.
That is when Bradley attempted his latest closing act, a signature for him this season.
But after Bradley made a touch shot with 11 minutes to go in the second half, he missed his final eight shots of the game, and none of them were high quality. Beyond that, a handful of foolish errors by Arizona defensively lost it the game.
With the Wildcats up three at two minutes to go, Bradley took back-to-back wild drives straight into a rim protector. The first bounced out of play for their own ball still, and a beautifully designed baseline out of bounds play got Burries an open 3 he missed badly.
Freshman Ivan Kharchenkov then got a silly foul swiping at a rebound secured by the Red Raiders, and after their senior guard Donovan Atwell made both free throws, Bradley’s second out-of-control take to the rim allowed Texas Tech down one to have a chance at the lead with under 30 seconds left.
On an Anderson drive that the Wildcats contained well, Bradley got caught ball watching on the strong side, where Atwell relocated to the corner for a go-ahead 3. Arizona forced OT off a fortunate break, with a Kharchenkov drawing an unnecessary foul on a drive through a possession going nowhere.
He made both, Arizona got a big stop to bring the extra period, but Toppin took care of it from there.
The Wildcats were actually down just one with just more than two minutes left in overtime, and off a timeout, they were super aggressive defensively by not only sending two at Anderson but attempting to intercept Toppin’s short roll off that. But Burries gambled to try to steal the pass, didn’t and Toppin made the easy pass into the corner where Atwell was once again open for another huge 3.
Arizona senior center Tobe Awaka, an excellent bruising force inside and versatile defender outside that is not someone you rely on for offense, was who kept the Wildcats in it.
In a pair of scoring possessions for both teams, Awaka grabbed a miss and made two free throws before Toppin scored easily on a switch. Awaka quickly answered with another two points via an offensive rebound to have Arizona back within two points at a minute to go in overtime.
Toppin then failed to score on another switch, but Texas Tech grabbed the miss and then Toppin also snagged the next one to seal it in a fitting end on a night when Arizona did not have its usual edge on the interior.
Awaka finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
Tech is one of a few teams this season positioned well to counter Arizona’s disinterest in 3-point volume.
It entered Saturday 21st in 3-point attempts per game (29.4) and 10th in efficiency (39.1%). That made it fascinating that Arizona was committed to packing the paint, welcoming those 3s, including in ball-screen coverage on Anderson, who takes eight a game on his own.
The gambit paid off early, as 17 of the Red Raiders’ first 24 shots were from 3 and they only made four. Arizona, however, was not taking care of business on the other end to create the separation it should have. That’s when Anderson hit a pair of 3s in the last few minutes of the half, and along with six assists, led Texas Tech to an equal 32-32 halftime score.
Burries and junior center Motiejus Krivas, a duo that has been huge individually on offense over the last handful of weeks, combined for six points at the half. Peat, who has really slowed down over that same time period, had just two points and did not record a field goal attempt.
Anderson and Toppin, meanwhile, had 23 of Texas Tech’s 32 first-half points to carry it through a choppy first half before the aforementioned rest ensued.
Lloyd indicated Aristode could be out for Wednesday’s game as well in Tucson against No. 22 BYU, and obviously Peat’s status is up in the air. The Cougars have their own injury problems with star guard Richie Saunders suffering a lower leg injury that did not look good.
Follow @KellanOlson
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