\n Bruce Pascoe
\n <\/a><\/p>\nStill, the bottom line is this: The Wildcats are banged up, some worse than others, after 27 games. It\u2019s that time of year, and probably even more so for them this season.<\/p>\n
So after staying over in Houston on Saturday night, the Wildcats went through only a light, almost walk-through type of workout Sunday afternoon before taking a 38-minute charter flight to Waco.<\/p>\n
There, they had another day and a half to practice, prepare and rest before facing Baylor on Tuesday evening at Foster Pavilion.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou’re at the point of the season where you’re managing,\u201d Lloyd told the Star before the Wildcats headed to Waco. \u201cYou’ve practiced a lot all year, and now it’s about just preparing for games, watching film, learning from film and meetings. There\u2019s just a little bit of practice here and there to keep your rhythm, but a a lot of your preparation will be done off the court.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Wildcats may be closer to getting everyone back, but it won’t happen in time for Tuesday’s game. Peat accompanied the Wildcats to Texas but isn\u2019t expected to be formally re-evaluated until after he returns home, while Aristode didn\u2019t even make the trip because of his (also undisclosed, but presumably contagious) illness.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re hoping he’s close,\u201d Lloyd said of Aristode. \u201cWe\u2019ll see what we get back. We’ve kind of just kept it moving with this group here. My focus has been looking forward, now and next.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Peat could have stayed in Tucson to rehab the injury to his lower leg, Lloyd said there was enough medical staff on the trip to start the process in Texas. Peat initially had only been resting, but Lloyd said he had begun to rehabilitate the injury.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s going the right direction. I definitely do,\u201d Lloyd said. \u201cWe have no plans for this being a season-ending type of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
As much as Peat has been central to Arizona’s success this season, the Wildcats have beaten two ranked teams without him\u00a0\u2014 and with big men Motiejus Krivas and Tobe Awaka combining for just 11 points and 11 rebounds at Houston.<\/p>\n
UA survived in part because Dell’Orso, Kharchenkov and point guard Jaden Bradley all scored 16 points or more against the Cougars, while Kharchenkov slid into the power forward spot so comfortably that Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said that the Wildcats had their best lineup with him there.<\/p>\n
![\"Arizona](\"data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAADCAQAAAAe\/WZNAAAAEElEQVR42mM8U88ABowYDABAxQPltt5zqAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==\")
<\/p>\n
Houston guard Kingston Flemings (4) drives to the basket as Arizona forward Ivan Kharchenkov (8) defends in the second half, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026, in Houston.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maria Lysaker, Associated Press<\/p>\n
In two games the Wildcats have played fully without Peat, Kharchenkov averaged 17 points, shot 12 of 23 from the field and made 7 of 8 free throws\u00a0\u2014 while also keying a defense that held Houston under 36% shooting.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a freshman, too, and he’s growing,\u201d Lloyd said. \u201cHe\u2019s a freshman from Europe who\u2019s figuring out how the game works over here. He’s really talented like those other guys, and just as our team kind of formed early, he settled into a role that was really important for our team\u00a0\u2014 but maybe statistically, wasn’t what he could do.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo now you’re seeing him outgrow his previous role, and he’s handling it with care. That’s what I told him to do. For him to play 39 minutes (against Houston) in a knock-down, drag-out game was pretty big time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, with Houston doubling the post on Saturday, Krivas took only four shots against while Awaka played just 17 minutes before he fouled out.<\/p>\n
\u201cTobe is awesome. He’s just got to quit running guys over at the end of the play,\u201d Lloyd said. \u201cThree of his fouls (at Houston) were literally running guys over, hustling. So I don’t know if I tell him to play a little less hard or jump stop. Maybe he should practice jump stopping without the ball so he doesn’t run somebody over.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s possible, considering Awaka\u2019s irrepressible motor, that he boiled over, knowing even more was needed without Peat.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Houston guard Milos Uzan (7), forward Kalifa Sakho (14) and forward Chase McCarty (24) attempt to block a shot from Arizona forward Tobe Awaka (30) in the second half, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026, in Houston.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maria Lysaker, Associated Press<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, but he has to temper that a little bit,\u201d Lloyd said. \u201cListen, Tobe is an effort monster, so that’s why having depth is so important alongside Tobe, because it allows him to play as hard as he can without having to worry about fouling.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully we’ll get back to that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Up next<\/p>\n
What:\u00a0No. 4 Arizona (25-2, 12-2) vs. Baylor (14-13, 4-10)<\/p>\n
When:\u00a07 p.m. Tuesday<\/p>\n
Where:\u00a0Foster Pavilion; Waco, Texas<\/p>\n
Watch:\u00a0ESPN2<\/p>\n
Listen:\u00a01290-AM<\/p>\n
Contact sports reporter Bruce Pascoe at bpascoe@tucson.com<\/a>. On X(Twitter): @brucepascoe<\/p>\n Be the first to know<\/p>\n
Get local news delivered to your inbox!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON\u00a0\u2014 Stuck away from home for the first time this season between games, with two full days to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":176496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1770,9891,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-176495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-basketball","tag-men","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}