When Arizona transitioned from the Pac-12 to the Big 12, Tommy Lloyd knew winning conference championships wouldn\u2019t come as easily playing in one of the toughest leagues in college basketball.<\/p>\n
Nor would it be like at his former school, Gonzaga, which took home WCC championships nearly every year.<\/p>\n
Yet just two years into the Big 12, Lloyd is having the same kind of success he had in the past leagues he coached in. Arizona defeated Houston Saturday in Kansas City to sweep the Big 12 regular season and conference tournament titles.<\/p>\n
For Lloyd, it was fitting that the victory would come over Kelvin Sampson\u2019s program.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I\u2019ll say, just for me and my experience as a coach, I was at a place, we were kind of on top of the conference a lot. And when we got in the Big 12, I learned real quick that we were looking up and chasing a program, and it was Houston,\u201d Lloyd said. \u201cNot that we were fixated with the chase, but it gave us a great barometer for what we felt like we had to do to improve our program to see if we could put ourselves over the top. So I\u2019m thankful for Houston and the competition they give us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Houston pushed Arizona right to the end, but the Wildcats came out victorious as usual, moving to 32-2 ahead of the NCAA Tournament.<\/p>\n
Lloyd said the team will get back late Saturday, rest and recover and then prepare for who they\u2019ll face in the Round of 64.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, what\u2019s next? What\u2019s next is the NCAA Tournament, and then we\u2019re going to figure out who\u2019s in our crosshairs, and then we\u2019ll just focus on that and try to advance as far as we can in that tournament, one game at a time,\u201d Lloyd said.<\/p>\n
Our recap of the game can be found here<\/a>, and you can find social media reactions to the Wildcats\u2019 latest title here<\/a>. Below is what Lloyd, Jaden Bradley, Brayden Burries and Koa Peat said after the game.<\/p>\n Lloyd on winning the Big 12 Tournament: \u201cI want to say thanks to the Big 12 for hosting a great tournament and for Kansas City for being a great place to host the tournament. We\u2019re getting comfortable here fast, and that\u2019s a good thing. These seasons, you kind of break them down into your early preparation, summer work, fall work, and then you\u2019re kind of your non-conference games, and then your conference season, and then your conference tournament. So every one of these is a little milestone along the way. We really wanted to win the Big 12 regular season championship. That was important to us. I thought our guys did an incredible job of digging deep when we had some injuries and we we\u2019re playing really thin. And we hit the toughest part of our schedule, and the guys just persevered and found ways to win games and capture the regular season championship.<\/p>\n And then you come into the tournament. And a lot of people have a lot of opinions on how you should handle this. And we felt like our health was good, and you\u2019re always knocking on wood with that. And once you put up a bracket and your team\u2019s in a kind of win-or-go-home tournament, I mean, I think the objective is simple: Let\u2019s see if we can win it game by game. These guys did an incredible job of that. It was quite a ride the last three days. And I\u2019m just really proud of these three guys next to me and the guys in the locker room.\u201c<\/p>\n On what it means to sweep the Big 12 regular season and tournament championships: \u201cWhat I\u2019ll say, just for me and my experience as a coach, I was at a place, we were kind of on top of the conference a lot. And when we got in the Big 12, you know, I learned real quick that we were looking up and chasing a program, and it was Houston. Not that we were fixated with the chase, but it gave us a great barometer for what we felt like we had to do to improve our program to see if we could put ourselves over the top. So I\u2019m thankful for Houston and the competition they give us.<\/p>\n And, listen, I know that there\u2019s going to be numerous battles in the years to come with that program. And we welcome that. We welcome that, and I\u2019m sure we won\u2019t come out on top all the time. So, yeah, I mean, what it says is Arizona basketball is a special program. It always has been. And these guys are — it\u2019s their time in the program now, and they\u2019re honoring the legacy in a really special way.\u201c<\/p>\n On playing Bradley through his wrist injury: \u201cI mean, you hope for the best. I know how tough J.B. is. Listen, unfortunate things can obviously happen in those scenarios, but they went in and I think they looked at it real quick. And when the doctor came out with a smile on his face, before he said anything to me, I was a little bit relieved. But at that time I think we were up 14 or 15 or something, at that time. I\u2019m figuring out how can we manage this game without J.B. to get over the top and win it. J.B. helped us get a big lead. Let\u2019s see if we can bring it home. That\u2019s where my mind was.\u201d<\/p>\n On what Arizona\u2019s depth means come March: \u201cWell, you know, it gives us a good margin for error, where we have so many guys we can count on. And obviously Koa and Brayden didn\u2019t have their best games yesterday, and, who knows, for various reasons. Let\u2019s give Iowa State probably some credit for that. Delly was incredible. Without him, we\u2019re not up here right now. And then Delly doesn\u2019t have a great game today. And Koa and Brayden kind of get it going in the game and maybe didn\u2019t get off, either to a great start. But they just hung with it, hung with it and did their damage over the course of the game.<\/p>\n I\u2019m really proud of Brayden. I haven\u2019t seen Brayden shoot too many air balls. He had a couple of them to start the game. And for a freshman in this setting, to do that and then come out and still end up with great numbers, over 20 points and hit some huge 3s at the end of that first half that kind of allowed us to have that eight-point lead — and then we talked about hitting first and second half and we did. We came out and they called a timeout right away, like, a 4-0 run. And I think we were able to kind of build a lead that allowed us to kind of withstand the run they made at us.\u201c<\/p>\n On preparing for the next week: \u201cThese guys will tell you, we\u2019re pretty boring. We\u2019re kind of a one-game-at-a-time team. And we\u2019re going to get home tonight and probably figure out a good recovery plan. And, honestly, we\u2019ll figure out who we play tomorrow, and I\u2019m hoping for a good practice on Tuesday. And we kind of just approach it like that.<\/p>\n So I think just staying in the moment. This team\u2019s done a great job and it\u2019s something we talk about a lot is not getting — there\u2019s no reason there\u2019s nothing to protect in the Big 12 anymore. That\u2019s already been accomplished. Now, what\u2019s next? What\u2019s next is the NCAA Tournament, and then we\u2019re going to figure out who\u2019s in our crosshairs, and then we\u2019ll just focus on that and try to advance as far as we can in that tournament, one game at a time.\u201c<\/p>\n On Ivan Kharchenkov\u2019s stretch in the second half: \u201cCrazy Ivan. He\u2019s really come on. He\u2019s been a good player for us all year. But this last, I don\u2019t know, eight or 10 games, we\u2019ve counted on a little bit more playmaking for him. He\u2019s fearless. He really is fearless. Sometimes it\u2019s gotten him in a little bit of trouble. But you love that attribute in a player. You love a guy who is not afraid of the moment. And these other guys are getting so much attention, sometimes he becomes the pressure outlet. He had some good match-ups today, especially when Koa was in foul trouble at the 4. And the banking and the 3, we did bank in two shots, so I want to admit there\u2019s a little bit of luck in this as well. Let\u2019s not act like those were planned.<\/p>\n But you just want to put yourself in position to win. And if you get lucky, I mean, play the hand you\u2019re dealt. And we\u2019ve been on the other side of that other times as well. So Ivan was great. He kind of took over that little stretch of the game there when it got close. And I think Brayden got an and-1 and Ivan made a couple of plays. And the next thing you know we\u2019re looking up and it\u2019s seven- or nine-point lead, and we\u2019ve just got to figure out how to close it out.\u201c<\/p>\n On Bradley\u2019s growth over the last three seasons: \u201cJ.B. gets a ton of credit. J.B.\u2018s a guy who has always been on the scene. He was a state champion in North Carolina. He goes to a great prep school at IMG. He\u2019s a McDonald\u2019s All-American. So he\u2019s been around the block. No one knows how these careers are going to go. He goes to Alabama. I don\u2019t think he has a bad experience. He has kind of an up-and-down freshman year, but he decided it wasn\u2019t for him, and we were lucky to get him. He came to us, and we were trying to figure out what we were still doing and building our program. So that first year, you know, he played a really important role off the bench for us.<\/p>\n But what he did, he was working behind the scenes. And he really just refined his game. And he\u2019s got some — that shot he hit yesterday, guys, like, I mean I\u2019m not going to say I\u2019ve seen him hit it a lot. But I\u2019ve seen him get that pull-up going right and get a little momentum and swing through with that leg a number of times. He\u2019s just become a refined basketball player. For a guy like him when maybe things don\u2019t happen as fast as you want, to be steadfast and continue to work and get better, it says a lot about their character. This guy\u2019s going to play basketball for a lot of years to come. And he\u2019s going to have a great career.\u201c<\/p>\n On how this team embodies Arizona\u2019s \u2018Figure it Out\u2019 philosophy: \u201cYeah, I just have so much trust in them. Listen, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s bad to be on the court, trying to figure it out when things aren\u2019t going your way. I think that\u2019s really important. Because, like, you\u2019re only going to play good when things feel like they\u2019re going your way? I mean, that\u2019s just not reality. So our guys are really tough and they persevere. I really value those timeouts at the end of the game because they really help. Like if we burn them today, the game could have been different. So I have enough trust in these guys to hang with it and make the plays at the right time, and these guys do a great job. Of course, we call set plays, but a lot of what we do is just concepts. And these guys do a great job putting their own spin within the concepts that we have and kind of that\u2019s the figure-it-out stuff, the beauty of it. To me, that\u2019s the hardest thing to play against. When you have a team that really isn\u2019t like just rigid. There\u2019s a looseness to how they play and a randomness to how they play, but they also have a real identity in where their strengths lie.<\/p>\n These guys have that. That\u2019s why I trust those figure-it-out moments with those guys because I think it\u2019s really hard to play against. We sub Koa in the game, ran an out-of-bounds play with, I think, we had like 11 on the shot clock. I mean Koa did his deal. He got right to one of those little middies in the paint going to his left shoulder. It was big time, big-time play. And those guys, you know J.B. figured it out last night at the end of the game. He waved everybody away, and it was his time. And Brayden, you know, just how he\u2019s grown with handling those ball screens, he was good today playing with pace and coming off those ball screens and kind of got us a lot of options and created some long rotations for them. And so these guys did an amazing job of figuring it out. And that\u2019s a great attribute to have.\u201c<\/p>\n Bradley on the team\u2019s chemistry and how contributed to the win: \u201cWe\u2019ve been playing with each other for a while. We know each other and want the ball and need the ball. But playing against Houston, it\u2019s never easy. So you know you\u2019ve got to move it, you gotta find each other and create plays for each other. Brayden was hitting shots, and Koa was getting to the rim and Ivan was getting to the rim. All our guys contributed tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n Bradley on how he\u2019s matured while at Arizona: \u201cFor sure. I know my path wasn\u2019t going to be easy. I had a great time at Alabama. It just wasn\u2019t for me. Arizona was great. I believed in the coaches. They believed in me. They really turned my career around, and just the fundamental piece. Coach is always talking about the little details, the swivels, pocket passes. At first you look at him like, I don\u2019t want to do that stuff. But it really helps my game. And the small stuff is really going to help in the long run.\u201d<\/p>\n On moving on from his air balls: \u201cI think it\u2019s just having confidence and believing in the work that you put in. And then like you said, after the two air balls I shot I came to the bench and Coach came to me, he said he still believed in me. And I\u2019m just thankful for that. Teammates came to me, still believed in me. And I was just thankful for them, honestly. And, like, the mindset I just think was just, a miss \u2026 two options — either you make it or you miss it no matter how close you are, so just believe in that.\u201d<\/p>\n On maintaining a beginner\u2019s mindset in March: \u201cJust like Coach said, we talk about beginner\u2019s mindset a lot. Towards the end of the season, sometimes it\u2019s tough. You do the same stuff over and over again. It kind of gets boring. But we always come in with a fresh mindset willing to get better. Just want to do the right thing for each other. That\u2019s kind of the mindset that we come in with.\u201c<\/p>\n Burries on the trust between the players: \u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of guys on the team that can get theirs. When somebody drives and they\u2019ve got two on them, it makes it easier for the next guy and you just make a nice read, honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n On playing alongside Bradley: \u201cHe\u2019s a dog, honestly. But he\u2019s a great guy. He\u2019s a great leader. He\u2019s a great person. Not only is he a great basketball player but he\u2019s a great person outside, off the court. I\u2019m so thankful for him.\u201d<\/p>\n Peat on Arizona\u2019s chemistry: \u201cWe have a great group of guys want everybody to be successful. Just making the right plays, making the right reads every time down the court. It\u2019s not going to be perfect, but just playing off each other and we\u2019re just flowing. And Coach put a great offense in for us. So we just played together and hit the open man.\u201d<\/p>\n On playing with Bradley: \u201cBig 12 Player of the Year for a reason. Really proud of Jaden, I see him put all the work in early mornings and late nights in the gym with T.J. and by himself sometimes. So I\u2019m just really proud of Jaden. Like Brayden said, he\u2019s a mentor off the court. And I really look up to him. He\u2019s one of my best friends since I\u2019ve been a freshmen here at Arizona.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Arizona transitioned from the Pac-12 to the Big 12, Tommy Lloyd knew winning conference championships wouldn\u2019t come…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205710,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[14677,56,58,57],"class_list":["post-205709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-arizona-basketball","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205709","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=205709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}