No. 4 Arizona steadies the ship with a gritty 73-66 win at No. 2 Houston

[ad_1] HOUSTON (AP) — Arizona wasn’t feeling nice after shedding consecutive video games following a 23-0 begin.

“The 2 losses simply didn’t style proper within the mouth,” Arizona’s Ivan Kharchenko stated.

The fourth-ranked Wildcats are feeling rather a lot higher now after successful two straight following that skid, capped by Saturday’s 73-66 victory over No. 2 Houston that gave them sole possession of first place within the Massive 12 Convention.

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Arizona (25-2, 12-2) misplaced to then-No. 9 Kansas and then- Sixteenth-ranked Texas Tech to drop out of the No. 1 spot within the AP High 25 ballot. They beat No. 23 BYU at dwelling Wednesday earlier than utilizing a stingy protection to down the Cougars in entrance of a packed home Saturday.

“You lose that powerful sport at Kansas. You lose a tricky sport at dwelling towards Texas Tech," coach Tommy Lloyd stated. "After which your reward is you may have BYU and Houston within the subsequent week. It may possibly get uncontrolled actually fast on this convention. And so, for us to regular the ship it says rather a lot in regards to the guys throughout the program.”

Lloyd is blissful to have his staff atop the Massive 12, however is aware of there’s much more work forward.

“Clearly we wish to win the Massive 12,” he stated. “However what’s actually cool about being within the Massive 12? You possibly can take second or third within the convention and nonetheless win the nationwide championship. The convention is that robust. So, we put ourselves in place to be in place. Now, you bought to go reap the benefits of it.”

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Whereas he actually doesn’t like shedding, Lloyd admitted that discovering a solution to right issues is among the finest elements of his job.

“You’re truly in all probability doing OK, since you get to determine issues out,” he stated. “And there’s nothing cooler than accepting a problem when issues get powerful and attempting to assist your group determine it out. That’s actually what might be probably the most fulfilling a part of teaching, though it comes with a bit little bit of ache.”

The victory marks the primary time Lloyd has overwhelmed the Cougars after shedding his first three matchups towards coach Kelvin Sampson.

Earlier than Lloyd took questions after the win on Saturday, he took a second to precise his admiration for Sampson and the way he’s remodeled Houston’s program in his 12 seasons on the college.

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“I don’t know what my teaching profession goes to finish up at, however I do know one factor, I’m gonna have turn out to be a greater coach teaching towards Kelvin Sampson,” Lloyd stated. “You take a look at coaches that set the benchmark in sure areas and for me he’s certainly one of them. What he’s performed with this program down right here, it’s been superb.”

Lloyd, who was an assistant for 20 years at Gonzaga earlier than being employed at Arizona, likened Houston’s success below Sampson to the dominance of the Bulldogs below coach Mark Few.

“(It) jogs my memory the place I got here from,” he stated. I used to be at this little old skool known as Gonzaga, and nobody actually believed. However they'd a hell of a head coach similar to you may have. And the top coach at Gonzaga and the top coach right here at Houston have willed these packages to be elite. And that’s actually inspiring for me.”

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