Wildcats' defense melts down in second half of 62-58 loss to Houston at McKale

Maybe the Big 12 race effectively ended Saturday at McKale Center, maybe it didn’t.

Maybe the Arizona Wildcats fell out of the race with a 62-58 loss to Houston, dropping two games behind the Cougars in the Big 12 standings after giving up 50% field-goal shooting in the second half of a mostly defensive-minded game.

And maybe it doesn’t get any better for the Wildcats during a schedule that keeps getting tougher, or maybe it does.

UA coach Tommy Lloyd indicated he’s not sure. The Wildcats are now facing their most challenging turnaround of the conference season, following up their loss to the conference leaders on Saturday by playing a road game at Baylor on Monday.

“I think this team's got a lot left in the tank, I can't wait to see how they show up tomorrow for practice, and I can't wait to see how we go play at Baylor,” Lloyd said in his postgame media conference. “Because you know what? You guys all think we're going to go get our ass kicked at Baylor. You guys do.

“You guys think we're going to get our ass kicked at Baylor because we're tired. We've been on a long stretch. We're going to play on the road. Our heads are going to be down. Let's see. Let's see what team shows up.”

Certainly, the Wildcats’ performance Saturday indicated they could go either way.

They took a five-point lead at halftime while matching Houston's defensive intensity in the first half, with both teams shooting less than 40% while UA outrebounded the Cougars 23-15 before halftime. UA then led by up to seven in the second half before melting down over the final nine minutes with a mix of defensive lapses, questionable offensive decisions and a few missed free throws.

“I think (Houston) had a little more certainty where they were going to get their shots from, and kind of hung with it a little bit better,” Lloyd said. “I didn't love some of our possessions at the end of the game. They’re obviously a great defensive team, and you just have to have a little more wherewithal on offense.”

The Wildcats appeared to be nearly in control midway through the second half after going on a 6-0 run that was highlighted by Henri Veesaar’s block of Houston’s Ja’Vier Francis, taking a 48-41 lead with 9:10 left.

But Houston went on a 12-0 run from there to take a 53-48 lead with 5:14 left, prompting a UA timeout. During that stretch, Cryer hit a pullup jumper, point guard Milos Uzan hit two jumpers and Cryer returned to hit two 3-pointers from the top of the key.

Houston went on to lead 57-50 with 3:11 to go after Cryer pulled up for a 15-foot jumper but Veesaar dunked before freshman Carter Bryant kept the Wildcats' hopes alive by twice pulling them within a point, the first with a 3-pointer from the left corner and the second with a layup that cut Houston's lead to just 59-58 with 57 seconds left.

But on Houston’s next possession, Jaden Bradley fouled Houston’s Terrance Arceneaux as he drove to the basket.

Though Arceneaux might have made a layup otherwise, the foul proved costly. Arceneaux hit both ensuing free throws to put the Cougars up by three, 61-58, and Houston held on with defense from there while UA’s KJ Lewis and Bryant both missed contested 3-pointers.

“At the end of the game, you can't be afraid to play defense,” Lloyd said. “I think they're going to err on the side of maybe not calling the foul. So we're going to be physical and we're going to stick our nose in there.”

Cryer and Uzan wound up leading the Cougars’ second-half comeback, with Uzan scoring 13 points on 6-for-8 shooting after halftime and Cryer adding 10 points on 4-for-7 shooting in the second half. Both of them darted carefully through cracks in the UA defense at times.

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“We've always prided on ourselves on taking care of the ball and the backcourt of Bradley and Love and Lewis, they're very handsy in a good way, because they use their athleticism,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. “We worked really hard this week on playing with the ball out in front of us when we got by them because they like to come from behind and punch it out.

“You’re not always sure what's going to work when you go into the game ... and then once the game starts, the game usually will tell you what will work and we were loaded up. We played two-on-two, they were in drop coverage, and Milos kept getting downhill with his floater.”

It helped, Sampson said, that Uzan’s swagger grew as the game wore on.

Asked afterward what that meant, Uzan explained.

“Playing with more aggression throughout the game,” said Uzan, once an Arizona recruiting target. “He was telling me I might have to go get 20 tonight. So I'm just trying to do whatever it takes. Honestly, this team is so selfless.”

For Arizona, while Love led the Wildcats in scoring with 17 points, he and his teammates were inefficient overall. Love was 1 for 8 from 3-point range, while the Wildcats together made just 5 of 23 (21.7%) of their 3-pointers and shot 37.0% overall.

In the first half, the Wildcats’ defense and rebounding made up their offensive shortfall. Arizona and Houston played within a basket of each other for the first 10 minutes before UA went ahead 17-10 entering a timeout with 8:07 left.

At that point, Houston was shooting only 25.0% from the field while Arizona wasn’t much better at 33.3% but was outrebounding the Cougars 16-10.

In a close game throughout the half, Houston cut it to within four points with seven minutes left, after Arceneaux hit a 3-pointer and Cryer made a layup. But Love hit a 10-foot jumper and UA’s Trey Townsend made a 3 from the left corner to put UA ahead 24-17 with 4:58 left.

Townsend was playing for the first time since suffering a concussion on Feb. 4 at BYU, missing the Wildcats’ past two games while in concussion protocol. He finished with three points on 1-for-5 shooting.

Not only did the loss drop Arizona two games behind Houston (21-4, 13-1) in the Big 12 race, the Wildcats also now must face that short turnaround before playing at Baylor on Monday.

“We might get our ass kicked Monday. But we might not,” Lloyd said. “I want to see what we have. I want to see what our guys are made of. I want to see how they respond.

“Our season is not going to be determined today by what happened, but how we respond might have a lot to do with where we go. So win or lose today, we’ve got to move forward.”

Photos: Houston wins 62-58 over Arizona at McKale Center, Big 12 men's basketball