After starting the season 23-0, Arizona has started a new streak in reverse.
The Wildcats lost their second straight game Saturday, 78-75 in overtime to Texas Tech after reigning Big 12 Player of the Year JT Toppin had 31 points and 13 rebounds and guard Christian Anderson had 19 points and eight assists for the Red Raiders.
In what became their first overtime game of the season, the Wildcats were also playing shorthanded for the first time, with reserve forward Dwayne Aristode missing the game with an illness and starting forward Koa Peat sitting out the second half with a lower leg injury.
UA coach Tommy Lloyd said Peat was being tested to determine the severity of the unspecified issue, which did not appear to stem from a single play, while he said Aristode could miss the Wildcats' Feb. 18 game with BYU because of an illness that was also unspecified.
"It's nothing crazy, but just something that's going to probably keep him out for a short while," Lloyd said of Aristode, adding that Peat's loss "definitely hurts our rotation."
Playing without Peat and Aristode during a second half in which they led by up to seven points, the Wildcats were beaten by a team that has basically been shorthanded all season.
Arizona forward Koa Peat watches from the bench as the Wildcats take on Texas Tech in the second half of their Big 12 game, Feb. 14, in Tucson. Peat didn’t play in the second half due to injury.
Toppin and Texas Tech wing Donovan Atwell both played all but a minute Saturday, while each played key roles in overtime, and Anderson never sat out.
All three played big roles in the Red Raiders' overtime win.
In overtime, Toppin scored Texas Tech’s first six points, the last two when he put in the ball after it flew into his hands after Motiejus Krivas blocked a shot from Anderson.
"He did what he does," Lloyd said of Toppin's frequent putbacks. "He's just really good at that. He's very opportunistic, which is a great skill to have."
Texas Tech went ahead 75-71 when Atwell hit a nearly unguarded 3-pointer from the left corner, when defender Brayden Burries left him to gamble unsuccessfully for a pass to Toppin at the top of the key.
Tobe Awaka hit a 15-footer for UA to cut it to two heading into the final minute but two offensive rebounds helped Texas Tech burn nearly a minute off the clock.
Arizona forward Tobe Awaka (30) manages to force Texas Tech guard Christian Anderson (4) into a miss on his last second shot at the buzzer on regulation, helping force overtime in their Big 12 game, Feb. 14, 2026, in Tucson.
By the time UA finally fouled Texas Tech’s LeJuan Watts, only four seconds remained. Watts hit the second of two free throws, leaving the Wildcats a chance only for a rushed 3-pointer to send it into a second overtime period.
But with the clock set to 4.5 seconds left, inbounded to Jaden Bradley, who drove to the left perimeter and put up a 3-pointer that missed.
Texas Tech "made timely shots and timely defensive stops," Lloyd said. "That allowed them to get over the top on us. We felt like we had opportunities considering all the things that we're kind of going through, but you've just got to get it done."
Near the end of regulation, Atwell hit a 3-pointer to give Texas Tech a 66-64 lead with 25 seconds left. UA called timeout, before Ivan Kharchenkov drew a foul 10 feet from the basket and hit both free throws to tie it at 46.
Texas Tech had 16 seconds and the ball to win the game without needing overtime, but Arizona’s defense gave the Red Raiders few options as the seconds ticked off. Anderson wound up driving toward the basket before missing an eight-footer just before time expired.
The game featured widely contrasting 3-point philosophies. Texas Tech entered the game taking 47% of its shots from beyond the arc, while UA did only 26.5% of the time.
The Red Raiders wound up hitting 11 of 33 from 3-point range — taking half of their shots from behind the arc — while UA was just 4 of 16 from 3.
Meanwhile, Arizona couldn't establish its usual strengths, outrebounding Texas Tech only 41-39 and only matching the Red Raiders' 26 points in the paint.
"That's the stat of the game," Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said, sitting next to Toppin and Anderson on the postgame interview podium. "And we pretty much matched them on the glass, and we didn't limit the free throw attempts.
"But, man, I love the fight of this team, and these two guys wouldn't let us lose. That's it. That's what I'll tell you. I mean, JT Toppin is not going to be denied at the end of this game."
The ending made for by far the roughest week the Wildcats have had all season, starting with a 82-78 loss at Kansas on Monday and then losing to the Red Raiders on a day when ESPN's "GameDay" crew had set up shop and debated whether Arizona or Michigan is the best team in the country.
Now, Michigan (24-1) will almost certainly take the top spot away from the Wildcats in the Associated Press Top 25 poll and the top projected overall seed among potential NCAA Tournament No. 1s.
The loss dropped Arizona to 23-2 overall and 10-2 in the Big 12, while Texas Tech improved to 19-6 and 9-3.
With their next game at home Wednesday against BYU, the Wildcats will have to keep moving forward without Aristode and maybe even Peat.
Lloyd basically tried to cope with the absences Saturday by playing his other five top players 37 or more minutes. He also gave one minute in the second half to seldom-used forward Sidi Gueye.
Gueye was wildly applauded when he hit a layup with 12 minutes left, giving UA a 46-44 lead and Arizona went ahead by up to seven points the rest of the half.
But with 2:18 left, Toppin hit a short hook to cut UA’s lead to just 64-61 and the Wildcats' grip loosened even further. The Red Raiders missed a chance to tie it when their best 3-point shooters, Anderson and Atwell, both missed 3s over the next minute.
After carrying their 64-61 lead into the final minute of regulation, UA failed to score on a drive to the basket from Bradley, who missed a layup before Krivas rebounded the miss — and missed his own shot.
The first half was also closely contested. Awaka led Arizona with nine points and four rebounds while the teams tied at 32-32 at halftime, while Anderson led Texas Tech by hitting 4 of 9 3-pointers.
Arizona barely outshot Texas Tech overall, 42.3% to 40.0% before halftime but failed to take full advantage of greater ability to get to the line. Arizona made just 8 of 13 free throws, while Texas Tech was 2 of 4.
The Wildcats swarmed over Texas Tech early, holding the Red Raiders to just 3 of 14 shooting overall — and 1 of 9 from 3-point range — while taking a 10-7 lead over the first six minutes of the game.
Anderson hit two 3-pointers over a two-minute period midway through the first half to keep Texas Tech within a possession but Ivan Kharchenkov and Awaka hit 3s that helped give the Wildcats a 21-15 lead with eight minutes left before halftime.
But the game was tied at 32 at halftime, tied at 66 at the end of regulation and, maybe fittingly for a game with polar opposite 3-point philosophies, ended with a three-point margin.
"We didn't close it out" in regulation, Lloyd said. "We gave up a 3 that you wish you wouldn't have. They go up two, and we found a way to tie the game on the last possession. That's big time stuff. We work on that stuff a lot, and delivering those game moments is really important."
