Swaggy, 'goofy' Cats comfortable playing bad-boys role in Sweet 16 showdown vs. Houston

They’re not complaining.

Maybe they’ll even enjoy it if thousands of nearby Houston fans make the drive over to the AT&T Center to follow their fifth-seeded team and drown out the omnipresent “U of A” chants.

Arizona is a team, after all, that held pregame shootarounds all season to P. Diddy's "Bad Boy for Life," and asked to have the rap song played Wednesday as they took the court for practice at AT&T Center.

“We ain't goin' nowhere, we ain't goin' nowhere,” the song blared. “We can't be stopped now, ’cause it's bad boy for life.”

Arizona is a team, after all, that celebrated its second-round win over TCU memorably in front of the Horned Frogs' fan section Sunday. 

Several players, including Justin Kier and Bennedict Mathurin, did what appeared to be goodbye waves while Dalen Terry gave a piggyback ride to a waving UA walk-on as they passed on by.

Meanwhile, ever-swaggy guard Kerr Kriisa mockingly flashed TCU's hand sign — the middle and index fingers bent at the knuckles in an almost-frog-like shape — on his way off the court.

“Rather than celebrating with their team and bench, Wildcat players immediately ran over to the TCU fan base waving goodbye and blowing kisses,” tweeted Frogs O’War, a TCU-oriented sports website. “One team walked away with a W, but the other walked away with dignity.”

That might be reading too much into it, the way Terry explained it.

"When we win the game, it's not nothing personal with the other team's crowd," Terry said. "We’re just goofy. We're all young and goofy. We just like to have fun. We just want to win the game."

During an otherwise mostly serious pregame press conference with UA’s five regular starters, the Wildcats broke out in smiles and laughter when asked if they might be looking forward to playing in front of Houston fans given how they have enjoyed playing in front of other opposing fans.

Kriisa rubbed his chin, covered his mouth, and nodded, still with a slight grin. Then he gave a straight response.

"I mean, we're just trying to win the game," Kriisa said. "It's not that I'm looking forward to wave to Houston fans or stuff like this. We're just trying to win the game. If we do win the game, then we're going to let them know that we won the game. But if we lose, then we're going to shake their hand and say 'good game' and try to be here back next year."

If Houston fans do outnumber Arizona fans Thursday, it would mark the second time the Wildcats faced a disadvantage of sorts despite being a No. 1 seed.

While the Wildcats were allowed to open the NCAA Tournament in San Diego, under NCAA guidelines meant to protect higher seeds from a geographic disadvantage, many of their fans were held outside of Viejas Arena for the early moments of their first-round game against Wright State while crews cleared the place from an early session that ran late. 

Once seated, the UA fans remained somewhat passive during the Wildcats' 87-70 win over the Raiders, too.

That prompted UA coach Tommy Lloyd to challenge UA fans to "bring it" for Game 2, which they did, helping the Wildcats edge TCU 85-80 in overtime.

Just four days later, the top-seeded Wildcats now being asked to play fifth-seeded Houston in a Sweet 16 game that is … just 200 miles away from Houston.

“Three-hour drove from home,” Houston center Josh Carlton said. “We’re expecting a big turnout. We know their fans travel well but we’re really expecting our fans to show up. That’s the big benefit of having this game so close to home, being able to have the fans be there and support us.”

The big benefit? To the lower-seeded team?

Asked how he felt about that during Wednesday’s press conference, Lloyd flipped it into a positive.

"It's great," he said. "Sometimes maybe rather than being in a neutral environment, you'd rather be in a little bit more of a hostile environment. Obviously, Houston, just with the proximity, is going to have a great crowd, but I think Wildcat Nation will show up. I think our fan base is excited. They love being in this situation. I think they're going to bring it tomorrow."