Tommy Lloyd: Wildcats have lessons to learn as they move on from last-second loss

No matter how Desmond Cambridge’s 60-foot buzzer-beater goes down in ASU-Arizona basketball history, and no matter the damage inflicted on the Wildcats’ postseason placement, Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd was somewhat philosophical and measured Saturday.

Thirty seconds into his postgame media address after ASU stunned No. 7 Arizona 89-88, Lloyd said he had moved on. He later said he hoped his players had, too.

“I mean, this game, whatever,” Lloyd said. “Maybe it impacts things here and there but not enough to matter. So let’s get better.”

The Wildcats’ loss did allow UCLA the chance to clinch the Pac-12 title outright with its 60-56 win over Colorado on Sunday, but the Bruins already were in control of their fate: They could have also won the title outright by beating Arizona on Saturday at Pauley Pavilion even if the Wildcats (24-5, 13-5 Pac-12) had beaten ASU Saturday and gone on to beat USC on Thursday.

Arizona, which will now be facing the Trojans (21-8, 13-5) in a battle for the No. 2 Pac-12 Tournament seed, also dropped from a No. 2 to a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament, according to ESPN bracket predictor Joe Lunardi.

But Lloyd still looked at the Wildcats’ loss Saturday mostly as a learning opportunity for the March games ahead.

“I wish we would have played better defensively earlier in the game, but it happened, and I thought we had a lot of clutch plays on offense and defense down the stretch that we’ll learn from,” Lloyd said. “And I’ve already moved on. Looking forward to practice on Monday.”

Based on their results Saturday and Lloyd’s comments afterward, here are some things that could be on the week’s agenda:

Photos: Arizona State upsets #7 Arizona Wildcats, Pac-12 basketball

The Wildcats fall to arch rival Sun Devils on a last second shot 89-88 at McKale Center, Tucson, Ariz., February 25, 2023.

1. Develop a killer instinct

What might have bothered Lloyd as much as anything was that Arizona led ASU 78-68 with 6:30 left, with a sellout McKale Center crowd anticipating more.

“When you’re playing in front of a home crowd, you want to deliver a knockout punch,” Lloyd said.

Instead, less than three minutes later, UA led by only four points, and the game was tied with 1:31 to play, opening the door for ASU to have a last-second opportunity.

Although the Wildcats defended ASU deep into their last full possession, when DJ Horne missed a 3-pointer, Lloyd said they were not defending closely enough in the final seconds and were “soft” on the switch that let Cambridge race free to take his buzzer-beater.

“I think that last possession (ending in Horne’s miss), I thought we played really good defense. They didn’t get a great shot,” Lloyd said. “They missed, we got the rebound. And then unfortunately, the celebration started a little bit early because there’s still a little bit of time on the clock.”

When the clock did run out, that 78-68 UA lead had turned into an improbable 89-88 ASU victory.

“We led by 10 points with five minutes left,” guard Courtney Ramey said, “and we didn’t take care of business.”

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2. Stay mindful when it matters most

Arizona actually had only two more turnovers than ASU, and scored seven more points off turnovers than the Sun Devils did, but carelessness cost them at a critical time.

They had four turnovers in the final four minutes, and one of them, from Azuolas Tubelis, led directly to a 3-pointer from Cambridge that cut UA’s lead to 82-81 with 2:24 left.

And when the Wildcats did hold on to the ball long enough down the stretch to take a shot, they usually missed. Arizona hit just 1 of 5 field goals after taking that 10-point lead, a layup from Pelle Larsson that gave UA an 87-86 lead with 29 seconds left.

“You have a 10-point lead at home. Don’t turn the ball over,” Lloyd said. “It just comes down to that. Don’t turn the ball over. We give our guys a lot of freedom, but with that freedom comes responsibility.

“Maybe I could have scripted some things a little bit better, but also we probably could have been a little more solid with the ball and not just giving it to the other team when we knew we had a team that was aggressive and was going to take chances. You’ve gotta be a little smarter.”

3. Get Zu on both ends

While the Wildcats as a whole have some defensive work to consider, having given up 53.7% shooting to an ASU team that is statistically mediocre, the most glaring aspect Saturday was that Tubelis didn’t stay on the floor full time at the end — even though he wasn’t in foul trouble this time.

Tubelis had 17 points and nine rebounds over 31 minutes and would have played even more had Lloyd not benched him for defensive purposes four times in the last four minutes.

“Listen, I don’t care about overall stats,” Lloyd said. “To be honest, I never even look at the overall stats. I couldn’t tell you what his shooting percentage is, how many points he’s scoring, but I know effort on defense, and he’s got to play better.”

Since Tubelis struggled with fouls in UA’s Feb. 11 loss at Stanford and again on Feb. 16 against Utah, Lloyd was asked if a fear of fouling is affecting Tubelis’ defense.

“Not an excuse,” Lloyd said. “It’s basketball. High-level basketball. Suck it up.”