MANHATTAN, Kansas – During their transition from nonconference letdown to Big 12 co-leaders, Arizona settled players neatly into roles, developed a uniquely effective post tandems and learned to win without Caleb Love’s best production.
On Tuesday, the Wildcats essentially did none of the above. Shooting just 2 of 21 from 3-point range, with Love missing all seven long-range shots he tried, the Wildcats had 17 costly turnovers in a 73-70 loss to Kansas State at Bramlage Coliseum on Tuesday.
The loss snapped UA’s six-game winning streak and dropped it to 17-7 overall and 11-2 in the Big 12. Arizona is now a game behind Houston in the Big 12 but will have a chance to tie the Cougars again Saturday when they host Houston at McKale Center.
Kansas State moved its winning streak to six games after a dreadful stretch in which it lost 10 of 11 games, improving to 13-11 overall and 7-6 in the Big 12.
“I think they're a little bit like us, fighting for their season,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said. “They were the little bit more desperate team today, and you could see that and feel that. And you know, that's what good coaches do. Sometimes it doesn't go as easy as you want early and you keep fighting.
“We've been through some adversity this year, and we've fought our way through it, and by no means do I think it's over.”
What appeared to frustrate Lloyd was that so much of UA’s adversity was self-imposed.
First, there were all those missed 3s, some of them good looks at the basket that just missed, and Love was at the center of it, just as he was at the center of Arizona’s Jan. 27 win over Iowa State for his heroics.
This time, Love had just six points on 3 for 17 overall shooting.
“He didn't play great. We’ll have to go back and look at why,” Lloyd said. “I thought he had some good opportunities, I thought he had a few of those 3s towards the end of that game that looked really good.”
But others struggled, too. Arizona lost its composure after taking a seven-point first-half lead and fumbled away several key opportunities down the stretch.
K-State took a 66-64 lead with 1:54 left after point guard Dug McDaniels drove in for a short jumper and, after a turnover from Henri Veesaar, made a layup. Veesaar then tipped a rebound out of bounds, setting up K-State for another score when center David N’Guessan made a layup off an entry pass frop Coleman Hawkins.
That made it 66-62, and after Arizona called a timeout, K-State’s Mobi Ikegwurka stole the ball from UA’s Jaden Bradley and raced inside for a dunk that gave the homecourt Wildcats a six-point lead.
Still, Arizona had chances. While another turnover from Bradley allowed K-State to go ahead by six with 57 seconds left, UA crept within 71-70 with seven seconds left after Love and KJ Lewis made layups.
They still had time to pull it out, and experience in doing that sort of thing.
“I definitely had that feeling,” UA center Tobe Awaka said. “I thought we had dug ourselves a hole, but we definitely had a chance to come back and win. Just some small technical issues, little mistakes, a few turnovers here and there, kind of cost us. It’s being more calm under pressure when it comes to crunch time.”
But after Lewis’ layup cut it to a single point, Arizona couldn’t get any closer. Hawkins successfully inbounded the ball to his best-shooting teammate, Brandon Hausen, who sank two free throws to give K-State a three-point margin with six seconds left.
With so little time, Bradley tried to throw a long inbounds pass to center Henri Veesaar but McDaniel intercepted it – and, despite tilting over the halfcourt line as he passed, officials ruled he didn’t go over-and-back before he passed to Max Jones.
While Jones missed both free throws with 3.1 seconds left after he was fouled, the officials’ determination on McDaniel meant UA had to inbound fullcourt again and Love’s long 3-pointer missed as time ran out.
Lloyd partially blamed himself for Bradley’s inbounds turnover, saying he opted for the high-risk pass rather than inbounding more conventionally but having potentially less time to operate if K-State fouled.
“In hindsight, now I would have called something different, but we've worked on that play a lot and it’s something that we feel comfortable running in those situations,” Lloyd said. “It was just a little bit of an errant pass.”
Of course, Lloyd would have preferred Arizona never found itself in that position in the first place. UA took leads of seven points four times throughout the first half, lifted on one occasion when officials reversed a goaltending call against UA forward Carter Bryant.
“We got kind of a good break … and the next thing you know we’re up seven – and we squandered it away,” Lloyd said. “You just can't do that on the road. I'm not saying you need to go up 13 at half, but it'd be nice to be in the game and not be down six at half.”
Kansas State wound up going on a 13-0 run to close out the first half, taking a 35-29 lead into halftime. UA held two brief two-point leads in the second half but never took control, basically just hanging around instead.
At another new Big 12 venue, in front of an almost-all-lavender wearing crowd of 8,914, cheering on their drastically revived version of Wildcats, that wasn’t enough.
“I thought we were like in a good position to win it,” Lloyd said. “We just had a few unfortunate plays that happened, back-to-back-to-back, and then you’re scratching and clawing and fighting for your life. We gave ourselves a chance, even to the last buzzer, and that's a credit to our guys, But we didn't play good enough. We didn't play smart enough to win anywhere, especially on the road.”
Kansas State's Max Jones, left, and C.J. Jones, right, block the shot of Arizona's Caleb Love during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Manhattan, Kan. (AP Photo/Travis Heying)
