Roughly two-thirds of Gallagher-Iba Arena’s 13,611 seats were empty Tuesday night, and fans wearing red populated at least a few hundred of them.
“U of A! U of A!” some Wildcats fans chanted toward the end of Arizona’s 92-78 win at Oklahoma State, reminiscent of how UA fans routinely overcame tepid home crowds at Stanford and Cal in recent Pac-12 seasons.
In short, it was the kind of game Arizona may have needed to make sure it won to keep contending for the Big 12 title, considering a seriously backloaded schedule that will feature road games at ASU, BYU, Baylor, Iowa State and Kansas.
Arizona forward Henri Veesaar (13) pulls down the rebound in a crowd against UCF in their Big 12 game in Tucson on Jan. 11, 2025.
“Winning on the road is tough in any level of college basketball, especially in this conference,” UA forward Trey Townsend said after Tuesday’s game.
Tied with Iowa State (16-2, 6-1) for second place in the Big 12, a game behind Houston (15-3, 7-0), the Wildcats (12-6, 6-1) also have a chance to get ahead Saturday at McKale. They’ll be hosting Colorado, which hasn’t won a Big 12 game yet this season and has never beaten UA at McKale Center, last winning in Tucson at Bear Down Gym in 1965.
Still, UA coach Tommy Lloyd said earlier this week he’s not really looking at one Big 12 game differently than any other.
“I think they all count like that,” Lloyd said. “I approach every game like that in the conference season.”
After the Wildcats lost at Texas Tech on Jan. 18, Lloyd said the Wildcats had to keep moving forward with life in a conference race. After all, last season, the Wildcats lost at Oregon State and twice to Washington State — before winning the Pac-12 regular-season title.
“I think people forget about the big picture,” Lloyd said. “Sometimes it is just conference basketball.”
Buffs in dumps
Not only will Colorado offer Arizona its first chance in Big 12 play to face a familiar former Pac-12 team, but the Buffs are off to their worst conference start in 15 seasons after losing three NBA Draft picks last June: Cody Williams, Tristan da Silva and KJ Simpson.
Things were so rough during Colorado’s 83-67 home loss to BYU on Saturday that Buffzone.com reported that Buffs fans streamed out of the CU Events Center during the second half while BYU fans “flowed closer to the floor and loudly celebrated a road win.”
The loss put Colorado at 0-7 in league play, with the odds not exactly favoring them to win Saturday at McKale.
Colorado head coach Tad Boyle argues for a call in the first half of a game against Arizona on Feb. 10, 2024, in Boulder, Colo.
“What do we have to do to beat Arizona at Arizona?” Boyle said after the BYU game, according to Buffzone.com. “One thing I’m going to challenge our guys — you want a chance to do something that’s never been done? We’ll have an opportunity to do that on Saturday. Now, will we embrace that opportunity? Or will we say, ‘Previous teams can’t do it, we can’t do it.’ If that’s our attitude, this season, we’re not going to get that first conference win.”
Milestone blinders
Arizona’s basketball communications chief, Nate Weichers, pulled off a balancing act this week: He needed to publicize Lloyd’s potential 100th win at UA … without distracting Lloyd himself about the news.
It may have helped that Lloyd didn’t appear to read UA’s in-house game notes before the Texas Tech and Oklahoma State games, in which two of the first three items addressed the subject.
Lloyd carried 99 wins into last weekend but said earlier this week he knew about the milestone only after reviewing UA’s loss to Texas Tech on video.
“There was a graphic in the game and it was the first time I’d seen it,” Lloyd said, shrugging when asked about the milestone. “Nate does a good job of of not telling me stuff I don’t want to know.”
Lloyd picked up No. 100 on Tuesday at Oklahoma State, midway through his fourth season at UA, coincidentally tying former boss Mark Few of Gonzaga for winning 100 in the 10th fastest time (126 games).
Trio of Dell’Orso, Love, Veesaar add efficiency
College basketball data analyst Evan Miyakawa ranks UA’s trio of Caleb Love, Anthony Dell’Orso and Henri Veesaar as the fourth-most efficient three-player lineup in college basketball behind groups at Texas A&M, Pittsburgh and Florida.
Arizona guard Caleb Love (1), center, and guard Anthony Dell’Orso (3) harass Baylor guard VJ Edgecombe (7) on a drive during the second half of their Big 12 game at McKale Center, Jan. 14, 2025.
“The Love/Dell’Orso/Veesaar combination has been a catalyst for Arizona,” Miyakawa posted to X.
Arizona has had an offensive efficiency of 122.5 points per 100 possessions when the trio is on the floor, and a defensive efficiency of 69.9 per 100 for an “observed efficiency margin” of 52.6.
