After Arizona knocked off third-ranked Iowa State on Jan. 27 at McKale Center, coach Tommy Lloyd interrupted a media questioner who noted that the Wildcats had moved into second place.
“Too early,” Lloyd said. “Too early.”
Maybe it was. But especially now, after UA beat ASU 81-72 on Saturday, that sort of talk just isn’t going away.
Because the Wildcats, picked to finish fifth in the Big 12’s preseason poll and facing a near-certain downgrade if votes were recast after their dreary nonconference performance, are now sitting in a tie for first place exactly halfway through the conference season.
Yes, first place.
They’re tied with Houston at 9-1, to be precise, and with a tougher second-half schedule ahead, but still … first place?
“Nobody thought we would be in this position but us,” guard Jaden Bradley said and he might have been correct, at least among humans.
The Wildcats appeared to be in nobody’s early NCAA Tournament bracket after blowing a 13-point lead in a Dec. 14 loss to UCLA that put them at 4-5 at that point, though the computers always did like them.
Arizona guard KJ Lewis (5) celebrates with forward Carter Bryant (9) and Jaden Bradley (0) during the second half of the game at Desert Financial Arena, Feb. 1, 2025.
The many college basketball predictive engines have had Arizona consistently rated in or not far outside the Top 25, since the Wildcats have blown out mid-major opponents and mostly lost close games to the high majors in nonconference play, indicating they were better than their raw win-loss record might indicate.
But … first place?
“I mean, from the outside looking in, it’s probably (feeling like) an underdog,” Bradley said, when asked about Arizona’s mentality. “But we feel like we belong here and we’re competitors. We want to compete, we want to win at everything we do.”
They won’t have a choice on the matter now. The Wildcats don’t look like underdogs anymore, even to humans.
Arizona, 15-6 overall and with five Quad 1 wins already, not only has elevated into contention for a preferential top four NCAA Tournament seed but also could return to the Associated Press Top 25 on Monday for the first time since dropping out after going 1-2 in the Thanksgiving week Battle 4 Atlantis.
Also: The Wildcats haven’t won a single Big 12 weekly honor yet but could now have their most qualified candidate yet for the Big 12 Player of the Week award, considering Caleb Love’s game-defining 3-point bombs against Iowa State and 27 points against ASU.
Freshman Carter Bryant also might have a shot at the conference’s Newcomer of the Week award, too, after he filled box scores in both games.
While Love has scored more than 20 points in three of UA’s past four games, the emergence of Bryant and rest of the Wildcats’ supporting cast is a big reason they are sitting on top of the Big 12 all of a sudden.
Arizona’s 81-72 win over ASU on Saturday was a typical example. During his postgame press conference, Lloyd basically was asked about nearly every key player and how he made a difference.
It went like this:
On center Henri Veesaar’s second half, when he had 11 points and six rebounds in just 16 minutes: “He’s done that a number of times. He’s responded. I told Henri it’s OK to play like that in the first half but it just seems like in the second half, he kind of figures out the game a little bit, and he’s able to make plays with his length and his skill.”
Wildcats guard Jaden Bradley (0) and guard KJ Lewis (5) celebrate after dominating in the final minute of the game against the Sun Devils at Desert Financial Arena on Feb. 1.
On the defense of guard KJ Lewis, who helped keep ASU to just 36.8% shooting while blocking three shots and stealing the ball twice: “KJ is a monster. He’s really kind of embraced that role of being a defensive stopper. He’s special with the things he can do on the defensive end of the floor. I don’t know if it’s appreciated enough but I know how much I value it. He really changes the game when he’s out there.”
On Bryant, who picked up four fouls but collected eight points, 10 rebounds, three blocks and four steals in 23 minutes: “Carter was great. He got his hands on a bunch of balls and made a bunch of plays, rebounded really well. It was a great effort.”
When Lloyd was done, Bradley summed it all up, crediting even little-used sophomore point guard Conrad Martinez, who had four turnover-free minutes late in the first half after Bradley picked up a technical foul for taunting.
“I feel like everybody that got in contributed,” Bradley said. “CB made some big time shots. Henri down the stretch, even Conrad when we were in the foul trouble. … Everybody contributed to this win today.”
Arizona Wildcats guard Caleb Love (1) knocks the ball loose from Sun Devils guard BJ Freeman (10) during the game on Feb. 1.
They didn’t do it without controversy. Bradley picked up one technical and Love was ejected in a game that also involved two ASU technicals, while Sun Devils coach Bobby Hurley blasted UA players for showing “no class” with constant chatter during the game and suggested he would alter his Big 12 all-conference voting as a result.
“I can tell you who’s not getting a vote,” Hurley said. “I’m sure you might know who I’m thinking of.”
Love and ASU’s BJ Freeman were both ejected after Freeman head-butted Love with 30 seconds left in Saturday’s game, a moment Hurley said was precipitated by the “constant talk that was allowed to go on.”
Officials handed Freeman a Flagrant 2 foul that carried an immediate ejection, and, while officials initially did not say why Love was ejected, the Big 12 clarified to the Star on Sunday that Love also received a Flagrant 2 foul.
While Love did not appear to contact Freeman, the NCAA's definition of a Flagrant 2 foul also includes "extreme unsporting conduct" without contact during a live or dead ball.
After Saturday's game, Love said the Wildcats always “respect our opponent” and that he and Freeman were just two competitors going at it.
“It escalated and the refs made a call,” Love said. “We were competing. We just compete. It was a great atmosphere, great game and we came out on top.”
Lloyd said he wants to have a team that will “respond with class” in tough moments and there may be more of those tough moments to come.
The Big 12 race is still only half over, after all.
“You want to embrace these games,” Love said at ASU. “You want to enjoy them and you want to compete at a high level.”
