Wildcats have struggled on road heading into major test at first-place Oregon

EUGENE, Ore. — Arizona’s recent history coming off a loss suggests the No. 9-ranked Wildcats will be just fine Saturday, but they’re really pushing it this time.

Arizona has never lost back-to-back games under third-year coach Tommy Lloyd, smothering their next opponent by an average of 17.2 points after their 13 regular-season losses entering this week.

They can also maybe take some heart in that Pac-12 scheduling twist that will go away next season, the one allowing teams a chance to turn an ugly Thursday night performance into a vengeful win less than 48 hours later, as so many Pac-12 teams have before.

But all that history was built before Arizona gave up an astounding number of 3-point shots for the second time in Pac-12 play, losing 83-80 on Thursday to an Oregon State team that hit 12 of 20 long-range shots, including Jordan Pope’s buzzer-beating game-winner from the left wing.

It was also before the Wildcats took the bus down the Willamette Valley on Friday to Eugene, where the Ducks have beaten them six straight times at Matthew Knight Arena.

So Lloyd wasn’t counting on any past precedent to make a difference.

“This game has no impact on the next game,” Lloyd said. “I’m not ascribing to any of those theories. If our guys want to win now, because they lost (Thursday), they’re in the wrong program. When you wear an Arizona jersey, you want to win every day.

“We don’t need to get into the weeds. You want to win every day and it’s your responsibility to bring it every day.”

UA forward Keshad Johnson, who had 18 points and made several key plays that put UA in position to tie or win Thursday, wasn’t buying any of that stuff, either. A transfer from San Diego State, Johnson said the Mountain West Conference more often had two days between games and never thought much of it.

“It’s a little different from the Pac-12, but it don’t make no difference.,” Johnson said. “It’s still basketball. You’ve got to be ready to come out and play. There’s no excuse at all.”

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The Wildcats didn’t offer any Thursday at OSU, where they gave up the second-highest 3-point percentage they have all season, after Stanford made 16 of 25 on Dec. 31. While Lloyd blamed he and his staff for both losses, he also expressed disappointment in UA guards at Stanford and at UA big men on Thursday at OSU.

While Pope made 5 of 8 3-pointers, including the buzzer-beater he called the biggest shot of his life, he also did so despite tough defense from the Willdcats. The more avoidable ones generally came from 6-9 forwards, Tyler Bilodeau (3 of 4) and Michael Ratag (2 of 3), who sometimes broke free without a defender in sight.

“Our bigs got to step up on some of these bigs,” Lloyd said. “Our bigs are literally acting like they’ve never seen another big make a 3. We’ve probably got to scout it better, and we got to respect people a little bit more. But that’s on the coaching staff and on our bigs. We’ve gotta be better there. It’s a recurring theme against us.”

This is where the Oregon part comes in again. The Ducks rank second in the Pac-12 by hitting an average of 41.8% from 3-point range in conference games, and they have made nine or more 3s in five of their past seven games.

Also, this guy: Jermaine Couisnard. He’s the one who hit 6 of 9 3s a year ago against the Wildcats at Eugene, scoring 27 points to lead the Ducks in their 87-68 win. He’s 17 of 31 from 3 over his last four games.

The good news for Arizona: Even with a loss Thursday, the game is still a chance for first place in the crowded Pac-12. The Ducks are 6-2, ahead of Colorado (6-3), Arizona (5-3), Arizona State (5-3), Stanford (5-3), Utah (5-4) and Washington State (5-4). UA will also host Oregon on March 2.

So there’s still plenty of opportunity for the Wildcats to win the Pac-12 title they were expected to, and plenty of precedent in their favor Saturday.

But Arizona has now lost three straight road games heading into potentially their toughest one of the season. So nothing figures to be easy.

“I was hoping we’d go (to Oregon) and we’d be tied, but we’re one game down, so we’ve gotta fight back,” Lloyd said. “It’s gonna be a really hard game. Oregon’s playing well. They’ve got a great coach. They got great players. They’ve got a good home-court advantage. And obviously the road has not been kind to the Arizona Wildcats in 2024.”