'Tournament team' Utah means Cats have little time to enjoy rout of Buffaloes

By now, it’s clear that Tommy Lloyd’s Arizona teams have the revenge thing figured out pretty well.

The Wildcats not only avenged all six of their regular-season losses last season, but they also have followed each of their 12 regular-season losses over two-plus seasons under Lloyd by taking it out on their next opponent.

In their latest example, apparently still steaming after a 100-82 loss at Stanford on Sunday, the No. 10 Wildcats clubbed Colorado 97-50 on Thursday night at McKale Center. They now boast an average victory margin of 17.6 in regular-season games after a loss, having won all 12 of them by at least two possessions.

“I think we’ve usually done a good job of responding in games like this,” said wing Pelle Larsson, who led the Wildcats on Thursday with 18 points and seven rebounds.

True. Those haven’t been a problem for the Wildcats. Especially when the next game is at McKale, where a sold-out crowd reveled in what wasn’t really a game at all after about 10 minutes.

“I feel like everyone had great energy,” Larsson said. “Every time we play at McKale, you get so much energy from our fans and our crowds, it’s really hard to not come out as excited as we were.”

All true. But, for Arizona, it’s the game after the game after a loss that can sometimes be a problem.

On three occasions during his postgame address Thursday, Lloyd mentioned Utah at the end of a comment about what happened against Colorado, despite not being asked about the Utes.

The Wildcats host Utah (11-3, 2-1) at 6 p.m. Saturday.

“Stanford got our attention and our guys responded,” Lloyd said on one such occasion. “But don’t mean a lot if we don’t respond again on Saturday.”

That’s coach-speak, to be sure. No coach wants his guys to revel so much over a big win that they take it easy in the next game.

But there are two reasons why they probably aren’t just empty words.

One is the caution required for the Pac-12’s unique travel-partner weekend that the Wildcats are experiencing for a final time this season, unless the Big 12 adopts a similar format.

The format often requires a second weekend game in 48 hours or less, compressing the time needed for refocusing after a big win — and the time for anger over a loss to wear off.

On Dec. 29, for example, Arizona rolled over Cal at the same time that Stanford was coughing up a home game against ASU. Less than two days later, and both teams were in different places entirely.

There’s also the X-factor in the middle of that travel partner game swap: How ASU is doing. The Sun Devils can catch an opponent looking ahead to Arizona, maybe Stanford last week and maybe Utah, which lost 82-70 at ASU on Thursday.

“I thought they played outstanding, probably the best game of the year,” Utah head coach Craig Smith said of ASU, according to the Deseret News. “Some of that’s us, but credit them, they played unbelievable.”

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The other reason for Lloyd’s caution, maybe the main reason, is this: Arizona actually hasn’t done all that well following a big rebound game.

Of UA’s five regular-season losses last season, all were followed by wins — but two of those wins were followed by subsequent losses, while another was UA’s grind-it-out 58-52 home win over UCLA.

In the most memorable example, UA bounced back from a home loss to Washington State on Jan. 7, appeared to cure its ills in an 86-74 win at Oregon State — and was then smacked 87-68 at Oregon, the largest loss margin ever under Lloyd.

“They were more desperate,” Lloyd said after that game.

Maybe it was because the Wildcats were overconfident after that OSU game, or maybe because of that Pac-12 travel partner X factor: ASU had just embarrassed the Ducks with a 90-73 win two days earlier in Eugene.

“We were bad (against ASU),” Oregon coach Dana Altman said after beating UA. “I don’t want to take anything away from Arizona State, but we were different tonight.”

So, will Utah be different Saturday evening than the bunch that lost at ASU on Thursday? Will Arizona be the same angry, vengeful bunch that chewed up Colorado?

“I think it’s gonna come down to who is the most physical and tough team and who wants it more — because I’m sure they are pissed about losing at Arizona State,” said UA assistant coach Riccardo Fois, who scouted the Utes. “They’re gonna come here trying to avenge that.”

This much is known: Unlike the way Colorado was forced to play Thursday without two of its best three players, injured forwards Tristan da Silva (ankle) and Cody Williams (wrist), the Utes have no such issues.

This time, Utah will be playing with a 46.1% 3-point shooter in guard Gabe Madsen, who missed Arizona’s 88-62 win over Utah at McKale Center last season with a leg injury. The Utes start two 7-footers, including 24-year-old returning all-league pick Branden Carlson and former Colorado big man Lawson Lovering. They found another starter in the transfer portal, wing Cole Bajema, and feature a few other key returnees.

They have enough that, when Lloyd was actually asked about Utah on Thursday, he took nearly a minute to answer, complementing the Utes and third-year coach Craig Smith.

“Obviously, last year, they really took care of us at Utah when we got back from Maui,” Lloyd said. “It was a little bit like our performance at Stanford. So you tip your hat to them.

“He’s got a lot of guys back. He’s added a piece or two … I think they’re definitely an NCAA Tournament team. In my mind, it’s not even close.”

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Photos: Arizona Wildcats Pac-12 home opener against Colorado is all Wildcats, winning 97-50, men's college basketball