02/21/26 06:26:00
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02/21 18:24 CST No. 4 Arizona steadies the ship with a gritty 73-66 win at No.
2 Houston
No. 4 Arizona steadies the ship with a gritty 73-66 win at No. 2 Houston
By KRISTIE RIEKEN
AP Sports Writer
HOUSTON (AP) --- Arizona wasn't feeling great after losing consecutive games
following a 23-0 start.
"The two losses just didn't taste right in the mouth," Arizona's Ivan
Kharchenko said.
The fourth-ranked Wildcats are feeling a lot better now after winning two
straight following that skid, capped by Saturday's 73-66 victory over No. 2
Houston that gave them sole possession of first place in the Big 12 Conference.
Arizona (25-2, 12-2) lost to then-No. 9 Kansas and then- 16th-ranked Texas Tech
to drop out of the No. 1 spot in the AP Top 25 poll. They beat No. 23 BYU at
home Wednesday before using a stingy defense to down the Cougars in front of a
packed house Saturday.
"You lose that tough game at Kansas. You lose a tough game at home against
Texas Tech," coach Tommy Lloyd said. "And then your reward is you have BYU and
Houston in the next week. It can get out of control really quick in this
conference. And so, for us to steady the ship it says a lot about the guys
within the program."
Lloyd is happy to have his team atop the Big 12, but knows there's a lot more
work ahead.
"Obviously we want to win the Big 12," he said. "But you know what's really
cool about being in the Big 12? You can take second or third in the conference
and still win the national championship. The conference is that strong. So, we
put ourselves in position to be in position. Now, you got to go take advantage
of it."
While he certainly doesn't like losing, Lloyd admitted that finding a way to
correct problems is one of the best parts of his job.
"You're actually probably doing OK, because you get to figure things out," he
said. "And there's nothing cooler than accepting a challenge when things get
tough and trying to help your group figure it out. That's really what is
probably the most enjoyable part of coaching, even though it comes with a
little bit of pain."
The victory marks the first time Lloyd has beaten the Cougars after losing his
first three matchups against coach Kelvin Sampson.
Before Lloyd took questions after the win on Saturday, he took a moment to
express his admiration for Sampson and how he's transformed Houston's program
in his 12 seasons at the school.
"I don't know what my coaching career is going to end up at, but I do know one
thing, I'm gonna have become a better coach coaching against Kelvin Sampson,"
Lloyd said. "You look at coaches that set the benchmark in certain areas and
for me he's one of them. What he's done with this program down here, it's been
amazing."
Lloyd, who was an assistant for 20 years at Gonzaga before being hired at
Arizona, likened Houston's success under Sampson to the dominance of the
Bulldogs under coach Mark Few.
"(It) reminds me where I came from," he said. I was at this little old school
called Gonzaga, and no one really believed. But they had a hell of a head coach
just like you have. And the head coach at Gonzaga and the head coach here at
Houston have willed these programs to be elite. And that's really inspiring for
me."
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