For the first time as a member of the Big 12, Arizona is coming off a conference loss. Saturday’s 70-54 setback at Texas Tech followed a 5-0 start in league play, part of a 7-game win streak that flipped the script on a 2024-25 season that did not begin well.
Now comes the first chance to rebound from a loss, which had been a strength of UA teams under Tommy Lloyd before this season. Lloyd hadn’t lost consecutive games as a head coach until Arizona had a pair of 2-game skids during nonconference play.
When Arizona (11-6, 5-1 Big 12) visits Oklahoma State (10-7, 2-4) on Tuesday night it will be trying to avoid consecutive conference losses for the first time since Feb. 2021, during Sean Miller’s final season. The Wildcats will also be trying to pull off a split on their road trip and improve to 3-1 away from home in league play.
Here’s what to watch when the Wildcats take on the Cowboys in Stillwater at 7 p.m. MT on ESPNU:
Learn from the (latest) mistakes
Arizona shot only 31 percent at Texas Tech, the second-lowest field goal rate under Lloyd. During the 7-game win streak it shot 52.1 percent, hitting at least 43.4 percent of its shots in every contest, but at Texas Tech the shots would not fall.
Oklahoma State allows 47 percent shooting on the year, 48.1 percent in Big 12 play, which is worst in the league. Big 12 opponents have shot 58.5 percent on 2s, but the Cowboys have done well on the defensive glass by holding league foes to an offensive rebounding rate of 24.1 percent.
Arizona was miserable on the boards at Texas Tech, losing that battle by 16 including 16-8 on the offensive glass.
“We’re not going to be able to come and shoot 30 some percent on the road and feel good about it, and get outrebounded by in the teens,” Lloyd said after the Texas Tech loss. “It’s just not a winning formula.”
About the Pokes
From an analytics standpoint, Oklahoma State is the worst team in the Big 12. The Cowboys are ranked 105th by KenPom.com, and are projected to finish 5-15 in conference play.
At No. 109 in the NET rankings, this is still a Quad 2 game for Arizona but a loss would have a major impact on its resume, which includes being 14th in the NET.
As noted above, OSU has struggled on defense but one place it excels it with forcing turnovers, getting one on 21 percent of possessions with more than eight steals per game in league play. The UA has been better with the ball of late, averaging only 9.3 in Big 12 games, and had only seven at Texas Tech.
On offense, Oklahoma State is shooting only 37.8 percent in the league and only two starters are averaging double figures. The Cowboys try to get to the line a lot and have been successful, averaging almost 24 free throws per Big 12 game including 42 last time out against Colorado.
Which versions of Arizona’s players will show up?
Reigning Pac-12 Player of the Year Caleb Love is not having the kind of fifth-year senior season Arizona would have hoped, his numbers down across the board. That would be fine if those numbers were consistent from one game to the next, instead they’ve been quite divergent.
His 9 points on 3-of-13 shooting at Texas Tech marked the third time in the last four games he’d failed to reach double digits and sixth time this season. But he also has eight games of 15 or more points and five of 20-plus, including a season-high 33 against TCU in Arizona’s inaugural Big 12 game.
Having some bad games from Love hadn’t hurt the Wildcats during the 7-game win streak, but when few others were doing much last time out his inability to get going stood out even more.
“He’s got to start playing better,” Lloyd said. “A couple games ago he had 33 points, eight assists, five rebounds, one of the only guys ever to do it in college basketball. So he’s got to play better. I mean, he’ll find his way. We’re going to hang with him. And I know it’s not coming easy sometimes for him, but he’s a good player, and he’ll play better. He’ll play better, for sure.”
Just as important will be how Henri Veesaar performs after his worst game of the season. The 7-footer was scoreless in 14 minutes after putting up a career-high 19 points against then-No. 25 Baylor and had been Arizona’s No. 2 scorer in Big 12 play.
