Arizona seemed to rediscover its form with seven straight victories until getting smashed by Texas Tech on Saturday.
The Wildcats will bid to bounce back with a better effort when they complete a two-game Big 12 road trip against Oklahoma State on Tuesday night in Stillwater, Okla.
Arizona was taken down 70-54 by the Red Raiders and its scoring output matched a season low. The Wildcats shot just 31 percent from the field and were outrebounded 50-34 in the matchup in Lubbock.
“We’re not going to hang our heads,” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said. “It comes down to when you’re playing in a tough conference, and you’re playing on the road, you’re going to have some days like this, and we’re not going to dwell on it.”
The Wildcats (11-6, 5-1 Big 12) scored more than 80 points in three of their first five Big 12 games, making the poor offensive showing stick out more.
Jaden Bradley had 11 points against Texas Tech as the only Arizona player to reach double digits. He’s second on the Wildcats in scoring at 11.6 points per game.
Star guard Caleb Love leads the Wildcats with a 14.9 scoring average but he had just nine points on 3-of-13 shooting on Saturday for his third single-digit outing over the last four games.
Love is averaging 10.8 points and shooting 28.3 percent from the field (17 of 60) over the last five games. For the season, Love is shooting just 29.9 percent from 3-point range.
“Caleb’s a good player,” Lloyd said. “He’s got to start playing better. … He’ll find his way. We’re going to hang with him.”
Oklahoma State (10-7, 2-4) lost four of its first five Big 12 games before beating visiting Colorado 83-73 on Saturday. The Cowboys improved to 10-2 when holding the opponent below 80 points.
Oklahoma State held a 36-23 rebounding advantage, picked up nine steals and earned praise from Cowboys coach Steve Lutz for the hustle.
“I thought the entire team was the first to the floor on any ball,” Lutz said. “That hasn’t always been the case and that certainly helped us.”
Forward Pat Suemnick said the club’s improved togetherness is helping its performance.
“Our team chemistry is getting better and better,” Suemnick said. “You can kind of just tell when people want it, when they give that extra effort.”
Marchelus Avery and Bryce Thompson had 15 points apiece and Abou Ousmane added 14 for the Cowboys against Colorado.
Ousmane leads Oklahoma State in both scoring (12.7) and rebounding (5.8). Avery is second in both at 12.2 and 5.2, respectively. Thompson adds 10.5 points per game.
–Field Level Media
