Bruce Pascoe A year ago, Tommy Lloyd probably set a new Arizona basketball record for most fun on the Washington swing.
The next day, shortly after arriving at WSU’s Beasley Coliseum, Lloyd stepped outside to greet a group of friends who had also made the 90-minute drive down from Spokane to watch his first game as a head coach in his home state. In the last three weeks, the Wildcats lost to WSU at home and were blown out at Oregon, while Gonzaga lost at home to Loyola Marymount. The Zags’ loss was also at home, though Lloyd disagreed with any notion that it was any worse than what the Wildcats had experienced.
“It’s one of those deals,” Lloyd said. “If playing the Washington schools there, the way the games went, doesn’t have our guys’ attention, then there’s a bigger problem.” The Wildcats may need similar defensive efforts to get past both Washington schools this week. While WSU hit 12 of 28 3-point attempts, Washington outshot UA 42.6% to 36.4% on Jan. 5 at McKale. The Huskies held UA back with its full-time 2-3 zone while WSU had even the 6-11 Mouhamed Gueye stepping back for behind the 3-point line.