Sure, No. 20 Arizona’s 82-73 win over Texas Tech on Saturday in Tucson was impressive. Arizona held Texas Tech to 37 percent from the field, dominated the paint 48-28 and outscored the Red Raiders bench 30-17.
That’s all nice, but it’s what happens the next week that will really tell us about the Wildcats.
The victory improved Arizona’s Quad 1 record to 7-6, and gives the Wildcats lots of momentum heading into a showdown with red-hot Kansas State. Provided Arizona can win at unranked KSU on Tuesday — with those Wildcats coming off an 81-73 shocker over Kansas, KSU’s fifth straight win — UA will return home for a huge matchup against No. 5 Houston. It will be Arizona and Houston’s only meeting of the regular season.
Going into Saturday’s games, Houston was No. 3 in NET rankings, the best of all Big 12 teams. Arizona sat at No. 10. (Texas Tech was between them at No. 7 — Tech was also the last team to beat Arizona, back on Jan. 18. Since then Arizona has won six straight.)
The Wildcats have an incredibly balanced scoring attack, with seven players who average eight points or more. But their success the next week — and really, the rest of the season — will be determined by the play of senior guard Caleb Love, an undeniable talent who is maddeningly inconsistent.
Love scored a team-high-tying 16 points against Texas Tech on Saturday, but shot just 4-of-15 from the field, including 1-of-6 from 3. He can be brilliant: His game-tying 3 at the buzzer forced overtime against Iowa State on Feb. 1, and he hit two more 3s in the extra period to win the game. He can be frustrating: Before that wild buzzer-beater, he was 1-of-10 from long distance. He’s shot 30 percent or worse in nine different games this season.
Love is capable of going off, which means defenses can’t ever ignore him, even if he’s having a rough shooting night. But if Arizona is going to continue its winning streak, he will have to be good and efficient against Kansas State and Houston.
If he does that, what we learn about Arizona might be that this group is finally ready for a deep postseason run.
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(Photo: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)