Because the Big 12 splits up weekday games over several days, Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd had a chance to multitask some advance scouting Tuesday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had the old 100-inch TV split into a couple screens,\u201d Lloyd said. \u201cI was watching Kansas and TCU on one, and Texas Tech and Houston on the other, just like you guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just like a lot of media and fans, yes. But, for Lloyd, maybe with a little side of PTSD every time he looked at the Kansas-TCU half of the screen.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd expresses his opinion over a call to a referee in the second half against TCU at McKale Center on Dec. 30, 2024.\u00a0Arizona won 90-81.<\/p>\n
Mamta Popat, Arizona Daily Star<\/p>\n
Because that side of the TV was showing the Horned Frogs take a 16-point lead over Kansas at the Jayhawks\u2019 storied Allen Fieldhouse before eventually going to overtime and losing.<\/p>\n
Already having beaten Florida, Wisconsin and Baylor this season despite lacking infinite NIL resources, TCU also lost by only four to a second-ranked Michigan team that has blown away just about everybody else.<\/p>\n
\n People are also reading\u2026\n <\/p>\n
They\u2019ve been a tough out so far this season. And for their short history against Lloyd-coached Arizona, the Horned Frogs always have been.<\/p>\n
Even, and especially, against Lloyd\u2019s first Arizona team.<\/p>\n
That 2021-22 UA bunch won 16 of its first 17 games, picked up the Pac-12 regular-season and tournament titles, was given a No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed and preferential opening-weekend spot in San Diego \u2026 yet nearly didn\u2019t get out of there alive.<\/p>\n
In a second-round scare against the ninth-seeded Horned Frogs, Arizona guard Bennedict Mathurin hit a 3-pointer with 12.6 seconds left to tie the game at 75, and TCU\u2019s Mike Miles was running a play Lloyd orchestrated of a sandwich of center Christian Koloko and wing Dalen Terry around him.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
TCU Horned Frogs guard Mike Miles (1) goes sprawling to lose the ball after colliding with Arizona guard Dalen Terry (4) near mid-court with time running out in the final seconds and tied in their second round game of the NCAA Tournament at Viejas Arena in San Diego, Calif., March 20, 2022.<\/p>\n
Kelly Presnell, Arizona Daily Star<\/p>\n
“I was scared when coach asked us (to trap) because I knew he was going to try to get at me and try to get a foul,” Koloko said after that game. “We knew he was going to try to be a hero, and we wanted to trap him. He turned the ball over. That’s what we wanted to do and it worked.”<\/p>\n
The officials ruled it did work cleanly, though Lloyd said then that he knew there was \u201ca lot of speculation\u201d that UA committed a foul.<\/p>\n
That speculation included, of course, Miles himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a foul,\u201d Miles said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t call it. It is what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
With no call, the ball spun loose, and time ran out before Terry could get up a shot, but the Wildcats won it in overtime.<\/p>\n
Recalling that day on his weekly radio show Thursday, Lloyd said the Horned Frogs “pushed us to the limits that day… we were fortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n
The following season, when TCU won 22 games before losing to Gonzaga in the second round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament, Lloyd said he kept an eye on how impressive TCU\u2019s transition game was.<\/p>\n
Then, last season, the two teams were scheduled to meet again in what was Arizona\u2019s first-ever Big 12 game. The Wildcats had begun to turn a corner from their dreadful 4-5 nonconference start, were playing at home against a TCU team that hovered around .500 all season, yet the Wildcats became mired in a game that remained tense for all 40 minutes.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Arizona Wildcats forward Tobe Awaka (30) and TCU Horned Frogs guard Vasean Allette (3) get tangled up over a loose ball in the second half during a game at McKale Center on Dec. 30, 2024. Arizona won 90-81.<\/p>\n
Mamta Popat, Arizona Daily Star<\/p>\n
Despite getting 33 points from guard Caleb Love and energy from a rowdy crowd of about 13,000, the Wildcats saw their 14-point first-half lead cut to just four at halftime and their lead shrink to just a single point at three different points in the second half.<\/p>\n
Still, Arizona managed to pull out a 90-81 win. At about the time the final buzzer sounded at McKale Center, Barstool TCU tweeted out a thought to its 16,000 followers.<\/p>\n
\u201cMike Miles Jr. was still fouled,\u201d it posted.<\/p>\n
Maybe he was. Maybe he wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
The debate still continues, at least in TCU circles.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love how we will never get over that,\u201d Miles posted in reply to TCU Barstool.<\/p>\n
The same sentiment might well apply to many in the expected sellout crowd Saturday at the 6,800-seat Schollmaier Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.<\/p>\n
There, the Wildcats will pay their first-ever visit to face a team still smarting from a game it kicked away on Tuesday at Kansas, and maybe from some of that old history.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll be ready,\u201d TCU coach Jamie Dixon said on the Frogs Today show. \u201cThis is an opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Up next<\/p>\n