BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 15, 2025

Tommy Lloyd

Caleb Love

Jaden Bradley

T-Mobile Center

Arizona Wildcats

Postgame Press Conference

Houston 72, Arizona 64

THE MODERATOR: Joining us on the dais is Arizona Head Coach Tommy Lloyd. He is joined by Jaden Bradley and Caleb Love. Coach?

TOMMY LLOYD: Yeah, congrats to Houston. Obviously they've had a great season and they've had a couple of great seasons. Of Coach Sampson deserves a ton of credit. They got us twice this year and they won the conference by four or five games and they win the conference tournament, so at this moment they're the King of the Big 12. Nothing but respect for them.

Proud of our guys. We obviously came here, wanted to compete for a Championship, and we did. To the last couple minutes of the game we were right there. I don't know what the time is. We had a lead there, under four minutes to go, and we gave ourselves a chance. We just didn't get it done.

Hopefully we will learn from it. Obviously we're at the time of the year where there's no margin for error and, you know, we're excited to take the next step into the NCAA Tournament.

Q. Tommy you've talked about three years ago Kelvin in sweatpants rolling you guys in that tournament. Do you feel like you are more competitive today?

TOMMY LLOYD: Listen, we're right there. They're obviously missing one of their better players, so you gotta acknowledge that. I mean, that guy -- he's a really good player that sat out today.

We're right there, but it doesn't matter. Doesn't matter if you close the gap or not. You gotta get it done. We're Arizona basketball. We're used to winning championships, too, and we know that's where we belong and that's where we want to get.

Right now Houston is above us and we're going to do what we can to close that gap.

Q. Caleb, congrats on being selected for the All-Tournament Team. Just your thoughts overall on your first year being in the Big 12.

CALEB LOVE: It was a tough year, well, a tough conference, and for us to compete with the best of the best, you know, as far as conferences, I'm proud of my guys. I'm proud of the coaches for leading us.

And, you know, we've been through so much adversity and we've overcome so much adversity and hardship. I'm just proud we made it this far, and we will be ready for the postseason and March Madness.

Q. Caleb and Jaden, how would you describe the last four or five minutes there when it just got a little bit -- they just started...

CALEB LOVE: You know, it was kind of just a lot of iso ball on their end on the offense, and we decided to, you know, just play one-on-one. You know, that's something we gotta get better at, looking at film and knowing our tendencies of guys, certain moves and things like that.

Then our offense, me and J.B., we gotta own those two turnovers we had in the clutch. Coach put a lot of confidence into us and a lot of responsibility, putting the ball in our hands in those moments and we gotta deliver.

We'll own it and we will be better, better for it.

JADEN BRADLEY: Like what C. Love said, we gotta own those turnovers at the end. Gotta get stops when needed at the end of the games, and the 50/50 balls felt like we were getting tip-outs. That's something we worked on and we really didn't do a good job of, just following the game plan.

Q. Coach, what makes Houston such a tough team?

TOMMY LLOYD: I mean, come on. That's almost like a hard level -- high-level, hypothetical question. Obviously they play with great effort. They got a great coach. They're relentless, and offensively they got a plan.

Obviously he saw some match-ups he wanted to target in the second half and he did, and it's disappointing for me that -- we have good players too, and our guys shouldn't be able to be targeted like that.

So individually you've gotta answer the challenge. I don't know what else I can do. I guess I can go zone. I can do that. But like you've got to own the challenge.

They're literally isolating you and targeting you and it's obvious they're doing it so step up and get it done. That was disappointing to me in the second half that we weren't able to do that.

Q. Coach, as a team mentality-wise how do you all have a short memory as you move into March Madness and begin a fresh season in the postseason tournament?

TOMMY LLOYD: The moment we shower, leave this locker room, it's on to the next thing. We're excited to be participating in the NCAA Tournament. It's an honor. It's something you should never take for granted. It's really hard to do.

We're proud we were able to compete for a conference championship today. We just want to get it done. We'll move forward. We'll move forward, and I can't wait to see who's line pops up tomorrow. We will be excited to meet them next Thursday or Friday.

Q. Where do you think this sets you up for Selection Sunday and do you --

TOMMY LLOYD: Bruce, I know this is our deal, but I don't live in hypotheticals. I have no idea. You talking seeds or what are you talking?

Q. Yeah, do you feel like a 4 seed?

TOMMY LLOYD: I have no idea. Even if we're a 13 seed we'll be fine. We can't wait till Thursday.

Q. That early thing had you at a 3. Do you feel like you got back to that or a 4?

TOMMY LLOYD: I will let you speculate on that. Whatever they give us, I'm ready.

Q. Caleb, last year you struggled to make some shots in the conference tournament but this year you hit shots, made the All-Tournament Team and into the champ ship, how good is it to build that for March Madness?

CALEB LOVE: Feels good, but the people is most important, how is the team flowing and how are we getting better. Like I said earlier, we gonna watch film when we get back. We're going to clean up some things we have to work on, and like Coach said, we will be ready for whatever they put us up against.

Q. Tommy, defensively how did you feel about your team's performance in the last three days versus what had been happening?

TOMMY LLOYD: Listen, I think -- whatever, I know you guys look at KenPom and you're going to talk about defensive numbers, and it's hard. We had a moment when we were the top defense in the country and now I don't know, we're a little bit below that.

We're a good defensive team. That's what I was disappointed today. We got isolated and targeted a little bit and we didn't get stops. It wasn't complicated stuff. It was literally picking a guy, we're going to go at this guy, and we're going to score on him.

Step up. Step up as a competitor. It's one-on-one in the park, with your brother in the backyard. That's what we do. That was disappointing to me but it's obviously something we gotta get better at.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you very much.