REACTION: Arizona COASTS PAST UCF 81-59 into SEMIS of BIG 12 TOURNEY

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Arizona cruises past UCF, it wasn't always pretty, but it was dominant.

Arizona 32 on the season and more importantly, into the big 12 semi finals.

We'll discuss it next on Lockdown Wildcats Postcast.

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Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team, every day.

What's up and welcome into Lockdown Wildcats Postcast.

I'll leave you with you here, Arizona.

It was convincing, but it wasn't pretty.

It was a tale of two halves as stark of a contrast as we've seen.

I think Arizona played among their worst halves in the second half, but did enough in their

dominant opening 12 minutes of this game.

Here's a stat that will tell us the whole story and then we'll get into the bigger things.

It took 14 minutes to score 10 points for UCF and then they had an 18-7 run to close

the half, which Arizona was so confident they'd win.

They brought in CDG that early and they gave up a few baskets and I think Arizona kind

of knew they were going to win.

It was never in doubt.

There's no complaints.

They won the basketball game.

They're into the semifinals.

They play Iowa State, which is affectionately known as Hilton South at Kansas City.

That'll be a really good game and they're playing very well.

I thought Arizona when they played Iowa State had difficulties.

They took advantage of what Iowa State does poorly, but you're not going to necessarily

get Iowa State shooting that poorly.

I'll get into that a little more.

I really do think Iowa State is going to be a true, true challenge.

I'll have a preview out for that tomorrow morning and maybe I'll post it tonight, actually.

If I have time, I'll post it tonight, so you guys will extra time to see it.

We'll talk about that then.

Let's talk about what Arizona did.

Fourteen minutes to score 10 points for UCF and Arizona in that first half went 17-30.

They started even better than that.

They had 12 points out of turnovers versus conceding just two and the only knock on them

in the first half would be the pretty poor defensive rebounding, but Arizona then dominated

the glass.

They lived in the paint.

Three throws terribly.

There wasn't a lot to like other than the defensive intensity early, like point blank

period.

Arizona second half was putrid and it was good enough to win, but I think it was more

a survive.

We'll get there.

We won by 22.

Arizona second half went 12-30.

They shot 19 free throws of which they only made nine.

They did win the glass and they lived in the paint.

So they achieved some goals.

Don't get me wrong.

The 81 points, the 22 point victory is the big deal.

They shot 48% from the field.

They started off 65%.

So like they tailed off drastically there.

Three pointers.

Six to six.

That's pretty good.

They held UCF to just three of 21.

So that's very good.

And then if you look at rebounds, they were plus eight plus nine and points off of turnovers

in the paint plus 10.

Like all these things sign that Arizona is going to win.

But we expect better from a team that we think would win a national championship.

And I think that that was a poor performance.

But I think it was a poor performance out of saving, keeping stuff in the tank.

Like Tommy Lloyd kept gas in the tank.

You saw the law extended stretches where Kreeboss and Bradley were out.

You saw extended stretches of burries and carchink up on the pine.

So I'm not actually worried.

So I see it lost highway 4840 says.

I'll pop that on the screen.

It says not feeling great entering the tournament.

Good team will hit those open threes against us.

Yeah, but a good team.

Arizona will take the foot off the pedal as early as they did.

I'm not saying that's necessarily great thing to do.

I don't necessarily excuse it.

But I do think staying healthy is paramount.

So getting those guys extra rest, which led to some of those runs that UCF mounted did play a factor.

And yes, a lot of you guys are saying that the courts are terrible.

I am not a fan of the court.

I don't really like any courts that aren't traditional hardwood.

I like seeing the basketball court that I that I saw like TCU's court.

I think it's the worst in college basketball.

I hated the court that the big 12 had last year.

Just give me some hardwood, a colored paint and a logo in the middle and colored baselines

and sidelines and I will be thrilled.

But I think that if we're going to talk about basketball here,

Arizona did enough by dominating earlier early in this game.

I mean, let's just look at what the start of the game was, right?

Defense was great.

Defense was was absolutely great.

And then you can kind of look at what happened is CDG came in and I think the intensity turned off.

I'm not blaming him necessarily.

But Arizona survived a 5 to 20 start to the second half and still one by 22.

Like let's be honest that there's a reason that they played poorly in a half and still one by 22.

I think that Arizona was so good in the first couple of minutes.

They held UCF to six of 27 shooting in the first 14 minutes or excuse me in the first 15 minutes.

That that was the media timeout, right?

And you saw what Arizona can do is they pound the ball in the interior.

They get easy shots.

Burries gets out in transition and they lock you up.

FEMA's folks had no impact on the game until later once Arizona had its very large cushion.

Riley, Google foul trouble.

John Bull, first of all, I really want to say that was scary.

I hope he's all right.

But he got in foul trouble early in this game.

Still well, no impact.

Co-op Pete stifled that.

Camo Crebus changed every shot near the paint and UCF couldn't shoot three as well.

UCF was struggling shooting the three, but they didn't really get any good looks.

They went one of 11 in the first half and that's the only stats I really want to look at because I'm not actually concerned by Arizona.

I thought they played a poor per staff.

I thought it was uninspired.

I think Tommy Lloyd referenced that in his mid game interview.

But realistically, you won by 22, you're into the semi-files, you're 30 and two.

We're nitpicking because we have the privilege of covering a team that is 30 and two.

Arizona, if we have already go to a bright spot in this game, which usually there would be with the 22 point win.

I would say the defense on folks in the first half was fantastic.

I would say that Mo Crebus was unbelievable.

Mo Crebus has nine points and 10 rebounds.

He was only two of seven from the field and he missed a bunch of free throws, which are not things that typically happen.

But defensively, he altered everything that UCF does and UCF, like I talked about in the previous, a good offensive team.

Arizona stifled them to 10 points and it took them 14 points to score 10 points.

Four, excuse me, 14 minutes to score 10 points.

CarChankov was unbelievable defensively on folks.

Kugo got in foul trouble and he did not score well and they took away the three point line.

Even though there was open looks like your reference, those were open looks that felt big because they're trying to come back from such an enormous margin that it actually feels bigger than the actual realistic understanding of, hey, that's a normal three point game with 10 minutes left, excuse me, a three point shot with 10 minutes left.

Yeah, it feels bigger doesn't actually matter, doesn't actually matter and now the interesting thing is I'm reading through some of these comments.

The basketball court totally great, terrible and then if you look at what what the wild cats did, they're huge, they got easy shots, they lived in the paint, should make more free throws will make more free throws, hopefully, that was bad lazy, a little bit defensively complacent in the second half, one by 22, I think it's because they knew there's bigger fish to fry and they've done the job early, they don't do that in most games, but I do think that Arizona understood that there's, I was state next and I likely

used to and after that. And I think in a game where you're playing, excuse me, a setting where you're playing three games in three days, ideally, that that actually matters and unlike, you know, play to the final whistle, beat them by 50, Arizona could have beaten UCF by 50 because they were great in the first half and they were terrible for the final five minutes of the first half and the rest of the second, the rest of the game, but it didn't matter because they were so good at the beginning and usually I would be problematic, I'd say, oh, that was some issues.

But only thing that matters is health and belief and I think both are there. We'll touch on a few of those things next, maybe a little bit on Iowa State before I do an intensive preview before their clash and what should be an awesome game in the semifinal, all that more next I locked on Wildcats postcast.

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Welcome back to postcast thank you guys for listening Arizona one wasn't pretty my thumbnail said E in parentheses ugly win that's what it was it was easy but it was ugly if you guys know I like to talk about statistics that test that tell the tale well the statistics that really show up is for UCF to have a chance in this they'd have to shoot really really well and be competitive on the glass well they went 321 from 3 they had no chance.

Arizona in the glass ended up winning by 8 not great but UCF is a good rebounding team I expected to be a little bit higher because I thought Arizona would shut them down by more but Arizona also missed a lot of shots and offense rebounds is what UCF does well Arizona had one more offensive rebound seven more defensive rebounds and then second chance points was fairly close Arizona plus four you know if you look at what points off turnovers plus second chance points Arizona 31.

So that that is excuse me they had 32 and I said if they had 30 or more that would be a good goal and then you look at pop paint oriented point paints and for those you've been with me all season you know that is it's a stat I made up where I talk about the reliability of scoring the paint the pressure it puts on defense it's points in the paint plus free throws made

well Arizona points in the paint 38 plus 17 free throws made that's 55 which is actually right on the nail of what I said was possible I said 55 or more pop points and Arizona's cruising and they missed 14 free throws and a bunch of bunnies that co-op Pete and McCree loss and and Tobio Walker were missing.

I think you UCF showed resolve in this game I think Arizona got complacent at times and like I said they're looking for the only concern I actually had is I thought co-op Pete looked a little bit less

bouncy and less athletic in this game I think he missed some shots due to length and I thought that free throws are like they're not an issue overall like Arizona free throws this season have have been bad and a few select games and those happen to be

things we can remember because Arizona's lost so few games and played in so few like truly like oh they can go either way type of games and free throws stand out in those situations but I also remember games where free throws have been an immense strength and so I'm not terribly concerned but of course you want to make more free throws when you're having

Cree Vos and Delorso who can really shoot free throws and have done so well season miss and they weren't particularly close on the misses like Cree Vos had barely drew iron at the front room with CarChankov excuse me Delorso

Bricked it at the back room walko has been a pretty good free throw shooter throughout this season miss badly on a couple of those I think that concentration and focus like Howard says in these in the chats it's important I pretty darn confident Tommy will tell him like that

that level that we saw the rest of this game after the dominant start not acceptable and they will be ready for Iowa State so let's talk about Iowa State Iowa State I did a preview of the big 12 tournament and that one you guys could watch and listen to and then I talked about a little bit in the preview of this specific game and I said I expect to see Iowa State next even though Texas Tech had just gone into Hilton and beaten Iowa State and they had done that without JT top and I just think

that Iowa State won in neutral sites is very good they just historically have been to it's a Hilton South is what Kansas City talks about but most importantly I would I would make the argument that when you lose to a team and then you play them again and nothing's drastically different the levels of the two teams aren't drastically different usually the team that loses learns more than the team that wins

and I just felt that Iowa State was going to beat Texas Tech today I will admit I didn't get a watch much of that game but I felt pretty confident about that I saw some stuff about injuries to Christian Anderson LeWon Watts and that's of course being tied to the floor and how slippery it is but let's Iowa State I'm distracted I'm I'm going on tangents and all these things because there's so much basketball the Washington is just my brain is overloaded with this stuff but here's the answer to it all Arizona took away meal I'm on chile of it

to the tune of he only scored five points Joshua Jefferson went to a 17 and that that's not going to happen again Arizona might be able to limit those guys but they will not be as poor and especially as inefficient as they were in that game

what can happen is Arizona might shoot better to Arizona might dominate the glass even more and if you look at these games in which you play a repeat

Iowa State is going to play better by more than Arizona can but I think Arizona is the better team like Iowa State I think ran into an issue of like Joshua Jefferson is limited athletically and when you play someone as strong as him that has the discipline that co-op he has it's hard to score that still is the case

I'm on chile which will be saddled by the best defender college basketball on the wings which somehow avoided being a big 12 first team all the defense in carchenkoff like that was I still baffles me but carchenkoff will limit

I'm chile of it's breaking burries will be defended by killing two right and came and let's see all these guys like I think it's strength on strength I think the differences Arizona's got more depth in the front court and though Arizona won the rebounds they started poorly in that game against Iowa State and I would state shot more poorly than they probably will I think I would state will shoot better in the game than they did it into son I think Arizona will play better in the game they'll get more of their rebounds I think Arizona will have a more

consistent attack going through because that was a defensively oriented game that Tommy Lloyd described himself is like hey we're okay with these type of ugly gridded out type of games I think this one's going to be a little more up tempo both teams will play really hard and there's going to be physicality

but I just see Arizona and I would state both playing better offensively in this game and so you'll see a different tenor to the game I think it'll be a very close game I think it'll be physical I've got Arizona coming out on top I'm going to dive into some stats go through the previous matchup and give an in depth preview later tonight that I'll air tonight for

everyone to listen but I think it's important to know like come tournament play it's surviving advance NC State that's there that's the name of the game they they come and beat all these teams that's

to just make it to the tournament Arizona's obviously locked up a one seat it's done and dusted they might be able to move up if they win the tournament and

Michigan and Duke fall they might be able to be the number one overall seed but react in reality surviving advance they won this one wasn't pretty I

expect a better performance I expect a better performance from Iowa State than they had in Tucson and that should be an awesome basketball game and we

should be appreciative that there is that basketball game coming up next I'll review the YouTube comments see if I have a winner for the score of this

one as well as continue to give some keys to Iowa State and Arizona and also give you guys my prediction for the remaining big 12 games today on the

calendar thank you guys for tuning in to lock down loud cats this is post-cats welcome into the five hour energy flavor draft with 18 different flavors to choose from including new

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energy dot com or on Amazon well walked on wild cats leave to lean with you here and Arizona wins for 89 81 to 59 and we're not surprised like that's kind of what we expected would happen Arizona

so should win and did win and I'm pulling through these comments to see who won I've got a question for you guys in the meantime while I find this if you guys were to tell me that you won 80 81 to 59 and yet our tone is negative and it deserves to be because it was an ugly performance you

think it was still a pretty good win considering this is a tournament team UCF and they they played a tough game they had momentum like why why is it a bad thing that Arizona won by 22 and then give me your guys as keys I have I have the podcast starting to be prepared for

the later one with a lot of keys and I want to give too much away but give me your keys to play Iowa state again and I want to see if I'm on on the same page as you guys because last time I had a I had a idea of how Arizona would play

and they played it to perfection I have an idea of well Iowa state is going to adjust and I kind of think Arizona will have a similar adjustment let me know in the comments below as I read off the winner so you guys have a couple of seconds to do that

and Arizona should smoke TCU was my title and they did say it's what kind of what we expected and the comments have 83 67 from Roger 83 70 so so far Rogers and the lead the LED court was asked about I said I didn't like it then but the other one was passed I had 79 63 Arizona

I'll give the win to rock on there's there's that one I went to the comments and it popped up the video so Roger wins and it says what time from Howard Howard responding the comment if you can let me know what you're asking about and that one if it's about my my preview for Iowa state that'll be this evening

I haven't quite finished it yet but here my keys I'll give a few away and then I'll then I'll go into depth into it against Iowa state it's about taking away the three point line and obviously Milo Mochilevic is a fantastic shooter the best shooter in the country but it's about taking away

Mochilevic and Jamari and Bateman and I think Jamari and Bateman is fantastic like if I were to be able to recruit and say hey I want this player for my team next year

and you just get a poach whoever you want he is at the top three or four players in the entire country I would like to join Arizona next year

Jamari and Bateman is a key in this game

Mochilevic obviously will will be hounded by Kartchenko if you might see some face guarding from Bradley Jefferson's going to play better than to a 17

Koa will guard him and I think Koa will do a good job but he's going to play better than that I think Iowa state's going to try to get Koa and these guys in foul trouble

and I think that Jamari and Bateman and the other guys like Nate Heise hitting threes is what propels Iowa state to being in a

stratosphere that is even in a certain night with the best teams in the country it's that they can't rely as consistently

on three point shooting to stay in games and yeah you got to make your make their stars work

Jefferson's going to have to work but he will be better than to a 17

Mochilevic unlikely to just be two of eight with five points

I think both will have inferior games to what they're used to but far superior games to what they had

now Taiman Lips he stepped up Jamari and Bateman was good in that game

and they had great offensive rebounding success early I do think Arizona will be better on the defensive glass

and in the Iowa state game where Arizona played

I think you get a more aggressive offensively Koa beat and he takes it to Jefferson Jefferson had foul trouble

I think making their stars guard is really really important

I think too frequently we only talk about what the offensive

output of guys are make them guard and that's what Arizona does so well they make every position guard

and they wear teams down because they got eight men better than your best four

like Arizona's eighth man it's likely more talented more likely to have success than so many teams

number four player and then if you just say okay college basketball wise

Arizona's eighth man is better than a lot of teams fourth or fifth that are really good teams

Jamari and Bateman is the guy that I have my eyes on that Arizona needs to take away

because I think he adds a level of dynamism to a team that otherwise is very dependent on a trio

of players in Taiman Lipsy to his kind of the equivalent of Jaden Bradley for them

Jefferson who is the best player on the team and then their ultimate weapon is meal on some

mumsilvich if you can neutralize two of those three then then you really need something else

and that guy's Bateman two rays of ball hockey's a how and I expect him to guard burries

I expect all these things to happen I expect it to be a physical close game that's a little higher

scoring than the one that was played in Tucson I think Arizona is just a better basketball team

and I think they will consistently make it hard for mumsilvich but TJ Osloberg is way too good of a

coach to say yeah we're gonna try the same exact recipe and expect that just our fast ball

versus their fastball is going to win when there when Arizona took away the best two players in a team

he's going to try different ways to score the basketball it'll still be a similar recipe a lot

of threes a lot of hoping to force pressure and my last key is right there you can't turn the ball

over too much against Iowa State they get out and run and you're screwed and Arizona can do this

one take care of the ball but also take steal the ball the other way points off turn is going to be

big thing and go out their stars defensively make mumsilvich guard make Jefferson guard make them

avoid foul trouble and score when they try to overlay defense the state of foul trouble because

they they're needed so much offensively so those are my brief snippet of keys I'll have an extensive

preview to answer Howard's question of when I'd expect it to be this evening probably seven or so

it'll be posted live so stay tuned to my Twitter it's just leave to lean on Twitter I'll post it

it'll also be on the lock down wildcast Twitter it'll be posted live on here and on Spotify let me

know your thoughts on that one put your score predictions and everything thank you guys as always

for tuning in to postcast my every day or so we're in the postcast all the time like Tyler Howard

Rick you guys are becoming staples here and I really appreciate it love having this community

and I hope to see you guys again soon Arizona hopefully I will see them live and in person for the

third and fourth times at this week 16 the elite eight in this season so hopefully if you guys

are in San Jose as well let me know hopefully we can meet up and all these things air is on a basketball

privilege to watch this season still still going surviving advance it's March basketball everyone

have a good one and watch more hoops that's what I'll be doing have a great one and bear down

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