Arizona’s loss to Kansas State was costly — but the Wildcats can quickly make up for it.

After losing 73-70 on Tuesday night, Arizona (17-7, 11-2) dropped three spots in the only rankings that matter — the NCAA NET Rankings. They’re now ranked No. 10 in the country, one spot behind Purdue, and one spot ahead of Kansas.

If Tommy Lloyd’s team can knock off Houston on Saturday night, they’ll move right back up to No. 7 — or higher. Houston is ranked No. 3 in the NET and has won 16 of its last 17 games.

“We’ve been through some adversity this year and we fought our way through it,” Lloyd said after the Kansas State loss. “And by no means do I think that it’s over. I know there’s more adversity coming. As a coach you just want to hang with it. You want to help your team go through it and come out the other side.”

Why NET Rankings Matter

The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee uses the NET Rankings as the primary sorting tool for selection and seeding for the NCAA tournament — and they put a lot of weight on “quality wins.” A Quad 1 win is the highest-quality win a team can have — and Arizona has a Quad 1 opportunity on Saturday.

The Wildcats are 7-7 in Quad 1 games, which are home games against a top 30 team in the NET Rankings, or road games against a top 50 team in the NET. If they beat Houston they will have eight Quad 1 wins, tied for the second-most in the country.

After the Houston game, Arizona has at least three more Quad 1 opportunities on its schedule. The Wildcats finished with nine Quad 1 wins last season and received a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament. They’re on track for a similar scenario this season.

Big 12 Title Race

The Wildcats won the Pac-12 last season, and they’re currently one game behind Houston for first place in their first season in the Big 12.

Texas Tech (18-5, 9-3) is in third place, and if the Red Raiders beat Arizona State on Wednesday night they’ll remain one game behind Arizona. Iowa State (19-5, 9-4) is in fourth place and Kansas (17-7, 8-5) is in fifth place.

It’s likely a four-team race for the conference title, and Saturday’s Houston-Arizona game could decide the conference champion. If Houston wins, the Cougars will have a two-game lead with six games to play. It’s unlikely anyone will catch them.

But if Arizona wins, the Wildcats and Cougars will be tied atop the Big 12 at 12-2 — and anything can happen.

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