Tommy Lloyd spent more than 20 years learning from Mark Few before finally deciding to go off on his own. And less than four years later he’s matched what his mentor accomplished at the outset of his head coaching career.
Arizona rolled to a 92-78 win at Oklahoma State on Tuesday night to give Lloyd his 100th career victory. It came in his 126th game as a head coach, matching the number Few needed to get to 100 at Gonzaga.
The Wildcats (12-6, 6-1 Big 12) finished a road split by shooting 56.1 percent, almost double what it shot three days ago (31 percent) in a loss at Texas Tech. They made 10 3-pointers, tied for second-most this season, with Caleb Love going 4 of 9 from outside as part of a 10-of-17 night in scoring 27 points.
Trey Townsend had a UA-best 19 points in 21 minutes, making 7 of 8 shots, while Jaden Bradley had 12 points including a career-high three triples.
Arizona dealt with major foul trouble to its frontcourt, seeing Tobe Awaka and Henri Veesaar combine for just 27 minutes after each got two quick fouls in the first half. Townsend also had two early fouls but managed to play through it, while Carter Bryant had nine points (all in the first half) in 22 minutes and Emmanuel Stephen even logged a career-high nine minutes.
Oklahoma State (10-8, 2-5) shot 46.3 percent and also hit 10 3s but its 12 turnovers led to 17 points for Arizona, which only gave it away eight times.
Arizona led 43-39 after hitting seven of its final eight shots in the first half, including a pump-faked 3 by Bradley just before the buzzer. Love drained a 3 on the Wildcats’ first possession after halftime, then Townsend scored inside after drawing a charge on the other end to put them up nine and force an OSU timeout.
The UA made its first five shots of the second half and 6 of 7, including consecutive 3s by Love to make it 59-48 with 15:54 to go.
The lead was 13 at the under-12 timeout but Arizona went scoreless for a stretch, allowing OSU to get back within single digits. But unlike so many other games this season, this time the Wildcats rebuilt the margin and extended it to 76-61 on a 3-point play by Veesaar with 8:44 left.
Less than three minutes later it was a 19-point lead after Townsend had a tip in and a 3.
Early on, Arizona played defense like it was worried about fouling and it showed. Oklahoma State made six of its first nine shots and built a 6-point lead.
The foul trouble arrived shortly thereafter, with Townsend getting his second foul before the first media timeout, then Veesaar getting two in a span of six seconds a few minutes later. Awaka then got two fouls in a 15-second span late in the first half, forcing the hardly used Stephen into the game with 6:15 to go before halftime.
Stephen, who had played only 13 minutes all season, had three rebounds during his nine minutes.
But Arizona was also drawing fouls, getting into the bonus less than 10 minutes in and limiting a pair of OSU starters to four minutes apiece in the first half.
A 6-0 run put the Wildcats up 25-22 with 7:06 left, then after the Cowboys scored six straight the UA outscored OSU 15-8 over the next five minutes. Nine of those points were by Bryant, including seven in a row during which he also had a block and a steal.
Arizona is back home for its next two games, starting Saturday afternoon against old Pac-12 foe Colorado.
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