Pac-12 in NCAA Tournament: Coaching the Difference in Arizona's Loss

No. 1 seeded Wildcats lose decisively to Kelvin Sampson's Houston in Sweet 16

Talent was not the issue in top-seeded Arizona's 72-60 loss to No. 5 seed Houston on Thursday night in San Antonio in a Sweet 16 game of the NCAA Tournament.

The Pac-12 champion has two players expected to be first-round NBA draft picks -- Bennedict Mathurin and Christian Koloko -- and Houston has no current players likely to be drafted after it lost its top scorer, Marcus Sasser, to a season-ending injury back in December. But the Cougars have the postseason experience, and the Cougars have Kelvin Sampson.

Sampson is in his 30th season as a college head coach, all with power conference teams, and this is 19th NCAA tournament as a head coach.  If the Cougars (32-5) get past Villanova on Saturday in the Elite Eight, Sampson will be in the Final Four for the second straight year and for the third time as a head coach. 

His Houston team was simply the better coached team on Thursday, using its stifling defense to frustrate the athletic Wildcats and head coach Tommy Lloyd, who is in first season as a college head coach and had nobody in his Thursday starting five who had played in an NCAA tournament game before this year. Lloyd was the Pac-12 coach of the year for good reason, and he did not make any glaring coaching errors Thursday; his team just wasn't as prepared to win an NCAA tournament game as Houston was.

All that showed in this Sweet 16 game.

Arizona became the third No. 1 seed to be eliminated, with the one remaining top seed, Kansas, needing to beat Providence on Friday to get to the Elite Eight.

Thursday's losses by Arizona and Gonzaga also mean UCLA, which faces North Carolina on Friday, is the only Pac-12 and West Coast team still alive in the tournament. A West Coast team has not won the national championship since 1997, when Arizona turned the trick.

This year's Arizona squad was the No. 2 overall seed in this NCAA tournament and figured to have a chance to win it all.  But the Wildcats barely escaped in overtime against TCU in the second round and were simply outplayed by Houston in the third round.

Houston (32-5) leads the nation in field-goal percentage defense, and the Cougars limited Arizona to 28% shooting in the first half, when the Cougars took control.  Arizona got within two points early in the second half, but Houston never lost the lead or control of the game. The Cougars led by 12 points with seven minutes left and handled every Arizona push after that.

Arizona's powerful offense was limited to 60 points and 33.3% shooting from the field.  Bennedict Mathurin, the Pac-12 player of the year and a probable lottery pick in the upcoming NBA draft, had 30 points in the overtime win over TCU, but was limited to 15 points on 4-for-14 shooting against Houston. And he was a non-factor in the first half when Houston took control of the game.

Christian Koloko, who had 28 points against TCU, had 10 points on 2-for-6 shooting against Houston.

Guard Kerr Kriisa made his first start of the NCAA tournament after being slowed by an ankle injury, but was just 1-for-7 from the field for three points and one assist. His only points came on a three-pointer in the closing minutes when the outcome was virtually certain.

But the most disappointing Arizona showing belonged to Azuolas Tubelis.  He is Arizona's second-leading scorer, averaging 14.6 points, but he had just five points against TCU and he had only two points on 0-for-8 shooting from the field against Houston.

Jamal Shead led Houston with 21 points, and Kyler Edwards had 19 for Houston, which dominated the game defensively and with its offensive rebounding.

Sampson orchestrated this win, getting the game played at the pace that was to Houston's liking, which is hard to do against the athletic Wildcats. And you may recall that Sampson began his head coaching career in the Pac-10, at Washington State in 1987-88. And you may also recall that his Washington State team went 1-17 in Pac-10 play in his third season with those Cougars.

His current Cougars are capable of getting to the Final Four and perhaps winning the whole thing.

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Cover photo of Christian Koloko by Scott Wachter, USA TODAY Sports

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Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

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