Arizona has been on a slide that it hoped to have come to an end during its road trip to the mountain schools. After all, Utah and Colorado are two teams the Wildcats (14-12, 5-8 Pac-12) already took care of during conference play earlier in the year.

There would be no such luck for Sean Miller’s squad, though, as UA dropped its second game of the road trip Sunday night in a 67-60 loss to the Buffaloes (16-9, 7-6). The Wildcats were able to keep the game close at points but a couple important runs from Colorado eventually was too much for Arizona to overcome.

It would end up being the fifth straight win for Colorado as the two teams are going at different directions with a few weeks left in the regular season. Arizona continued to have problems coming up with stops defensively making for an uphill challenge despite the offense finding its rhythm in the second half. UA shot over 50 percent in the second half and forced nine turnovers that turned into a 13-3 advantage in this situations.

Arizona’s defense was good enough to hold Colorado without points for certain stretches, but when the Buffaloes were able to get it rolling they poured it on.

“I really loved our guys’ attitude this week,” Miller told reporters after the game. “I thought we had some very good practices. It’s not as easy in February to practice, period, but especially if you’re on a losing streak. ... Our guys were ready to play tonight.

“We did not lose because of our effort or we lost concentration, we just simply ran out of gas. We don’t have a large margin for error. They wore us down to the their credit. Even though they wore us down, man, we had a couple plays where you get fouled you get two free throws, you get fouled you get two more free throws you have an inside shot and it’s contested but it’s right by the rim and then down at that end you have that opportunity to get that one extra stop.

“Most times when things happen the outcome of the game could be the same, but it would’ve gone to that final possession, that final minute. We couldn’t do it and I credit Colorado.”

UA finished with three players in double figures led by Ryan Luther who had another impressive game shooting the ball and ended his night with 17 points that included knocking down four 3-pointers. Dylan Smith tied a career high with 16 points as he connected on four 3-pointers as well and was efficient missing just three shots in the game before eventually fouling out.

Chase Jeter struggled some at times Sunday night, but he had a strong start to the second half that put the Wildcats right back in the game. He ended his night with 10 points and eight rebounds in 28 minutes of action.

“The Washington game we kind of had our moment, him and I, where I just said, ‘look, to keep passing up open shots, pump faking it’s killing our team,’” Miller said of a discussion he had last week with Luther. “Really from that point on he’s taken the shots that he needed to, and right now he’s our team’s best shooter. For him to score 17 points it’s hard for me to say anything other than great job.”

As much as Miller was happy with his team’s effort and preparations for this week’s games the results were still not what the team wants to see. Losing is not fun and right now Arizona’s players understand the challenge they are facing right now during what has become a seven-game skid.

“We’re holding teams to 60 or 50 points,” Smith said of UA’s defense. “We’re getting stops and teams are just making plays. We’re down a man right now and we’re short handed. Hopefullly we can get Brandon Williams back soon and that will be big for us.

“Give all those teams that beat us credit, man. We didn’t lose seven on our own. They played well to win.”

As much as Miller could be down on his team right now his attitude is much different right now. Arizona welcomes the Bay Area schools to town this week and Cal has yet to win a game in conference play. While the Wildcats won’t say it, that is the type of opponent UA could use right now. Miller remains confident that his team is close to getting back on track.

“I was proud of our effort,” Miller said. “I thought our guys the last couple days worked tirelessly to be ready for the game. We have a great group of guys and I think this week we have a chance to break through.”