Thursday night's game between No. 4 Arizona (20-6, 11-4 Pac-12) and No. 21 Washington State (21-6, 12-4) had it all. The game was physical, had two players trading buckets in the second half with Caleb Love scoring 27 for UA and Jaylen Wells dropping 27 of his own for WSU.
The only thing it didn't have for Arizona was a happy ending with WSU pulling off the 77-74 upset and ending the game on a 6-0 run over the last 24 seconds.
The loss for the Wildcats marks the first time in the Tommy Lloyd era that a conference opponent has swept the regular season series. Also, the Cougars are now 3-1 in the last four games against Arizona.
Now, with five games left in the season, Arizona will need to win out with games against ASU, Oregon, UCLA and USC with the Ducks being the only home game if it has any hopes of winning the conference. Plus, the Wildcats will need WSU to drop one of its last four games to achieve this goal.
But, looking at the bigger picture, what does the loss mean for Arizona?
Honestly, it's not as big of a deal as most Wildcat fans think. Do you want to lose at home as the favorite? No but, the impact of the loss doesn't really cause any issues for the team long term.
Right now, the day after a 3-point loss to WSU, Arizona is a No. 1 seed according to ESPN's Joe Lunardi.
This season, Arizona is 7-4 in Quad 1 games, which is the fourth most wins against Quad 1 teams.
Some of the more impressive wins on the season for Arizona are Duke, Alabama and Wisconsin, which have collected 16 Quad 1 wins.
And out of the games the Wildcats have lost, four have come against No. 3 Purdue, No. 21 Washington State and FAU. Those teams have a combined record of 66-15 and have 16 Quad 1 wins.
So yes, Arizona is still securely on the 1-seed line along with Purdue, UConn and Houston.
Can that change?
Of course it can, Arizona can't afford to drop games against its final five remaining regular season games, or the Wildcats will move to a 2-seed.
The point is, Arizona fans can calm down a little. The season isn't over from the WSU loss and the sun has come out the following day.
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