Arizona Basketball takes part in Sweet 16 Press Conference

SAN ANTONIO, TX – Taking part in the Sweet 16 Press Conference, Arizona Basketball answered several questions and previewed their Houston matchup. 

Preparing for their Sweet 16 showdown with Houston, Arizona Basketball joined the media in the teams’ press conference ahead of Thursday nights’ action, covering a myriad of topics.

Coming in, Arizona anticipates a raucous environment and tough challenge, as the Wildcats play in Houston in San Antonio, just three hours from their campus.

Also, many are picking the Wildcats to be upset by the Cougars; however, as Christian Koloko said, “there’s really no pressure… we started the season and nobody was talking about us. Right now it is win or go home… everyone’s confident they can win, so we just got to play our game.”

And the Wildcats have every reason to be flying high, the team is 33-3 on the year, they have rattled off eight-straight wins, and they still have a decent possibility of being the team to win it all, however, daunting their road to a title may be.

And at this point of the season, confidence is key. This is a team that is “young and goofy” as Dalen Terry said, “We just like to have fun, we just want to the game.”

For an Arizona team that has succeeded in finding their own identity and playing their brand of basketball, they have gotten to this point following their blowout win over Wright State, and a close win over TCU. However, “the seasons not over, we have a lot to do left,” Benn Mathurin said.

And if Arizona Basketball is going to beat Houston on Thursday evening, it is going to take a better effort from everyone.

One of the players that the Wildcats will need more from is sophomore forward, Azuolas Tubelis. Against TCU, Tubelis was a non-factor, scoring just five points on 2-7 shooting in 16 minutes played.

If Arizona is going to beat Houston, Tubelis is going to have to be in retro Tubelis form. “I just need to play the same,” he said. “I keep practicing hard, and I will play hard tomorrow.”

You can watch the teams’ full press conference here!