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Arizona tied for first in Big XII after Houston loss to Texas Tech

Arizona's win at Arizona State on Saturday afternoon and Texas Tech's upset victory at Houston put the Cougars and Wildcats in a first place tie.

ByAlan Rubenstein|
Feb 1, 2025; Tempe, Ariz., U.S.; Arizona Wildcats guard Caleb Love (1) is held back by teammates during a Big 12 menÕs basketball game at Desert Financial Arena. Both Arizona State Sun Devils guard BJ Freeman (10) and Love were ejected from the game.
Feb 1, 2025; Tempe, Ariz., U.S.; Arizona Wildcats guard Caleb Love (1) is held back by teammates during a Big 12 menÕs basketball game at Desert Financial Arena. Both Arizona State Sun Devils guard BJ Freeman (10) and Love were ejected from the game. | Cheryl Evans/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Arizona and Houston are tied for first place in the Big XII following their games on Saturday. Arizona won 81-72 at Arizona State. Houston had its 33 game home court winning streak snapped by Texas Tech in an 82-81 victory on Saturday night. Arizona and Houston are both 9-1 in the conference.

Texas Tech improved to 8-2 in the Big 12 and has now given Arizona and Houston its only conference losses. Houston and Texas Tech are now both 17-4 overall. Arizona is 15-6 after the win at Arizona State. Texas Tech lost to Central Florida in its Big XII opener and at Iowa State last month.

Arizona is at BYU on Tuesday, hosts Texas Tech next Saturday and is at Kansas State on February 11 before hosting Houston in their only meeting this season on February 15. Houston hosts Oklahoma State on Tuesday, is at Colorado next Saturday and hosts Baylor on February 10 before playing at Arizona.

Texas Tech and Houston will rematch in Lubbock on February 24. Third-ranked Iowa State fell to 7-3 after having its 29-game homecourt winning streak ended in an 80-71 loss to Kansas State on Saturday. Everyone else in the Big XII has at least four conference losses.

After starting the season 4-5 with all of its losses versus Power Conference teams without any quality wins, Arizona is one of the hottest teams nationally with 11 wins in its last 12 games. Arizona began the season 0-5 versus NCAA Net Ratings quad one opponents. The Wildcats are now 5-6 versus Quad One after the win over ASU.

Arizona is competing for a rare double of winning a regular season title in consecutive seasons in two Power Conferences. After being doubted following the 4-5 start. Tommy Lloyd has Arizona playing the high level basketball they have throughout most of his four seasons.

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