ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥

LUBBOCK, Texas — In the sort of physical, defensive-minded game the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Wildcats were expected to encounter often upon moving to the Big 12 this season, center Tobe Awaka showed up.

Most of his teammates did so only to a degree.

So even though Awaka had 14 rebounds and eight points against Texas Tech on Saturday, the Wildcats had their seven-game winning streak snapped with a 70-54 loss to the Red Raiders at United Supermarkets Arena that was built largely on UA’s season-low rebounding deficit of 16.

The Wildcats were outrebounded 50-34, blowing away a previous low of minus-seven against Duke, which only accented their 31.0% shooting.

It all led into a complete seizure of the UA offense late in a game that they were otherwise competitive in, with the Wildcats missing 15 of their final 16 field goals and failing to score a single point over the final 5:16.

“We hung in there and we gave ourselves a chance, and that’s what we were hoping to do,� UA coach Tommy Lloyd said. “It just kind of got away from us at the end there a little bit. Hopefully we can learn from it. I’m sure we’re going to be in this situation again.�

That much appears certain. The Wildcats, who dropped to 11-6 overall and 5-1 in the Big 12, still have most of their toughest league games yet to come. They’ll play at Oklahoma State on Tuesday but have yet to face Top-10 teams Iowa State, Houston or Kansas, while Baylor will get another crack at them on Feb. 17 after the Wildcats beat the Bears on Tuesday.

What might help down that road: rebounding and toughness. The kinds of things Lloyd didn’t really see much of Saturday, not even from previously resurgent big man Henri Veesaar, nor power forward Trey Townsend and Carter Bryant.

Although Bryant was a rare bright spot for the Wildcats offensively, scoring 10 points while hitting 2 of 3 3-pointers, he and Townsend each had just two rebounds.

“They played quite a few minutes together and they didn’t have enough rebounds,� Lloyd said. “Individually, hopefully they can pick that up.�

Veesaar may have been even more of a puzzle. On a relative tear in Big 12 play as a third-year sophomore after a quiet freshman year and an injury redshirt season, Veesaar was scoreless with two rebounds and three fouls in 14 minutes. He was coming off two straight double-digit scoring efforts, averaging 12.4 rebounds and 6.6 rebounds overall in UA’s first five Big 12 games.

Where he goes from here, Lloyd wasn’t sure.

“Henri’s really been making progress but I told Henri, you just can’t assume,� Lloyd said. “You don’t score 19 last game, and just show up at the gym and score 21 today. Now you’re on the scouting report, and you’ve got to fight.

“He wasn’t great today but he’s trending in the right direction. And obviously there’s always going to be a little bit of a regression to the mean. Now, we’ve got to figure out what his mean is. What is his mean? I don’t know.�

Still, even with its troubles on the glass, the Wildcats had their moments Saturday.

Staying within single digits of Texas Tech throughout the first half and trailing 33-26 at halftime, the Wildcats tied it at 33 just 102 seconds into the half, thanks to a 7-0 run that included a 3-pointer and layup from Jaden Bradley along with two free throws from Townsend.

But TTU went back ahead 38-33 after getting a short jumper from center JT Toppin and a 3-pointer from Christian Anderson, then held one- or two-possession leads for most of the second half.

UA twice cut TTU’s lead to just a point midway through the half, the last with 7:34 left, before the Wildcats’ offense fell apart. UA missed its final 12 field goals, including 3-point attempts from Caleb Love with 4:14 left and Anthony Dell’Orso with 3:40 left.

After those misses, the Wildcats never trailed by less than two possessions.

“You make one of those, and maybe it changes,� Lloyd said.

By now, of course, the Wildcats have learned not to depend too heavily on Love, who has so far had a mostly erratic fifth season of college basketball. On Saturday, Love scored nine points on 3-for-13 shooting while missing all five threes he took.

“He’s got to start playing better,� Lloyd said again Saturday, adding as usual: “We’re going to hang with him.�

But all the Wildcats’ missed shots could have been cleaned up with some better offensive rebounding, and better defensive rebounding might have held Texas Tech more accountable for their 35.6% shooting.

Instead, TTU scored 15 second-chance points off its 16 offensive rebounds, some of them Awaka found were ironically the result of good UA on-ball defense.

“We did a good job of getting them late in the shot clock, and forced them into some wild shots,� Awaka said. “Then those wild shots, they’re going to bounce off the rim in kind of a crazy way. They were opportunistic in getting some of those rebounds.

“Offensive rebounding wise, I thought our team did a good job. But I still think there were some defensive rebounds we could have secured.�

Also, everyone was maybe a little tired toward the end. Afterward, Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said other coaches told him how ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s physical nature could wear on you, but the Red Raiders turned that equation around.

“A lot of it had to do with just the physical nature of the game and how it fatigues you and but that’s what I loved about this game,� McCasland said. “This is the grit that I’ve been hoping our team believes in, that we can win this way.�

Maybe it’s the way ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ can resume winning, eventually, too. But on Saturday, the Wildcats let down after 35 minutes, whether that was because of physical or mental wear, or both.

It was “maybe slight fatigue, but we’re playing on the road and I thought our guys did a great job,� Lloyd said. “I was proud of our guys for hanging with it. I thought that showed something, especially when we weren’t shooting or playing well.�