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Never mind that his team had won six straight and was 4-0 in the Big 12 Conference after beating UCF 88-80 at McKale Center.

That was part of the problem. They were 4-0 in the Big 12 … but only after hanging on to beat Cincinnati and UCF despite blowing double-digit leads, lapsing into dangerous habits that could cost them ahead during a backloaded schedule.

And, after failing to beat a single high-major team in nonconference play, it's a conference schedule in which they have little margin for error in obtaining a decent NCAA Tournament seed.

“Every one of these games matters,� Lloyd said Saturday night. “It's great to be 4-0. But you know what? Four and 0 could also end up 4-16 if you don't handle it the right way. We’ve got to handle it the right way.�

Saying the Wildcats were playing “dumb,� “casual� and “maybe a little bit selfish� against the Knights, Lloyd ranted often throughout a six-minute postgame address Saturday that was reminiscent of how he complained no fewer than 10 times that Stanford booted them swiftly in the backside during a New Year’s Eve game last season at Maples Pavilion.

“Do I need to say ass-kicked again?� Lloyd said at one point at Maples.

But even though Lloyd’s post-Stanford rant came after a loss and Saturday’s comments came after a win, both reactions appeared at least somewhat rooted in the same coaching strategy.

The Wildcats’ loss to a previously sub-.500 Stanford team was their third in five games and came as Lloyd was trying to prepare them for Pac-12 play ahead. It may have helped: The Wildcats lost two more of their next six games but then cruised through most of February to capture the conference’s regular season title.

This time, Lloyd appeared to be preparing them for the potentially much tougher Big 12 games ahead, starting Tuesday when the Wildcats will host Baylor at McKale Center.

Against UCF, the Wildcats built three 14-point leads midway through the first half that melted away in less than nine minutes, then generally stagnated through the second half.

That sort of behavior can easily translate into a loss against Baylor, Iowa State, Houston, Kansas, BYU, ASU or, really, just about any game ahead. They had already seen it happen against UCLA, losing a 13-point second half lead in a 57-54 loss at Phoenix on Dec. 14.

“I just didn't think we did a great job of seizing the opportunity and seizing the moment,� Lloyd said. “It’s a teaching moment for us. And you know what? I do love teaching after a win. I will admit that.�

The way Lloyd put it, some of that teaching was now public.Ìý

“If you think I'm telling you stuff right now that they haven't heard, you're crazy,� Lloyd said. “They know. They know where we're at, and they know where we want to go, and if we want to go where we want to go, we've got to get better.�

Lloyd started his postgame critique after he was asked about the balance UA had in beating the Knights. Seven UA players had nine or more points against UCF, led by guard Caleb Love, who had 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

Here’s how that 75-second response went:

“Yeah, good balance,� Lloyd said. “I mean, there are so many positives today and I'm trying to hone in on those, because obviously I'm upset with how dumb we played.

“I mean, there's no other way to put it. We were just dumb. Our fundamentals were poor. Our late-game execution was poor and it's just not acceptable.

“I love the result. I told the staff: 'If somebody would have told me when we got back to ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ after the UCLA debacle that we’d be 4-0 in the conference, I probably wouldn't have believed you.' So I love where we're at.

“But I'm also going to fight for where we're going. And ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ basketball does not play dumb at the end of a game and we just weren't good enough. Whether it's disrespecting the game or getting casual, whatever you want to call it, we've got to be better. And those guys that are playing heavy minutes, they've got to be better. At the end of a game, they have to be better. There's no other way to put it.

“I could try to put them in better positions and the best position might be off the court. Those are conversations we're going to have, because winning is important. We need to value those opportunities and we just didn't today.�

Maybe part of it is simply human nature: The Wildcats, after all, were coming off a two-game road sweep at Cincinnati and West Virginia, then built a 14-point lead over UCF less than 11 minutes into Saturday’s game.

Life was good, right? Wasn’t it easy to just sit back and take a breather?

“Maybe. Maybe,� Lloyd said. “It’s not easy for me, but maybe some of the players have that. They need to figure that out.

“I mean, they need to be mature competitors. A mature competitor (where you) understand you're in a really tough conference. It's a 20-game grind. Every game matters, every win matters at the end of the season. Teams are going to finish 1 to 16, and every team is going to be able to go back and look and say, 'Man, if we just played a little better in game three. We would be this seed instead of that seed, you know?'

“So the stuff matters. It matters. It matters now. And it's not about an individual player, it's about the team.�

After adding 11 points and five rebounds in a 16-minute performance Saturday, UA center Tobe Awaka said it wasn’t that the Wildcats were taking it easy.

“After those two big road wins, complacency is something that you fight against but I wouldn't say it was necessarily a lack of effort,� Awaka said. It was “probably us not playing our smartest basketball, our techniques on our box outs. I think the guys brought great effort today. It was just some mental lapses here and there.�

Sure enough, Lloyd did complain about box outs and UA’s lack of rebounding. The Knights outrebounded the Wildcats 42-41 and scored the most second-chance points of any UA opponent this season, 23, after collecting 20 offensive rebounds.

That helped keep the Knights in the game despite their 38.5% overall shooting.

But there were other mental errors Lloyd complained of and even Love wasn’t spared from the criticism in a game when he led the Wildcats overall but also had three turnovers.

That was a slight change from how Lloyd had expressed support for Love throughout a bumpy nonconference season that followed an Associated Press preseason all-American honor.

“Caleb was great to start. Was not good enough at the end, whether it's shot selection or dribble out of the sideline against the trap,� Lloyd said. “Caleb's played college basketball for five years. He knows better than that. Falling down? That stuff shouldn't happen. I'm counting on this guy to be an All-American level player.

“I love Caleb and I've given him a lot. He's got to be better. This bottom line, he's got to be better.�

Finally, at the end of his postgame address, Lloyd was asked if there was a lot of learning to take away from it all.

That question basically escorted Lloyd to the tee, where he took a final shot.

This time, his answer took over a minute.

“Oh my God,� Lloyd said. “There's going to be a lot to learn. But here's the deal. We've already learned the lesson. We fell back into it. So it was stupid.

“We've had the ball taken from us. We haven't played smart. We’ve gotten better at it and we've been working on that stuff every single day. We've been working on jump stops and pivots every single day. We work on situations every single day. We work on early shot clock, late shot clock every single day.

“So be better. Be better. And … as coaches, we've got to be better. We own this, too. We're in the fight with the players. This isn't a coach talking down to players. We're all in this together and we're fighting to have a great season.�

Lloyd began tapping his fingers on the table as he finished his statements.

“And you know what? We're back on track. We're right where we want to be. We're right where we should be. Now it’s 'go try to fight to be great.' You got to fight to be great. The sh...Ìý— sorryÌý— the stuff just doesn't happen. It just doesn't happen.

“I think sometimes because guys come to ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ and put ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ on their chest, they think it just happens. It doesn't happen. You. Have. To. Fight. For. It.â€�

With that, Lloyd stood up, grabbed his soda can and walked out of the interview room.

“Love you guys,� he said.