On Saturday, the Arizona basketball team got revenge for their previous loss against Kansas by blowing out the Jayhawks by a score of 84-61 on their home floor. It was an excellent all-around game for the Wildcats, and marked the return of forward Koa Peat to the lineup, who scored 12 points to go along with seven rebounds and five assists in a well-rounded effort.
After the game, head coach Tommy Lloyd spoke on Peat's impact on the floor in his return.
“You could just see those fresh legs and that energy. Just having him back in the game, and on the court, it was awesome. I love the way he played. I mean, he had five assists, zero turnovers, seven rebounds. … Big offensive rebounds early in that game, 12 points … just a great effort for him overall … We know how valuable he is, and today, he kind of reminded us of that,” said Lloyd, per Javier Morales of All Sports Tucson on X, formerly Twitter.
Peat had suffered a lower body injury in the Wildcats' loss to Texas Tech earlier in February, causing him to miss the next three games, but as Lloyd mentioned, he appeared to be rejuvinated with fresh legs in Arizona's win over Kansas.
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The Wildcats have been a dominant force in college basketball all year, now sitting at 27-2 after the win over the Jayhawks, and ranked number two in the country. Earlier in the year, Arizona had suffered its first loss of the season at the hands of Kansas, and had followed that up with the defeat against Texas Tech, in the game in which Peat was injured.
However, Arizona has appeared to fully recover from that brief skid, and looks poised to be a force to be reckoned with as the calendar flips to March.
Arizona will next take the floor on Monday night vs Iowa State.
