No. 4 Arizona likely clinches NCAA Tournament 1-seed with massive road win over No. 2 Houston

Per ESPN Insights, the win was Arizona's third against an AP top-3 team this season, making it the first team since 2011-12 Kansas to accomplish the feat.

Offensively, Arizona played smart basketball against a strong Houston defense, only turning the ball over five times while often getting to the line, ending the game with 31 free-throw attempts.

The win showed once again why the Wildcats will be a tough out in March and may get its breakthrough under Lloyd, whose first season as Arizona head coach was in 2021-22. Despite making the tournament in each of its first four seasons as a 4-seed or higher, Arizona hasn't made it past the Sweet 16 with Lloyd. It's lost in the regional semifinals three times, including the past two years, while exiting in a stunning 2-v-15 upset loss to Princeton in 2023.

If Peat is cleared to return, Arizona will have as strong an argument as any team in the country of being favored to win the national championship, the program's second and first since 1997.

Earlier Saturday, the NCAA Tournament selection committee named the Wildcats a 1-seed in a preview of the bracket, less than a month before Selection Sunday, and ranked them third overall, behind Michigan and Duke. 

Arizona only solidified its position by beating Houston. But more than that, after suffering their first two losses of the season in back-to-back fashion earlier this month, the Wildcats also appear to have gotten out of their brief slump.

With the regular season winding down, Arizona once again looks like one of the top teams in the country. The selection committee already agrees, and that's unlikely to change.