Arizona beats Purdue to make first Final Four since 2001

SAN JOSE, Calif. — For the first time since 2001, the Arizona Wildcats are headed to the Final Four.

The top-seeded Wildcats punched their ticket with a 79-64 win over No. 2 Purdue, setting the school record for wins in a season (36). The previous winning record was in 1988, when Arizona reached the first of its four Final Fours – including the national title in 1997 – under legendary coach Lute Olson.

Shortly after the game ended, Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd held a microphone and addressed the cheering and strongly pro-Arizona crowd at the SAP Center.

“I know it,” he said. “There’s a handsome guy with white hair looking down at us, so happy.”

The reference to Olson, who died in 2020, drew even more cheers from Arizona fans.

“Lute gave me a great life,” Lloyd said. “He and I have only shaken hands a few times, kind of in a handshake line or something like that at a game. … His legacy in Tucson is so powerful that he’s the guy, there’s others before him, but he’s the main catalyst for making our program the center of the community.”

But this year’s team, in Lloyd’s fifth season in Tucson, has a chance to surpass all its predecessors and become the best in school history. The Wildcats will ride a 13-game winning streak into Indianapolis, where they will face the winner of Sunday’s game between Michigan and Tennessee.

Lloyd’s impact in Arizona was historic. The longtime Gonzaga assistant’s 148 wins over the past five seasons is an NCAA record for most wins by a coach in their first five seasons, eclipsing the record set by Brad Stevens at Butler. He guided the Wildcats to 33 wins in his first year and made three trips to the Sweet 16 in his first four seasons. But the Final Four remained elusive – until Saturday.

Against a veteran Purdue team, Arizona was led by its talented freshmen. The Wildcats’ three first-year starters — Brayden Burries (14), Ivan Kharchenkov (18) and Koa Peat (20) — combined for 52 points and were unphased by the biggest milestone of their young careers. Senior guard Jaden Bradley added 14 points.

Arizona took a 19-12 lead at the 12:37 mark of the first half and appeared to be ready to put the Boilermakers to bed early. But even after Purdue star Trey Kaufman-Renn picked up a second foul early, Purdue began to claw back.

A key change came when coach Matt Painter inserted second-year big man Daniel Jacobsen into the game just as Arizona’s lead expanded to seven. The 7-foot-4 Jacobsen had played just four minutes combined in the previous two games and had mostly been out of the rotation this month, but his size was needed against Arizona, and his presence helped turn the tide. But it didn’t last.

Inside the locker room at halftime, Lloyd addressed the team before leaving them a farewell message.

“I said, ‘Guys, the coaching staff and I are going to leave right now. You have a few minutes to talk among yourselves and find a solution to this deal and let’s kick their ass in the second half,'” Lloyd said.

Arizona needed just over five minutes in the second half to regain the lead and slowly pulled away.

“I was literally a spectator, just like you were in that second half,” Lloyd said. “That’s what I felt.”

Purdue (30-9) is far from its second Final Four in three seasons, and the loss marks the end of one of the great careers in college basketball history for Braden Smith, who broke Bobby Hurley’s career assists record earlier this season and finished with 1,103. Smith led Purdue with 13 points, but was just 4 of 15 from the field.

On Purdue’s final possession, with the outcome of the game long decided, Smith looked at Painter as if to ask whether he should dribble or continue playing. Painter told him to play and what followed was a final assist to Fletcher Loyer, who added to his Purdue record with a final 3.

“Braden was [a great player] for us for four years,” Painter said. “Very, very consistent, very competitive, good guy.”