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 against No. 2 Purdue, setting the school record for wins in a season (36) in the process. The previous wins record had stood since 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 spoke to the jubilant, heavily pro-Arizona crowd at the SAP Center.

“I know this,” he said. “There’s a good-looking guy with white hair looking down on us right that happy.”

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

“Lute’s given me a great life,” Lloyd said. “He and I shook hands only a few times, kind of in a handshake line or something 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 to make 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 as the best in school history. The Wildcats will take a 13-game winning streak to Indianapolis, where they will play the winner of Sunday’s game between Michigan and Tennessee.

Lloyd’s impact at Arizona has been historic. The longtime Gonzaga assistant’s 148 wins over the past five seasons are 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 had three trips to the Sweet 16 in his first four seasons. But the Final Four had remained elusive — until Saturday.

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

Arizona jumped out to a 19-12 lead at the 12:37 mark of the first half and looked like it might be ready to put the Boilermakers to bed early. But even after Purdue star Trey Kaufman-Renn picked up an early second foul, Purdue started to claw its way back.

One key change came when coach Matt Painter inserted sophomore big man Daniel Jacobsen into the game just as Arizona’s lead stretched to seven. The 7-foot-4 Jacobsen had played just four combined minutes 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 shift the tide. But it didn’t last.

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

“I said, ‘Guys, the coaching staff and I are going to leave right now. You guys got a few minutes to talk amongst yourselves and kind of figure this deal out and let’s go kick their ass in the second half,”‘ Lloyd said.

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

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

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

During Purdue’s last possession, with the game’s outcome having long been decided, Smith looked at Painter as if to ask whether to dribble it out or keep playing. Painter told him to play and what followed was a final assist to Fletcher Loyer, who added to his Purdue record with one final 3.

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