Cool-headed Arizona Wildcats defy history, beat Purdue 79-64 to reach Final Four

SAN JOSE — Whether it was a curse, or just a long string of difficult circumstances, it’s all over now.

The Arizona Wildcats are going to the Final Four.

Arizona men's basketball beat Purdue 79-64 in the West Regional final Saturday to snap a streak of five straight losses in the Elite Eight, a stream of heartbreak that ran through both of the otherwise successful Lute Olson and Sean Miller eras.

Immediately after the win, UA coach Tommy Lloyd said over the SAP Center microphone "that there's a good-looking guy with white hair looking down who's happy" to which the predominately pro-UA crowd cheered "Luuuuute" as Wildcat fans often did during and even after Olson's tenure officially ended in 2008.

Coincidentally, the win earned Arizona, 36-2, a trip back to the same city where Olson led the Wildcats to the 1997 national championship. They'll face either Tennessee or Michigan, who will play Sunday, in the national semifinals next Saturday in Indianapolis.

"I don't sit around feeling good about myself because people are saying good things about us, but I'm proud of what we've accomplished," Lloyd said later at his postgame press conference. "We'll take it all in."

Named the West Regional's Most Outstanding Player, freshman forward Koa Peat led the Wildcats with 20 points and seven rebounds. Point guard Jaden Bradley joined him on the all-Regional team after scoring 14 points, dishing six assists and turning the ball over only once, helping the Wildcats overcome a 38-31 halftime deficit.

In another typically balanced offensive effort, the Wildcats also received 18 points and eight rebounds from freshman forward Ivan Kharchenkov and 14 points from freshman guard Brayden Burries. 

UA center Motiejus Krivas added six points and 12 rebounds.

After the game, the Wildcats snipped down nets for the third time this month, and had longtime UA trainer Justin Kokoskie slap "Arizona" on the bracket board since Kokoskie was on the UA staff during all five of the Wildcats' previous Elite Eight defeats.

"I was the most nervous person during that game," Kokoskie said. "I didn't eat today. I didn't sleep last night."

There were plenty of worries for the Wildcats early. Purdue hit 7 of 14 3-pointers and outrebounded the Wildcats in the first half and while taking a 38-31 halftime lead.

But Arizona outscored Purdue 48-26 in the second half, while solving the Boilermakers defensively. After halftime, Purdue shot 32.1% overall in the second half and hit just 1 of 8 3-pointers.

"In the second half we just played fearless," wing Anthony Dell'Orso said. "At the start we were playing a little tentative, worrying about the outcome and and trying to play it safe a little bit.

"We came in at halftime and we just said, 'There's nothing to be scared of. It's just another game. We've already achieved so much, so just play.' I think in the second half we just played normal. We didn't do anything different."

Lloyd said the Wildcats went through a somewhat a normal halftime, with associate head coach Jack Murphy showing them some clips, and Lloyd following up with some words.

But then the coaches got out of the way.

"These dudes have been unbelievable. This is when we're at our best," Lloyd said of his players, saying he has left them alone four or five times during halftimes. "I said ... '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.'"

So they did. Arizona outrebounded Purdue 22-16 in the second half, and held them to 32.1% shooting, defending the screens and other moves the Boilermakers used in the first half to set up their 3-point shots.

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Trailing by seven at halftime, the Wildcats went on a 16-3 run that turned into 24-7 to take a double-digit lead, 59-49, when Peat scored near the basket with just under nine minutes left, and wound up maintaining a double-digit lead the rest of the way.

Arizona first pushed ahead with its 16-3 run, tying the game at 42 and then taking a 51-45 lead after Bradley stole the ball underneath Purdue’s basket, drove nearly coast-to-coast and then dished to Dell'Orso, who fired in a 3-pointer from the right wing.

As it turned out, the Boilermakers instead found their most production inside, where former Cochise College center Oscar Cluff had 14 points and 10 rebounds, and blocked two shots.

Even though Cluff had five offensive rebounds and Purdue had 14 overall, they actually scored fewer second chance points (13) than Arizona did, with 17 points off 10 offensive rebounds.

"They rebound at a high, high level," said Purdue guard Braden Smith, who hit 3 of 6 3s in the first half but none in the second. "I think that's kind of where they got us.

"Credit to Arizona. They're an unbelievable team. Obviously we wanted to compete with them and make a little bit closer there at the end, but no, hats off to them."

After taking a 38-31 halftime lead, Purdue regained a seven-point lead, 42-35 when Cluff scored inside but the Wildcats rattled off seven straight points from there to tie the game at 42 after a 3-pointer from Burries and a driving layup from Bradley.

It was fitting that Burries played a role in the game's turnaround, having demonstrated a Cali-cool confidence all season, even when he was struggling during the first month.

"I'm more like a calm, composed type of guy," Burries said.

Burries said Lloyd and the UA coaches helped keep all the Wildcats calm after the first half, when Arizona trailed at halftime for the first time since falling behind Iowa State 43-37 at halftime of the Big 12 Tournament semifinals.

The Wildcats shot only 40.7% from the field before halftime, missed 5 of 6 3-pointers and were outrebounded 20-15. Purdue shot 42.9% while Smith had 11 points largely by hitting his three 3-pointers.

Arizona opened up early leads of 15-10 and 19-12 while Purdue missed 10 of its first 15 shots, including some open looks from the perimeter. But the Boilermakers kept UA without a field goal for nearly five minutes while going on a 10-2 run, taking a 23-10 lead after Cluff grabbed a turnover from Bradley that led to a 3-pointer from Purdue’s Gicarri Harris.

They carried the momentum into a seven-point edge at halftime before UA turned the game around.

"We were down but they weren't crazy over it," Burries said of the UA coaches. "There was no nerves. They just told us, 'Be steady. These games are long. Timeouts are longer, so just try to take it possession by possession."

While  Bradley beat Iowa State with a buzzer-beating game winner the last time Arizona trailed at halftime, this time the Wildcats did it largely the way they have all season: Rebounding, efficient offense that included Peat dominating near the basket and tough defense.

The Wildcats wound up ending the season of a Purdue team that reached the 2024 Final Four and was the preseason No. 1 pick in the Associated Press Top 25 this season, before slumping during Big Ten play and ultimately ascending in the postseason.

The Boilermakers were on the rise until Saturday, that is.

Arizona, the past be damned, was just too much. 

This time, for once, they turned the Elite Eight into a celebration.

"Right now, I'm a little tired," Lloyd said at his postgame press conference. "I just feel like ... if you take the 15 minutes of collective joy of each individual who loves this program, who's happy right now, how powerful is that? How cool is that?"