KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One of the intangible factors behind Arizona’s 29-2 romp through the regular season, maybe only a tiny factor, has been the Wildcats’ smooth travels.
In and out to nine sometimes weather-delayed Big 12 cities, plus five nonconference assignments away from McKale Center and the Wildcats almost never ran into trouble.
Just fire up the charter bus, load the bags on and go, all with minimal security and terminal hassles. Players put headphones on, coaches study video or other information and the arrival always happens on time.
Until lately, that is. Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said he didn’t get to his house Sunday morning until about 5 a.m., thanks to a 9 p.m. tipoff at Colorado the night before and a minor takeoff delay.
Then on Tuesday, he arrived at the team's Kansas City hotel, appearing harried, late to take his family out to dinner, as he sometimes does to give his players space while spending rare in-season time with his own multi-generational gang.
Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd screams out to his players in the second half during a game against Iowa State at McKale Center on March 2, 2026. Arizona won 73-57.
This time, all was good until the Wildcats’ plane approached the Kansas-Missouri state line, where a major thunderstorm was hitting late Tuesday afternoon. The National Weather Service even pushed out an “Imminent Threat Alert” to cellphones in the area, saying that there could be “DESTRUCTIVE three-inch-size hail.”
No doubt the Wildcats’ pilots didn’t want to run into that stuff. So the team plane skirted north toward Iowa and Nebraska, stopped just short of St. Joseph, Missouri, and literally crossed over the Kansas-Missouri state line five times before looping into the downtown Kansas City airport.
Their flight map, as posted by FlightAware, looked like a ribbon on top of a boxed gift.
They were delayed about 90 minutes. Not much off the clock, but a disruption of note in the heavily structured world of big-time college athletics.
Still, Lloyd shrugged it off.
“Normal trip,” he said. “Just practice this morning, then jump on the plane.”
He had other things to worry about, anyway.
Before that first delayed flight left Colorado early Sunday, Lloyd expressed concern that “human nature” had caught up with the Wildcats, who trailed Colorado by up to 11 points in the first half at the end of a long week in which they had beaten Iowa State to clinch the Big 12 regular-season title.
They could be subject to human nature again this week. Last year, the Wildcats entered the Big 12 Tournament as the No. 3 seed, having tied with BYU for third place, hardly the team to beat.
This time, they're the top seed. Everybody has a loss to them except Texas Tech. Revenge motives are everywhere.
Yet Lloyd shrugged that idea off, too.
“I think everybody always wants a shot at us and we want shots of people, too,” he said. “So I don’t sense any difference at all.”
While Lloyd didn’t know upon arrival on Tuesday was whether the Wildcats would face UCF or Cincinnati in their quarterfinal opener Thursday, both could be especially motivated.
From left to right: Arizona's Anthony Dell'Orso, Koa Peat, Brayden Burries and Jackson Cook celebrate winning the Big-12 title at McKale Center on March 2, 2026, after beating Iowa State.
Both teams are firmly on the NCAA Tournament bubble, knowing a win over Arizona could put them in safe territory.
In January, UCF put UA forward Koa Peat in foul trouble and forced the Wildcats to “weather a few comeback storms,” according to Lloyd, in their 84-77 win on Jan. 17 in Orlando. Four days later, Arizona smoked Cincinnati inside in its 77-51 win over the Bearcats at McKale Center.
“Two good teams, talented players, good teams,” Lloyd said. “I wouldn't say they lack for talent. Maybe they just lack a little bit for consistency. But I think they both are capable of putting together really good 40 minutes.”
The trickiest opponent the Wildcats might have is the prospect of playing three games in three days. They have gone all year with a tight eight-player rotation, except for a two-week stretch when forwards Koa Peat and Dwayne Aristode were out and guard Brayden Burries battled bronchitis.
Point guard Jaden Bradley said he, too, had been under the weather, even “definitely trying” the IV method that Burries used to get through it.
Arizona guard Jaden Bradley looks beyond Iowa State forward Milan Momcilovic (22) in the first half during a game at McKale Center in Tucson on March 2, 2026.
“We've got a lot of stuff we're trying to accomplish and you can push through a game or two, knowing that your teammates are gonna pick up the slack,” Bradley said. “We've got great players, so you just push it through.”
Even with good health now, Lloyd said he could go deeper into his bench depending on how the week goes in order to avoid unnecessarily wearing his players out before the NCAA Tournament.
The Wildcats would appear to have little motivation this week, being a No. 1 NCAA tournament seed, possibly even if they lose Thursday, though the Big 12 Tournament is one thing they have not yet won.
They lost 72-64 to Houston in the championship game last season, their first in the conference.
“We want to try to go win it,” Bradley said. “Just looking at the seedings, there’s some great teams in there. I just look at it as every game is important.”
