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Tommy Lloyd overcomes pressure to get Arizona into Final Four 
Arizona Wildcats head coach Tommy Lloyd walks off the court after an Elite Eight game against the Purdue Boilermakers of the West Regional of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at SAP Center. Eakin Howard-Imagn Images

Tommy Lloyd overcomes pressure to get Arizona into Final Four 

By Mike J. Asti  |  Last updated Mar 28, 2026 11:59 PM ET

After getting over the Sweet 16 roadblock earlier in the month, Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd answered any doubters by getting the Wildcats to a place the program hasn't been in 25 years. 

On Saturday night, Arizona mounted a comeback to defeat a veteran Purdue team 79-64 to take its place in the 2026 Final Four. The win gets Lloyd over the hump and into his first Final Four as a head coach and Arizona to the school's first appearance since 2001. 

Tommy Lloyd, Arizona needed a comeback to secure their win in the Elite Eight

Trailing 38-31 at halftime, Arizona outscored the Boilermakers 48-26 in the second half en route to the win. Showing their depth, four different Wildcats reached double-digits in scoring. 

Koa Peat led the way with 20 points, connecting on 9-of-18 from the field. Ivan Kharchenkov had 18, going 7-of-11 from the field and bringing down eight rebounds.

Lloyd's past in the "Big Dance" only added more pressure as well. Entering March facing more pressure than any coach in the country, Lloyd failed to get his team past the Sweet 16 in four straight years despite making the NCAA Tournament as no worse than a four seed and at least a two seed three times. Lloyd's previous March heartbreaks also came after capturing two other regular-season and conference tournament titles from Arizona's past as a member of the Pac-12.

Lloyd has now secured Arizona's best season in 25 years

Reaching the Final Four now solidifies the 2025-26 season as the best for Arizona in a quarter of a century, adding the milestone to winning the Big 12 regular season and tournament titles. But their regular-season success is why the pressure was on to get to at least this point through the NCAA Tournament. 

His players' reaction after their monumental win shows they knew how much pressure their coach was under. While celebrating on the SAP Center court, multiple Arizona players could be heard shouting, "We got the best coach in America!" Lloyd humbly responded by saying his players are better players than he is a coach.

In reality, the players and coach did it together and now have more steps to go before living forever as national champions, marking the second in the history of the Arizona basketball program (1997). 

Mike J. Asti
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Mike Asti is an experienced media personality and journalist with a vast resume and skillset, most notably from time with TribLIVE Radio and WPXI-TV. Asti now serves as the Managing Editor of WV Sports Now, where he leads the coverage of WVU sports. He has also covered the Steelers, Penguins, Pirates and other teams within the Pittsburgh market

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