SAN JOSE, CALIF. — On Wednesday night, as Arizona associate head coach Jack Murphy conducted the team’s video tutorial in advance of the next day’s Sweet Sixteen matchup against Arkansas, he cautioned the players that if the game started going the Wildcats’ way, their opponents might get a little chippy.
That’s what happened when the Razorbacks got demolished by 34 points at Florida on Feb. 28. The second half of that game was pockmarked by multiple technical fouls and even a shouting match between Arkansas coach John Calipari and Florida counterpart Todd Golden.
Sure enough, as the Wildcats surged to a 20-point lead in the second half, the Razorbacks tried to throw them off their game. Sophomore guard Billy Richmond shoved Wildcats forward Ivan Kharchenkov while he was setting a screen away from the ball. Kharchenkov toppled to the floor, no doubt accentuating the contact, while Richmond was whistled for a flagrant two technical, which warranted an automatic ejection.
Over the next few minutes, tempers flared, elbows flew and whistles flowed. With 5:38 to play and the Wildcats up by 22, Calipari was assessed a technical foul for jawing at official Lee Cassell.
From there, a game that never was close coughed and wheezed to the finish, mercifully expiring with Arizona as the 109-88 victor in a West Region semifinal. The win earned the Wildcats a date with Purdue on Saturday, with the winner advancing to the Final Four in Indianapolis.
When it was over, Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd was grateful not only to get to the first Elite Eight during his five-year tenure at Tucson but also for the manner in which his players took Murphy’s counsel to heart. “Give Murph credit and give these guys credit; they did a great job just keeping their minds and focusing on the task at hand, which is winning the ball game,” Lloyd said. “To play championship basketball, you’ve got to just stand up and walk away from the action. This isn’t the playground, you know what I mean? You can’t just throw down. That’s not how you win basketball games. These guys have high character and they’re winners, but they’re competitors, and it’s always a fine line for both teams.”
On some nights, especially in the NCAA Tournament, the better team does not always win. This was not one of those nights. “Arizona’s really good,” Calipari said. “That’s the highest percentage that I can remember someone shooting.… They were on all cylinders, and we weren’t quite what we’ve been. That’s why you get a 20-point bulge. I said it yesterday; they’ve got a bunch of guys that can play, and they’ve got a couple other guys that do exactly what they need to do to help their team win.”
To borrow one of Charles Barkley’s favorite phrases, Arizona beat the Razorbacks like they stole something. Freshman guard Brayden Burries scored the first points on a driving layup 18 seconds into the game, and the Wildcats never trailed. They were up by 10 at the 11:25 mark of the first half. The lead never got back to single digits over the final 25 minutes. Arizona shot lights-out in the first half, converting 75 percent from the floor and making 3 of its 4 three-point shots. Overall, Arizona shot 64 percent for the game, 63 percent from three and 77 percent (30-of-39) from the foul line.
Burries led the way with 23 points to go along with 5 rebounds and 2 assists. His fellow freshman, 6-foot-8 forward Koa Peat, added 21 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists, while 7-foot-2 junior center Montiejas Krivas had 14 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks.
Arkansas was led once again by brilliant freshman point guard Darius Acuff Jr., the SEC Player of the Year, who led the league in points and assists. He had 28 points (on 8-of-19 shooting) and 3 assists in what almost certainly was his last college game, given that he is projected to be a top-five NBA Draft pick. “He was the ultimate competitor,” Calipari said. “(He) had a will to win, would make baskets because he wasn’t afraid to miss late in games.”
Arizona’s offense wasn’t just overwhelming, it was incredibly well-balanced. This was the first time in NCAA Tournament history that a team had six players score at least 14 points. “This is the most fun I’ve had playing basketball,” Peat said. “I love my teammates. Just seeing them be successful, it just makes me happy. Then they find me as well. So we went out there and played our Arizona brand of basketball. And I thought everything fell in place.”
While the rest of college basketball is on an analytics-driven, pace-and-space, three-point-binge, the Wildcats are playing an old-fashioned style that is predicated first and foremost on size and strength. Lloyd commonly deploys two-big lineups, and he has arguably the nation’s best sixth man in 6-foot-8, 250-pound senior forward Tobe Awaka, who leads the nation in offensive rebound percentage, per KenPom, and had 14 points and 7 rebounds in 24 minutes Thursday night. Arizona ranks 35th nationally in three-point percentage (36.8), but the Wildcats only attempt 26.4 percent of their shots from behind the arc. Only two teams attempt a lower percentage from deep.
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That template was on display again Thursday, with Arizona shooting just 8 of its 58 shots from long range. They made 5 of them. “I’m playing a brand of basketball
that I think is effective for how our team’s built,” Lloyd said. “What’s cool about coaching and cool about the game of basketball is there are so many different ways to play. … I’m playing the same exact style we learned at Gonzaga that I brought to Arizona. I’m doubling down on it. I’m not worried about trends. I never look at trends. What do I think is the most effective way for my team to play and what are my strengths as a coach? You gotta play into that. Why would I try to reinvent myself as a coach when this has been pretty effective?”
For Lloyd and his players, the best part about the win was that it wasn’t an aberration. It was a continuation. The Wildcats arguably have been the best team in college basketball all season. They won the regular season and conference titles in the nation’s toughest conference, the Big 12, and lost two games all season (one in overtime) by a total of seven points. Now the Wildcats are one win away from their Final Four since 2001, when they lost in the national championship game to Duke.
If Arizona plays Saturday the way it did Thursday, then Purdue is in a lot of trouble. Not only is this team extremely talented and physically overpowering, it is completely focused on the task at hand. Lloyd rang that bell again when he was asked what he could do to help his team carry over the momentum from the win. “You let it go. This game tonight’s not going to win us Saturday’s game. You go back and then you start the process over again,” he said. “I’m happy we won. But I’m actually looking forward to getting back to the hotel. Hopefully my grandson’s up. I’ll give him a little hug, and then we’re going to get back to work.”
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