This year’s Arizona men’s basketball team hopes to take the program to its first Elite Eight in a decade, and its first Final Four since 2001.
The Wildcats are set to play Akron on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. On paper, this looks like it should be an easy opponent for the Wildcats.
However, Arizona has had “easy” opponents in the past and have still had earlier than expected exits. It’s easy to overlook lower-seeded opponents, but given history the Wildcats should not overlook anyone.
Here is a look back on recent Arizona appearances in the NCAA tournament under Tommy Lloyd, and what went right and what went wrong.
2024
First round: Arizona 85, Long Beach State 65
Last season, Arizona started its tournament run with a convincing win against Long Beach State. The Wildcats were led by Kylan Boswell who scored 20 points.
All five starters for Arizona scored in double figures. It shot 41.7 percent on the day while also hitting 13 threes.
The one thing that stands out for the Wildcats that they did not excel in was the rebounding margin. Long Beach State out rebounded Arizona 50-47.
This would turn into Tommy Lloyd’s third NCAA tournament win as Arizona’s head coach.
Second round: Arizona 78, Dayton 68
After the Long Beach State victory, Arizona would take on Dayton in the second round. Ultimately, the Wildcats would prevail behind a strong performance from Caleb Love.
Love scored 19 points, while future NBA players Keshad Johnson and Pelle Larsson scored 13 each. The Wildcats shot better in the second round game, shooting 52.8 percent.
The one thing that Arizona did not do well in this game was take care of the ball. There were 15 turnovers committed by the Wildcats.
While Arizona had a 17 point lead at one point in the game, Dayton was able to cut it down to three with just under 12 minutes left. The Wildcats would use spurts of runs to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.
West Region semifinals: Clemson 77, Arizona 72
In its second Sweet Sixteen appearance under Lloyd, the Wildcats poor shooting from three would doom them.
Shooting 5-18 from the field, Love went 0-9 from behind the arch. Overall Arizona shot 5-28 from three. The inability to hit threes was one of the reasons that the Wildcats fell.
While they were able to tie it and take the lead at certain points in the game, Arizona was never ever to take full control of the game, as it did all season.
This would be Arizona’s second Sweet Sixteen loss in three seasons. Yet another early exit for the Wildcats.
2023
First round: Princeton 59, Arizona 55
It was a day where everything that could go wrong for Arizona did in almost every facet of the game. While the big men played well, it was the guards that would disappear.
Combined the guards went 9-27 from the field and 1-14 from three. When it came to the final five minutes of the game, Arizona could not find the bottom of the net.
The Wildcats were also out rebounded 38-37. It was a season where Arizona would play down to their opponents and it did that.
Safe to say this was a season low in scoring. The loss was Arizona’s fifteenth first round exit in its 33 tournament appearances.
2022
First round: Arizona 87, Wright State 70
In Lloyd’s first tournament game, Arizona was expected to take care of business. It did so with a convincing win behind a Chrisitan Koloko 17-13 double-double.
Bennedict Mathurin led the team with 18, while Dalen Terry had 16. Overall Arizona shot 55 percent from the field, hitting 11 from behind the arch.
The only flaw for the Wildcats, is the fact that they let Wright State get to the line 19 times. Nonetheless, Arizona would move onto the second round.
Second round: Arizona 85, TCU 80 (OT)
It took a legendary performance from Mathurin to help Arizona spring into the Sweet Sixteen. Scoring 30, Mathurin had highlight after highlight.
The game tying shot was a near logo three. While a game-sealing three in OT from Mathurin bounced high off the rim, it was Koloko who jammed it home to seal it.
Koloko would finish another double-double, scoring 28 with 12 rebounds.
The flaw for the Wildcats was the fact that they shot 18.5 percent from three, only hitting five in total. Arizona was also out rebounded 48-44, allowing 14 of them to go to Eddie Lampkin Jr.
No other player, outside of Mathurin or Koloko, scored more than 6 points. However, it did not prevent Arizona from advancing to San Antonio for a Sweet Sixteen game.
South Region semifinals: Houston 72, Arizona 60
All season long, the Wildcats relied on their offense to win them games. However, they ran into a defensively sound Houston team, and as a result of that the Wildcats were sent home.
Terry finished the game as the leading scorer for Arizona with 17, going 6-9 on the day. All other players, outside of Larsson, shot below 50 percent.
Overall Arizona shot 33.3 percent, while hitting 7 threes. The Wildcats never led in the game, always clawing close but never taking control.
Of the 14 turnovers committed by Arizona, the Cougars would get 24 points from those turnovers. The Wildcats also allowed 12 offensive rebounds, which turned into 19 second chance points.
In the end, Arizona could not find enough offense to win the game and would end a spectacular year with a Sweet Sixteen appearance.