Arizona Advance to the Final Four
by, Jonathan Canas
There was a sea of red at the SAP Center as Arizona beat Purdue 79-64 to advance to its first Final Four appearance in 25 years.
This was the first time the Wildcats faced a deficit in the tournament as they trailed 38-31 going into halftime. The Boilermakers had shot 7-of-14 from beyond the arc and outrebounded the Wildcats 20-15.
Arizona center Motiejus Krivas said the rebounding battle was the main part of the halftime conversation.
“Offensive rebounds really hurt us, they created a lot of points off that,” Krivas said. “You think it’s easy to do but against those players it’s really hard. We just have to put more effort and be more smart.”
The Wildcats were able to get within one point in the first four minutes of the second half. All the Arizona players who had struggled in the first half had a second half surge to will the team to victory.
Freshman forward Koa Peat had a team-leading 20 points along with eight rebounds while freshman guard Brayden Burries had 14 points total after having three in the first half.
The Boilermakers were outrebounded 37-36 and finished 8-of-22 from three-point range.
The seven point deficit was the biggest Arizona had faced in a tournament game and won.
Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd said after watching some clips, he let the players talk amongst themselves to figure out the game during the halftime break.
“Guys the coaching staff and I are going to leave right now, you guys got a few minutes to talk amongst yourselves to figure this deal out and let’s go kick their ass in the second half,” Lloyd said. “I was literally a spectator in the second half.”
Purdue is forced to say goodbye to the veteran trio of Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer and Trey Kaufman-Renn who spent their entire career proudly representing the Boilermakers and making history along the way.
It would have been awesome to have been here with them all four years,” senior center Oscar Cluff said. “This year has been special for me to learn and grow with them.”
The trio have been in the tournament all four years including a trip to the National Championship.
“They got the most wins in school history, they got the most tournament wins in school history, they got two Big Ten Championships and they got two Big Ten Tournament titles,” Head coach Matt Painter said. “They showed up everyday and worked. That’s what you want.”
Although the game was at a neutral site in San Jose, Calif. Arizona fans packed the house in a crowd of 15,854 according to the NCAA.
Arizona will play in the Final Four against Michigan this Saturday in Indianapolis, Ind. at 5:49 p.m.
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