Arizona captured the regular-season title in the Big 12, perhaps the toughest conference in the country, and Wildcats coach Tommy Lloyd knows what that means.
Expectations that No. 2-ranked Arizona still will be playing basketball in April when the Final Four is held in Indianapolis.
The top-seeded Wildcats (29-2) will start their postseason pursuits on Thursday afternoon when they face eighth-seeded UCF in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament at Kansas City, Mo.
“I live this life, and I’ve chosen this profession, and I know what comes with it,” Lloyd said. “We have big dreams and big goals, and I know how narratives get created. Most people creating those narratives don’t have to live what I live. They have a million different things going on in their life, and I am just a basketball coach.”
Arizona is one of three Big 12 teams ranked in the top seven of the AP Top 25 poll and among five in the top 16. The Wildcats won their first 23 games before losing back-to-back contests to Kansas and Texas Tech in the second week of February.
Arizona rebounded with six wins to end the season, including victories over ranked teams BYU, Houston, Kansas and Iowa State.
Still, the sheer number of high-powered teams means there is no guarantee the Wildcats can win this tournament.
When it comes to the NCAA Tournament, Arizona hasn’t advanced past the Sweet 16 in Lloyd’s previous four seasons and was unceremoniously eliminated by No. 15-seed Princeton in the 2023 first round.
“I know as a coach you get to Final Fours and win championships and you’re in a certain club,” Lloyd said. “If you don’t, you’re the guy who couldn’t win the big one. That’s really lazy and easy to do, so I don’t pay any mind to it.
“… If we fall short or something like that ever happens, I am tough enough to handle it and love my job enough to get up and do it again.”
The Wildcats are packed with depth, as seven players average 8.7 or more points a game. Third-leading scorer Jaden Bradley — with 13.4 ppg and a team-high average of 4.6 assists — was named Big 12 Player of the Year.
UCF (21-10) is an NCAA Tournament bubble team and hopes Wednesday’s 66-65 overtime victory over ninth-seeded Cincinnati will assure it of a berth.
The Knights trailed by eight with 2:17 to play in regulation before going on an 8-0 run to force overtime. Their biggest deficit was 12, and the result was their fifth double-digit comeback win of the season.
“I thought our guys had to fight back on numerous occasions, and I thought they were able to do it,” UCF coach Johnny Dawkins said. “But this team has done this all season long, just their competitive spirit. It showed in the summer. It showed up again (Wednesday), just their will to win.”
Jamichael Stillwell produced 17 points and 15 rebounds on Wednesday, and Riley Kugel scored 15 points. Kugel averages a team-high 14.7 ppg.
The Knights will be big underdogs against Arizona, but they put up a solid showing on Jan. 17 when they lost 84-77 to the Wildcats at Orlando, Fla. Themus Fulks scored a career-high 30 points on 11-of-18 shooting from the field for UCF while Bradley led Arizona with 23 points.
Stillwell didn’t need to be told the importance of Thursday’s matchup.
“We know it’s a big game because we’re playing in it,” he said. “So we’ve just got to come in dialed in and be ready for a fight.”
–Field Level Media
