The Arizona Wildcats will have to wait at least one more year for their first Elite 8 appearance under head coach Tommy Lloyd after another disappointing NCAA Tournament exit.
The big picture: Second-seeded UofA suffered another tournament upset Thursday, losing 77-72 to the Clemson Tigers in the Sweet 16.
- Clemson will play Alabama in the Elite 8 on Saturday.
- The winner of that game will advance to the Final Four in Glendale.
Zoom in: The Cats started slow, missing shots and turning the ball over with abandon early in the game, and couldn’t catch up throughout the first half, which they ended with an eight-point deficit.
- They came out firing in the second half, even taking a one-point lead about five and a half minutes into the second half on a steal and breakaway layup by Caleb Love.
- But the lead disappeared with a Clemson 3-pointer on the Tigers’ next possession.
- UofA kept it close for much of the game, trailing by just two with less than a minute to go, but wasn’t able to get back on top.
Between the lines: The Cats are one of the highest-scoring teams in the country, but that offensive firepower wasn’t on display in the Sweet 16.
- UofA was ice cold from 3-point range, going just 5-28 from beyond the arc.
- They got a lot of second chances off 17 offensive rebounds but ultimately shot just 37% from the field while letting the Tigers hit nearly half their shots.
Flashback: Arizona hasn’t been to the Elite 8 since 2015, when the Cats suffered the second of back-to-back fourth-round losses to Wisconsin under former head coach Sean Miller.
- And they haven’t been to a Final Four since the Lute Olson era, when Arizona fell to Duke in the 2001 national championship.
What’s next: Arizona leaves the disintegrating Pac-12 and joins the Big 12 next season.
- That means the Cats are the last Pac-12 team ever to play in March Madness.
- They’re also the last Pac-12 team to win an NCAA men’s basketball championship, back in 1997.
