The biggest break the Arizona Wildcats got in Saturday’s 79-64 Elite Eight exorcism over Purdue is that none of their players felt all the added weight of a “here we go again” first half that spelled a sixth straight defeat right on the doorstep of the Final Four.
Arizona’s five consecutive Elite Eight losses dating all the way back to 2003 were already tied for the second-longest streak in NCAA history. Not winning on Saturday would have meant Arizona had the highest five-year win total without a Final Four ever.
Wildcat freshman Koa Peat, one of the heroes of the victory, wouldn’t be born for another two years when Arizona self-imploded with a 15-point lead over Illinois with under four minutes to go in the 2005 Elite Eight.
Head coach Tommy Lloyd was two seasons into his 20-year stint at Gonzaga when the Wildcats lost as a No. 1 seed in a nail-biter to second-seeded Kansas in the 2003 Elite Eight.
His director of player relations Jason Gardner was the star point guard of that squad. Long-time assistant coach Jack Murphy was with the program from 1998-2006 before returning in 2019, so some links on the bench were there. Perhaps they felt it.
But the weight every Wildcat diehard felt at halftime wasn’t on the shoulders of any of those players. And it showed in the second half.
The first was a nightmare. All the fears of how this seemingly unstoppable force of dominant basketball could be repelled were getting realized.
Purdue led by seven via seven 3-pointers. Arizona freshman Ivan Kharchenkov, an ultra-reliable perimeter defender, stood no chance on ball-screen assignments against Purdue senior guard Braden Smith. A handful of unlucky long rebounds got the Boilermakers extra looks on offense, something Arizona normally specializes in. Their defense contained Arizona passes to the interior from almost all angles, forcing the Wildcats post players to work from further out and the ball-handlers to do all of the work.
This resulted in Arizona’s freshmen looking like freshmen, while senior guard Jaden Bradley (who normally gets going in the second half) had his usual tepid opening 20 minutes. Arizona wasn’t getting to the foul line enough to drag its offense across the finish line and only made one 3 of its own.
This is not what the Wildcats do. When they win in the tourney, it comes from a white-knuckle strangle of control on a game. It was the staple of Lute Olson’s teams, as it was for Sean Miller before Lloyd.
If Arizona would win on Saturday, it would be via the largest comeback from a halftime deficit in program history for the NCAA Tournament. A measly seven whole points. It might as well have felt like 27.
So with all that horrible juju, what happened instead was the second half turned into another signature Wildcat performance that felt oddly familiar.
The previous record was when Duke led Arizona by six in the 2011 Sweet 16, the precursor to a party of a second half that featured Derrick Williams’ own introduction to the country captaining an all-time upset, momentum that he rode all the way to a No. 2 selection in the following NBA Draft. A 44-38 Duke first half was followed by a 55-33 Arizona slamming.
The Wildcats rolled in similar fashion on Saturday, a 48-26 bludgeoning in the second half.
Bradley took on the Smith assignment over Kharchenkov midway through the first half and continued, doing a much better job of working around screens while his help from the anchoring big and nearby defenders improved too.
Bradley, after badly missing the first shot of the second half on an open 3, got to the foul line to calm things down, get some points on the board and reassure all the nervy Wildcat faithful in San Jose that this was not going to be like the last five times.
Then, like the glass shattering when Stone Cold Steve Austin would stumble and bumble down to the ring, the music hit of none other than the Peat we were introduced to at the start of the season. His version of Williams’ coming-out party came in the very first game of the year, when the then-18-year-old Mr. Arizona looked like the man amongst boys over the supposed best frontcourt in the country from a seasoned Florida team.
After inconsistencies clouded the majority of his ensuing freshman season, all of Peat’s effortless confidence and poise as an offensive player reemerged against Purdue. He was assertive getting to his touch in the midrange, a jumper over his left shoulder that has become a classic.
Peat got two straight of those to go, and after Smith missed a midrange jumper, Brayden Burries buried a transition 3 via Peat to suddenly make it a two-point game. Belief from the fans engulfed the arena, and you could tell these Arizona kids honestly didn’t need even a pinch of it.
Bradley then scored on a barreling drive, baited another Purdue defender into free throws and a clean Kharchenkov lay-in off a seal from Bradley of all people extended the lead to three. With smoke fully churning out of the machine, it now became Arizona’s game to lose.
Purdue foolishly tried to get something back in physicality, seeking for outmatched senior Trey Kaufman-Renn in the post, and Arizona couldn’t have been happier to see the ball out of Smith’s hands. He failed badly, further stalling out Purdue’s top offense, all while Arizona kept delivering haymaker after haymaker.
Wildcat senior Anthony Dell’Orso drilled a transition 3 from Bradley and Kharchenkov got two more trips to the foul line as Purdue continued to look completely overwhelmed by the downhill aggression, capped off by a brilliant step-through finish by Bradley that was the hammer.
Jaden Bradley, what a move! pic.twitter.com/neDV1jPYJg
— CBS Sports College Basketball ? (@CBSSportsCBB) March 29, 2026
There was still nine minutes left and it was only an eight-point lead but you could see how much the Wildcats had beat down the Boilermakers over those first 11 minutes. For all the drama and magic the big dance can produce seemingly out of nowhere, you would have needed the help of a few sorcerers to conjure up a Purdue comeback at that point.
The train simultaneously kept rolling as stress began to exit the body, and the celebration would then begin. It was a tremendous show of mental toughness, one of championship caliber, and Arizona will get a chance in one weekend’s time to prove if it indeed was of that level.
It is not house money to them. That group has a right to feel like it has been the best and wants to keep proving it.
Perhaps there really is more for this special Arizona team to give its fans. But it has given a whole lot already.
By getting to a Final Four, it’s a great gift Wildcat fans have been desperate for going back over two decades: an exhale.
Follow @KellanOlson
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