SAN JOSE — As Arizona faced its first deficit of the NCAA Tournament and just its fifth halftime deficit of the season, a players-only halftime meeting supercharged a second-half rally on Saturday, which helped propel the Wildcats to the Final Four.
Arizona trailed by seven at halftime — matching its largest halftime deficit of the season — after being out-rebounded 20-15 and allowing Purdue to shoot 7 of 14 (50%) from 3-point range.
With a longer-than-usual halftime ahead, Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd wanted to make the most of the extended break.
Associate head coach Jack Murphy opened the break by showing the Wildcats some film before Lloyd entered the room and told the team what needed to change: rebounding.
“Just stay calm. Get the (offensive rebounds). Box them out. Don’t do stupid mistakes and just keeping going possession by possession and just play steady,” Arizona center Motiejus Krivas said when describing Lloyd’s message.
“The message to the guys from me was, like, ‘Stay steady, let’s work ourselves back in the game,'” Lloyd said. “We’ve been great at the start of the second half. Then we’ll go from there.”
With the long intermission still taking place, it was then time for Lloyd’s light bulb moment to commence. Lloyd and his staff stepped out, and the message became the players’ to own.
“This is when we’re at our best. I said, ‘Guys, the coaching staff and I are going to leave right now. You guys got a few minutes to talk amongst yourselves and kind of figure this deal out, and let’s go kick their ass in the second half,'” Lloyd said.
Lloyd said he had previously used the tactic with success “probably four or five times this year,” including during a few timeouts and a couple of halftimes.
“Coach always has these things they want to talk about,” Arizona guard Anthony Dell’Orso said. “We watch film. We kinda get a quick few pointers, but something this coaching staff does is they leave and they say, ‘You players figure it out.’
“And they all leave the room, we all talk about it and we’re always positive and we’re always just saying, ‘Let’s go. Let’s figure it out. We’re good. We’re gonna win this game.’”
As Lloyd left the locker room, Jaden Bradley, Tobe Awaka, Ivan Kharchenkov and Krivas led the discussion.
Arizona freshman Ivan Kharchenkov explains what made the difference for the Wildcats in the second half against Purdue.
Kharchenkov scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half, as Arizona outscored Purdue 48-26. pic.twitter.com/aI9p22nNdZ
— Arizona Sports (@AZSports) March 29, 2026
“(They) told us to keep going,” Arizona freshman Koa Peat said. “You know, we’ve been through adversity this season. Can’t get too high or too low. Just stay even keeled. And we went out there and played our game and came out victorious. I’m just proud of the guys. We stayed together.”
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Coming out of the half, the Wildcats went on a 13-5 scoring run in a span of just more than five minutes to take their first lead since the 4:28 mark of the first half.
“Our guys did a good job. They came out, and we tied the game pretty quick,” Lloyd said. “Then it’s a 0-0 game, and can we win it down the stretch? Then somehow, some way we were able to sustain that run.”
Arizona more than sustained that momentum and outscored Purdue 48-26 and out-rebounded the Boilermakers 22-16 in the second half.
Lloyd said he felt like a spectator.
“The most powerful thing in a team sport is a player-led program,” Lloyd said. “The coach, you have to help them navigate it, but when you can get the players to kind of own these moments, you are just so much better. You are so much better.”
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