It’s no longer the Bittersweet 16 with Arizona making it to a Sweet 16 only to lose in its last four attempts dating to 2017.
Historic night with No. 1 Arizona matching its program record with its 35th win while earning its first Sweet 16 victory since 2015.
The 109-88 victory Thursday night at San Jose over No. 4 Arkansas in the NCAA Tournament West Regional semifinal puts the Wildcats at 35-2 heading into Saturday’s Elite 8 game with No. 2 Purdue (30-8). Tipoff is at 5:49 p.m.
Arizona’s first Final Four team in 1987-88, with Sean Elliott and Steve Kerr leading the way, finished 35-3.
Tommy Lloyd, speculated as a potential candidate for the vacant North Carolina head coaching position, is in his first Elite Eight game in his fifth season at Arizona.
Arizona can make another historical statement — the Wildcats are in position to end their 25-year drought of making it to the Final Four and can also break the season record for wins in the process.
Six Arizona players scored in double figures against Arkansas, led by freshman Brayden Burries‘ 23 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field. The Wildcats had six players score in double figures in an NCAA Tournament for the first time since March 23, 1997, in the Elite 8 game against Providence.
Fellow freshman Koa Peat had 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field.
Ivan Kharchenkov had 15 points and five assists, Jaden Bradley 14 points and five assists, Tobe Awaka 14 points and seven rebounds, and Motiejus Krivas 14 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots.
Six players with at least 14 points has never happened before in an NCAA tournament game.
“I’m having the most fun in my life,” Peat told CBS after the game. “Man, I love these guys. Super proud of everyone. We’ve got to keep going.”
Darius Acuff Jr. led Arkansas with 28 points but he shot 8 of 19 from the field, 1 of 5 from 3-point range. He was 11 of 14 from the free-throw line.
Arizona outscored Arkansas 60-50 in the paint and had 19 assists on 37 made field goals.
The Wildcats shot 63.8% from the field, made 5 of 8 from 3-point range, and converted 30 of 39 shots from the free-throw line.
“Arizona is really good,” Arkansas coach John Calipari said, emphasizing the word really. “If they shoot the ball that way and do the things they did today, wow. … That was a hard one. They got us from right at the beginning. We kind of kept it a little close, but they’re good. They’re really good.”
Arizona has not trailed in its three wins in the NCAA tournament thus far against Long Island, Utah State and Arkansas.
An 8-2 run that put Arizona ahead 26-15 with 11:25 left in the first half proved to be vital.
Five unanswered points., four of which came on Kharchenkov free throws, pushed the lead to 42-27 with 5:19 left before halftime.
Arizona was able to maintain a double-digit lead the rest of the half, going to the locker room with a 54-43 lead.
“We went out there, and played our Arizona brand of basketball,” Peat said. “Everything fell in place. I thought the whole team played really good today, and a lot of guys stepped up.”
Arizona shot 64.3% (18 of 28) from the field and almost broke the program record for most points in a half in its NCAA tournament history.
The Wildcats took a 55-32 halftime lead against Eastern Illinois in a 2001 first-round game of the NCAA tournament.
Arizona beat Duke 93-77 in a 2011 Sweet 16 game by scoring 55 points in the second half, highlighted by Derrick Williams’ 32 points in the game.
The Wildcats went on a 9-2 run to take a 78-57 lead with 13:19 remaining.
Arkansas’ defense couldn’t keep up with Arizona’s attack. At that point, Arizona had 46 of its 78 points in the paint.
The Wildcats only made five 3-pointers out of eight attempts but they did not need to shoot from beyond the arc.
“We’re playing a brand of basketball that I think is effective for how our team is built.” Lloyd said. “What’s cool about coaching and cool about the game of basketball is there’s so many different ways to play. I have no disrespect or I don’t look down on any style of play.
“We just play a style of basketball that’s really effective for how we’re built and, you know what? I don’t tell our guys not to shoot 3s. … I mean, we want to take the best shot available. And it’s a possession-by-possession deal. The beautiful thing about basketball, it’s a game of random events that you’re constantly making decisions.”
The Razorbacks resorted to over-physical play and lost their temper with two technical fouls in the second half. The wheels falling off included an ejection of Billy Richmond III for shoving Kharchenkov to the ground.
Lloyd cautioned Bradley and his team to keep their composure.
“We want to play championship basketball,” Lloyd said. “To play championship basketball, you’ve got to just stand up and walk away from the action. This isn’t the playground. You know what I mean? Like, you can’t just throw down. It’s not how you win basketball games.
“These guys have high character and they’re winners, but they’re competitors. It’s always a fine line for both teams. Murph (assistant coach Jack Murphy) did a great job last night at a film session, kind of talking to our guys that, ‘Hey, if this game goes how we hope it goes, it could get pretty chippy, and we have to have a plan on how we’re going to respond to that chippiness. So give Murph credit. Give these guys credit. They did a great job just just keeping their minds and and focusing on the task at hand, and that was to win the game.”
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