Arizona is heading to the Final Four for the first time in 25 years.
The No. 1 Wildcats used a second-half blitz to put away No. 2 Purdue 79-64 and win its first Elite Eight game in six tries since making the national title game in 2001.
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Arizona took over midway through the second half after Purdue led by seven at halftime. The Wildcats had the game tied less than five minutes into the second half and started pulling away after that.
After tying the game at 42-42, Arizona outscored the Boilermakers 24-11 to build a 13-point lead with six minutes to go. The flurry came as Purdue went ice cold from the field and Big 12 player of the year Jaden Bradley was making shots like this.
The win is the 13th straight for the Wildcats as they won the Big 12 regular season and tournament titles.
Arizona is finally back in the Final Four
There’s no program with more deep tournament runs without a a Final Four since the Wildcats last got there.
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Before Saturday night, Arizona had made 12 Sweet 16 appearances and made the Elite Eight five times. But every single one of those tournament runs ended before the Final Four. And even getting to the Elite Eight became a tough task in recent years.
Until a win over Arkansas on Thursday night, Arizona had lost four straight Sweet 16 games since making the Elite Eight in 2015. Three of those four losses also came as either a No. 1 or No. 2 seed too.
There was no stopping this Wildcats team, however. Especially with the way it took care of the ball in the second half. After turning it over six times in the first 20 minutes, Arizona didn’t commit a single turnover in the second half.