Freshman-fueled Arizona, senior-led Purdue collide in Elite Eight

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- A school seeking its first Final Four appearance in 25 years takes on one looking for its second in three seasons when No. 1 Arizona faces No. 2 Purdue in the NCAA Tournament West Region final on Saturday evening.

The top-seeded Wildcats (35-2) have won 12 in a row, most recently a 109-88 blowout of No. 4 Arkansas in the Sweet 16. Purdue (30-8) slipped past No. 11 Texas 79-77 on a tip-in by Trey Kaufman-Renn with 0.7 seconds left.

Arizona, in the Elite Eight for the first time since 2015, last reached the Final Four in 2001 when it fell to Duke in the national championship game. Purdue lost to UConn in the 2024 title game, ending its own 44-year Final Four drought.

Balanced offense focused around scoring inside and getting to the foul line has propelled Arizona this far. Against Arkansas, the Wildcats had 60 paint points and 30 made free throws, the first NCAA Tournament team since 2000 to do so, and also became the first squad in tournament history with six players scoring at least 14 points.

"It's always good when you share the wealth and you're not worried about scoring and who gets to shine," said Arizona senior guard Jaden Bradley, the Big 12 Player of the Year.

Purdue will lean on a trio of seniors -- Kaufman-Renn, Fletcher Loyer and Braden Smith -- who started in the 2024 title game. Each has played more than 145 games for the Boilermakers, with Smith becoming the NCAA career assist leader during the first-round win over Queens on March 20.

"It shows throughout the season," Purdue coach Matt Painter said of his roster continuity. "We still have our issues, like everybody else, too. We were the No. 1 team in the country preseason. We weren't even in contention to win our league. To be able to now win seven straight, all in neutral court, since we finished the season and had our fifth home loss, which we don't lose much at home, these guys have responded."

Arizona has three seniors in its rotation but also starts three freshmen. Brayden Burries, Ivan Kharchenkov and Koa Peat combined for 59 points against Arkansas on 19-for-28 shooting (67.9%).

"My philosophy is really simple: I coach dudes where they're at," said Wildcats coach Tommy Lloyd, whose 147 wins are most in NCAA history for a coach in his first five seasons. "I don't have a predetermined notion of what they should be. I'm not afraid to challenge them to get better at the basics of the game. And you master the basics. I mean, you have the best chance to be a consistent basketball player. So that's the philosophy."

How Purdue performs defensively could decide this game.

In the Boilermakers' previous five wins prior to the Sweet 16, they held opponents to 44.3% shooting and just 41 free-throw attempts. Arizona shoots 50.4% and gets to the line 27 times per game, tops in the country.

The Wildcats also outrebound teams by 11.3 per game, which ranks fourth nationally, while Purdue has been outrebounded nine times this season.

This will be the second meeting between Arizona and Purdue in the NCAA Tournament. Purdue won an 8/9 matchup in the first round in 2007, but they more recently met in December 2023 when the Boilermakers won 92-84, a game that saw Loyer score 27 and Smith 26.

--Brian J. Pedersen, Field Level Media