By Jack McCarthy/Cronkite News
INDIANAPOLIS – Not long after experiencing Michigan’s wrath, Arizona’s Koa Peat reflected on a season while flanked by teammates.
“It means everything to me,” he said. “Being a kid from Arizona, putting on this jersey, having Arizona across my chest. Like I said in the beginning of the season when I put Arizona across my chest, I’m going to go 110 percent every game and leave no regrets.”
For most college basketball teams, the season ends with a loss. Regardless of how well a team’s slate of games plays out, and regardless of conference championship victories, only one team can come out on top in the end.
Despite securing the highest remaining overall seed in the tournament, Arizona won’t be that team. The Wildcats ran into a juggernaut on Saturday in the Final Four of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium, putting an end to their historic season.
Michigan dominated Arizona from wire to wire in a 91-73 win, advancing to the title game on Monday, where the Wolverines will face UConn, which beat Illinois in the other national semifinal.
It was a season reminiscent of old times within the Wildcats program, pushing the bar of what’s expected, competing for a national championship year in and year out.
“It was an awesome, awesome journey,” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said. “It was as much fun as I’ve ever had coaching basketball.”
This year, although closer than the Wildcats have been in 25 seasons, they still came up short.
A matchup that was deemed a pseudo-national championship game by analysts was never really close, with Michigan taking it to the Wildcats from the jump, outclassing them at their own game.
For almost all of its matchups this season, Arizona has been the enforcer, the one that pushes its style on opponents, overpowering and outmatching just about every team it faced.
The Wildcats more than met their match Saturday.
“I think a lot of it is simply matchups,” Michigan coach Dusty May said. “When we’ve played this model, this Arizona model this year — and they’re the souped-up version, they’re the steroid version of Gonzaga and these other teams – we just felt like if a team relies on scoring 15 feet and in … because of our size, length, it’s going to be tough to score enough points 15 feet and in — if we’re making some shots and we’re in a decent rhythm offensively.”
Michigan’s Aday Mara was unlike any player the Wildcats have seen this season. The 7-foot-3 big man had a game-high 26 points and looked unstoppable, especially when Arizona’s Motiejus Krivas was on the bench.
Mara stepped up in a big way with Big Ten Player of the Year Yaxel Lendeborg out for a chunk of the first half with a leg injury.
Lendeborg’s absence was hardly felt thanks to incredible shotmaking and defense from the Wolverines, which speaks to their depth and elite talent.
The rain in the Indianapolis area moved east prior to tipoff inside a filled-to-the-brim Lucas Oil Stadium, but that didn’t stop Michigan from pouring it on in the second half. A seemingly never-ending barrage of 3-pointers left both Wolverines and Wildcats fans with hands on their heads — surrender cobra style — one out of pure euphoria and the other out of agony.
A 64% Michigan shooting effort from beyond the arc in the second half helped push the lead to as many as 30.
Despite the innate comeback ability Arizona has shown this season, it was much too difficult a hill to climb against a team of Michigan’s caliber, closing the chapter on a season Lloyd and his bunch will look back on positively.
“I’m just really thankful for the brand and the program for everything they did for me, and these teammates (Jaden Bradley and Brayden Burries) right here,” Peat said. “I’m just super blessed. And it was a special year, and I’m just really thankful for everybody in Tucson.”
The team’s 36 wins are the highest mark in program history. Those 36 wins included a Big 12 regular season championship, a Big 12 Tournament championship, and an NCAA Tournament West Regional championship.
Success was an everyday thing for this team, a lot of that stemming from the bond the Wildcats have and the culture Lloyd has built. The camaraderie within the group was evident on the court.
The historic season earned Lloyd a five-year extension, further instilling the belief that he’s the man to lead Arizona back to a national championship it has not won since 1997. While this chapter didn’t end how the Wildcats wanted, Lloyd is ready to return to the Final Four next season.
“Obviously, we’re disappointed we weren’t able to get it over the top for (Tucson),” Lloyd said. “But I think we all saw what’s possible again. So now let’s all roll up our sleeves and support each other and see if we can make this a normal thing.”
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