Finally! Arizona Blitzes Purdue In Second Half, Reaches First Final Four Since 2001

SAN JOSE, CA — Arizona’s drought is over.

The No. 1 seeded Wildcats continued their March Madness run with a 79-64 comeback win over No. 2 seed Purdue in the Elite Eight, advancing to its first Final Four in 25 years.

It was a back-and-forth opening to the game with both sides trading punches, but Purdue jumped ahead thanks to a run just before halftime to take a seven-point lead, the first time the Wildcats had trailed in the NCAA Tournament.

While it sounded the alarms of the heavy Arizona presence and brought up trauma of March past, it wasn’t a position that scared these ‘Cats. This season, they were 5-0 when trailing at halftime.

Make it 6-0.

Arizona came out with a sense of urgency out of the locker room, and Purdue couldn’t maintain its hot shooting. A 16-3 run gave the Wildcats the lead back, which they held the rest of the way as they overwhelmed Purdue down the stretch.

The Wildcats outscored the Boilermakers 48-26 in the final 20 minutes, shooting 51.6% from the field in that time while Purdue had a 32.1% mark, making just one 3-pointer at the very end after hitting seven in the first half.

Four Arizona starters were in double figures, led by 20 points from Koa Peat, who was named the West Region most outstanding player.

Finally, Arizona has broken the March curse that hovered over the program for the majority of the 21st century with one of the most impressive runs of the tournament so far, winning all four games by more than 10 points.

Last appearing in the Final Four in 2001 under the great Lute Olsen, the Wildcats had fallen short of reaching the stage every time since then despite being one of the winningest programs in the country. Arizona had lost six consecutive Elite Eight appearances, with two of them as a No. 1 seed. 

While the Wildcats have featured several NBA stars over the years that had championship potential, this well-balanced unit was the one to end the spell. All it took was winning a program-record 36 games to do it.

Purdue will be returning home to Indiana, except not to play in nearby Indianapolis, denied of reaching its second Final Four in three years after starting the season the No. 1 team in the country.

Now that the Boilermakers won’t win their first national championship and the last team from Indiana remaining, it guarantees a team won’t win the title in its home state, which hasn’t happened since UCLA won in San Diego in 1975.

The loss also keeps an unfortunate March streak intact, with Purdue now 0-10 all-time against No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament.

Boilermakers guard Braden Smith ends his career as the NCAA all-time assist leader with 1,103 career dimes. 

Instead, Arizona now heads to Indianapolis, a city synonymous with its history as it is where it won the lone national championship in 1997. The Wildcats will play the winner of Michigan and Tennessee in the national semifinals, with a chance to add a second championship.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Arizona basketball beats Purdue in Elite 8, advances to 2026 Final Four