Kharchenkov, Lloyd Explain How Big 12 Losses Helped Arizona

It's been a dream season for the Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team. It set a program record for best start to the season. It won the Big 12 regular-season and conference tournament titles, and now, it's two wins away from its first national championship in 29 years.

But it wasn't all easy for the Wildcats. After an impressive 23-0 start, they hit a rough patch with back-to-back losses to Kansas and Texas Tech in conference play, forcing themselves to take a good look at their approach and the team they wanted to be. Yet as the pressure to go undefeated faded, the mini losing streak actually helped calm things down.

final fou — Mar 28, 2026; San Jose, CA, USA; Arizona Wildcats forward Ivan Kharchenkov (8) celebrates in the second half against the Purdue Boilermakers during an Elite Eight game of the West Regional of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at SAP Center. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images | Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

"I felt like it gave us a little bit of a release," freshman forward Ivan Kharchenkov said as he met with the media in Indianapolis on Friday. "We didn't have to guard anything. We didn't have to protect anything. It also showed us that, if we don't show up at 100-percent and give it our all, we're going to lose some games."

"It was a good little reality check to recalibrate a little bit during the season, to get back to the Day 1 fundamentals, and to get out there knowing the feeling of losing -- that it sucks -- and just playing with an edge from that point on."

ncaa tournamen — Apr 3, 2026; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Arizona Wildcats head coach Tommy Lloyd looks on during a practice session ahead of the Final Four of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images | Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images

Even with the two losses, there was no panic from the program. The Wildcats have a veteran coach and supremely talented players. They just had to find a way to dial in and get back on track.

"I told our guys after the [Kansas] game, 'We're fine. The season's just starting,'" head coach Tommy Lloyd recalled. "That was our approach. It was great. We had a 20-something-game winning streak in the preseason. Now, the season's for real."

Reality Checks Feed Arizona's Confidence

The approach to restart was something Arizona has fed off, with 13 wins in a row, including eight over ranked opponents and a few come-from-behind victories after slow starts, like the regular-season finale against Colorado. Even though the result was different, it served as another reality check going into the conference tournament, where the current mission really began.

"You don't get a dress rehearsal for the NCAA Tournament, so I wanted to treat the Big 12 Tournament as our dress rehearsal," Lloyd explained. "If we showed up, didn't play good, we were flat, and we lost, I thought it would be something we could learn from. If we won, I thought we could galvanize it, and it could build confidence for our team. It was awesome. That little stretch really helped our team."

Arizona Is Young

Another approach that has really helped the Arizona team is its ability to keep calm in the big moments. There are many underclassmen on this team, including three freshman starters, but you wouldn't know it from the way they present themselves on the court. As the stage and stakes get higher and more intense, they're responding well because they know they've been through these high-profile battles before.

"I always tell our guys that the better job we can do of making things feel normal, the better chance we have of playing good," Lloyd added. "We're not a program that is maybe overly excited. We're focused. These guys will hopefully be ready to play tomorrow because we know it's going to be a tough game."

And Lloyd can say that confidently because, thanks to the mid-season skid, a few other reality checks, and previous high-stakes environments, the Wildcats have overcome every challenge thrown their way this season. One or two more hardly compare, even with everything on the line on a national platform.