Arizona's Lloyd Details Hard-Fought Win Over Utah State
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When the No. 1 seeded (West Region) Arizona Wildcats hit the floor in their second round matchup with Utah State, no one thought it would be as close and gritty of a game as it turned out to be.
Arizona managed to advance to the Sweet 16 for the fourth time out of five seasons in head coach Tommy Lloyd's career with the Wildcats, but not without taking its fair share of bumps and bruises along the way.
Arizona escaped San Diego with the 78-66 win behind Jaden Bradley's 18 point game and second half explosion, paired with Motiejus Krivas' 12 rebound effort. The always level headed Brayden Burries was second in scoring with 16 points while Koa Peat came in third with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Now, the Wildcats will have a three-day break before they take the court again to play the No. 4-seeded Arkansas Razorbacks in San Jose. Whether or not Arizona has come out of a physical game with Utah State a much better team will be determined by time.
A Much Better Team Than the Seeding Suggests
Utah State ended its season with a 27-7 record and as mountain West champions, which is a big accomplishment. This year's credentials give the Aggies a reason to ask why they weren't ranked any higher.
Lloyd agreed that Utah State should have probably been a higher seeded team, given the high level of defense it played and the lack of quit it showed against Arizona.
Next stop…THE SWEET 16 pic.twitter.com/ZKjeK3MgBw
— Arizona Basketball (@ArizonaMBB) March 23, 2026
"I'm not a guy that gets into the weeds on all that stuff, but that's a really good basketball team," Lloyd said. "If they were a a five or a six seed, I wouldn't have been surprised. If you win the Mountain West regular season and tournament, I think that's a pretty powerful statement and we felt it out there today. It's a team that that had no quit and they kept coming and they made timely plays and timely shots on both ends of the floor."
Handling Utah State's Defense
Arizona had a handful of runs in the span of 40 minutes to pull away from the Aggies, but when the season is on the line, teams will pull out all the stops to advance to the next round. That is exactly what Utah State did, resorting to the suffocating press defense that got them to win the Mountain West Tournament trophy.
Although the Arizona offense seemed rattled by it at times, it tightended up to hold off the Aggies for the win.
That's a baaaaaad man 😮💨pic.twitter.com/ITEfV6GDCq
— Arizona Basketball (@ArizonaMBB) March 23, 2026
"When you have a desperate team amping up the pressure and the jump balls in their favor and they're aggressive, it's hard," Lloyd said. "Our guys did a better job settling it down there the last couple minutes...They're a pressing team. They press a lot and they they give you different variations of the press. Sometimes it's soft, sometimes it's a harder press with early traps. They do a good job keeping you on your heels."
Building From Here
Utah State's play made it tough for Arizona to keep building off its lead, much like it had been doing all season long. Lloyd feels there is plenty to take away from the Wildcats' win over the Aggies, starting with their continued ability to pile on points.
"I just think managing segments in the game when you have a lead would be great," Lloyd said. "...Can you make the next run? And I know that's so easy to say and hard to do, but sometimes if you can make that next run, get up to 23, 24, you can break a team's will. But, that team hung with it today. They were impressive. They had answers for everything and they hit a bunch of timely shots."
Nathaniel Martinez and a set of shoulder pads at 7 years old. He later graduated from Pima Community College in 2023, where he began writing for the Pima Post. He is working to achieve a Bachelor’s in Mass Communication and Media Studies.