The Arizona Wildcats, coached by Tommy Lloyd, recently achieved one of their goals in the current campaign as they now have the ability to fight for a much bigger prize later this year. On Saturday, March 14, coach Lloyd and his 2025-26 Wildcats squad were matched up against coach Kelvin Sampson‘s Houston Cougars for this year’s Big 12 conference tournament championship game on neutral grounds in the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
Making it this far into their conference’s postseason, the Arizona-based program’s top standing throughout the year has asserted that they are playing for a much bigger goal after that. This is because the last time that the Wildcats ever won the NCAA tournament title is all the way back in 1997, over two decades ago. They are now in a rightful position to win their program’s second-ever national title in 2026.
As it stands, Arizona has defeated the Cougars, who went all the way to the 2025 national title game last year, by five points, 79-74, to capture this year’s Big 12 conference tournament championship. Following up on their 2026 Big 12 regular season title triumph, the Wildcats now possess an overall record of 32-2 (16-2 Big 12), as they continue being the top seed coming out of their conference. Along with this, coach Lloyd and Co. have sealed their spot in March Madness.
Following The Big 12, Tommy Lloyd Details How His Team Will Re-Focus For March Madness
During the post-game press conference following the 2026 Big 12 conference championship game, Tommy Lloyd was asked about how his team will now shift its focus towards this year’s NCAA tournament after a grueling 2025-26 regular season and then the conference tourney. Lloyd then admitted that he knows his team can be boring with their approach, but believes that it is an effective one with the results it has shown.
“These guys will tell you. I mean, we’re pretty boring. We’re kind of a one-game-at-a-time team and you know, we’re going to get home tonight and probably figure out a good recovery plan. And honestly, we’ll figure out who we play tomorrow. And you know, I’m hoping for a good practice on Tuesday. We kind of just approach it like that. So, I think to stay in the moment. This team has done great job, and we talk about it a lot,” Lloyd said. (50:55)
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