TUCSON, Ariz. — Ladders were quickly set up under each rim. Black T-shirts were handed out. The school band launched into “We Are the Champions.” A celebration began.
In front of a lively crowd at McKale Center, No. 2 Arizona on Monday night locked up an outright Big 12 title with a 73-57 win over No. 6 Iowa State. Coaches and support staff hugged at mid-court. Players circled the court and slapped five with fans.
It was a nice moment for a team that has dominated most of this regular season. It also felt like a dress rehearsal. The first step of a longer journey.
Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd has been careful with this. He is not a man who likes to get ahead of himself. After Monday’s win, which started with Senior Day festivities, he shared a story with reporters.
Early in his career, while working under coach Mark Few at Gonzaga, Lloyd had a birthday coming up. His wife planned a party that was to take place after a Gonzaga home game against Portland State. It snowed that night. Portland State bussed to Spokane, Wash., showing up 40 minutes before tip-off — and beat the Bulldogs.
“You should’ve seen Coach Few at my birthday party,” Lloyd said. “After that, I don’t plan anything. (It’s) just, ‘You guys can all take care of it. Just tell me what to do.’’’
He’s taken a similar approach with this Wildcats team. Fair or unfair, this Arizona season has always been about something more: not only getting the Wildcats a conference championship and securing a top seed in the NCAA Tournament, which they are sure to do. But reaching the Final Four. It’s been a long time.
Arizona hasn’t made the national semifinals in 25 seasons. It hasn’t advanced to an Elite Eight since 2015. Under Lloyd, the Wildcats have won 33, 28, 27 and 24 games — and have never advanced past the regional semifinals. Each setback has chipped away at a program that was once the best in the West, a borderline Blue Blood. This team is good enough to reverse the trend.
Lloyd has navigated this beautifully, always pulling back against the expectations. Entering Saturday’s win over No. 14 Kansas, he told the Wildcats they had done a nice job of getting into position to win the Big 12. To take advantage, he reminded the Wildcats where their concentration needs to be: not game by game, but possession by possession.
Locked into the present, Lloyd said, is a cool place to hang. Look at where it’s taken them.
“We talk about vision a lot,” Lloyd said. “What’s our vision? What’s our purpose? We want to envision ourselves cutting down the nets. We want to envision hoisting that trophy. Now you don’t get ahead of yourself. Then you got to dig in … and lock into our process.”
Or as forward Tobe Awaka put it after beating the Cyclones: “Appreciating it, but don’t take it for granted, obviously. We get a ring. We get to cut nets down and we get to do it on our home floor. But don’t get drunk off the feeling. We still want the big one.”
The season is far from over. Arizona (28-2, 15-2 in the Big 12) wraps up the regular season Saturday at Colorado. The Big 12 Tournament will be a brawl. But it’s not January or February anymore. It’s March. Time for teams to round into championship form. Arizona is accelerating.
There are those who still question Arizona’s 3-point shooting — not by accuracy, but by volume. The Wildcats entered Monday putting up 16.6 attempts per game, which ranked 354th nationally. It sounds like a legit concern until you realize Arizona made fewer than four 3s against Florida, UConn, BYU, Houston and Kansas — and beat all five. In Monday’s win against Iowa State, the Wildcats made six 3s. Practically an explosion.
They win with toughness, shedding the “soft” label stuck to them in previous seasons. They win with resilience. In Saturday’s win over Kansas, the Wildcats built an early lead only to let the Jayhawks storm back in the second half, pulling to within 49-47. Arizona scored the game’s next 16 points and won by 23.
A similar thing happened against Iowa State. In the second half, the Cyclones (24-6, 11-6 in the Big 12) scored seven in a row to cut a 14-point Arizona lead in half. Lloyd called time. Then Jaden Bradley hit a floater. Big man Motiejus Krivas hit a 3, his fourth of the season. Awaka blocked a shot. Krivas scored inside. Seven straight points. Possession by possession.
“It can be anyone’s night any night,” guard Anthony Dell’Orso said. “It makes it really hard for teams to scout us.”
Bradley scored 17 points. Five others scored at least 8. Arizona limited Iowa State to 29.2 percent shooting. Perhaps best of all, the Wildcats looked healthy. Freshman forward Koa Peat is back after missing three contests because of a lower leg injury. Freshman forward Dwayne Aristode is back after missing four games because of illness. Against Iowa State, he hit two 3s and had a put-back dunk that shook McKale Center.
DWAYNE MY GOODNESS 💥 pic.twitter.com/0u8iGuS246
— Arizona Basketball (@ArizonaMBB) March 3, 2026
One championship down. Bigger titles await.
“The best teams I’ve ever been a part of continue to get better week by week in March,’’ Lloyd said. “They don’t rest on what they’ve done. We always talk about it as a program — we’re always going to be more excited about what lies ahead than protect what we’ve already accomplished.”