SAN JOSE, Calif. — Koa Peat said Friday he’s been having more fun playing basketball this season than ever before, a notable statement for a guy who came into college as one of the country’s top freshmen already boasting four gold medals with USA Basketball youth teams and four state high school championships.
And now the fun will continue for Peat and his Arizona teammates for at least another week.
Peat, the West Region’s most outstanding player, scored 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds Saturday in helping the No. 1 seed Wildcats come back from an ugly first half to dispatch second-seeded Purdue 79-64 in the Elite Eight. The Wildcats booked their ticket to the Final Four for the first time since 2001 and will meet the winner of Sunday’s Michigan-Tennessee game next Saturday in Indianapolis.
A stellar second-half performance from Big 12 player of the year Jaden Bradley (14 points, 6 assists) helped the Wildcats burst out of the locker room and score 20 points in the first eight minutes of the second half after trailing by seven at the break.
Peat kept Arizona in it early, catching the ball at the high post and driving to the rim at will. He handles the ball surprisingly well for a 6-foot-8, 235-pound forward, and Purdue had no answer for him.
Twice in the second half, in the span of about two minutes, Peat got rejected — once by the rim, and once by a Purdue defender — and both times he grabbed the ball, went up again and scored. His thunderous dunk with 5:35 left, on a nifty bounce pass from Motiejus Krivas, gave Arizona a 68-55 lead and left the rim shaking for several seconds.
KOA PEAT WITH AUTHORITY 🔨 pic.twitter.com/RIq9Cq4Nrq
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 29, 2026
The loss ended the brilliant career of Purdue point guard Braden Smith (13 points, 7 assists), who became the NCAA’s all-time assists leader last week. He finishes his college career with 1,103 assists.
It feels fitting for Peat, a player born in Arizona, to be the one to take the Wildcats back to college basketball’s promised land under fifth-year coach Tommy Lloyd. Arizona had played for a Final Four bid and lost five times in regional finals since 2001, when it lost to Duke in the national championship game.
Arizona, long considered a college basketball blue blood, won its only national title in 1997 under legendary coach Lute Olson. Now, because of a homegrown freshman, the Wildcats are going to Indianapolis with a shot to bring home their second.
This story will be updated.