Arizona-Purdue Elite Eight matchup set for Saturday in San Jose

The Elite Eight matchup between No. 1 Arizona and No. 2 Purdue is set for Saturday at 5:49 p.m. MST in San Jose.

The game will be televised on TBS and truTV during the first day of the NCAA Tournament regional finals.

Arizona last qualified for the Elite Eight in the 2014-15 season under the leadership of Sean Miller.

This is the first time under coach Tommy Lloyd that Arizona has advanced to the Elite Eight after reaching the Sweet 16 in three of his first four years.

If there was a year for Arizona to win its first national championship since 1996-97, this would be the year to do it. The Wildcats were a top team in the nation this season and posted a 16-2 record against Quad 1 schools.

The last time Arizona made it past the Elite Eight was in 2000-01 when the Wildcats lost in the national championship.

This will be the 14th meeting between the Wildcats and Boilermakers and the first since 2023.

Four players on the current rosters participated in that game, in which Purdue won 92-84. Arizona’s Jaden Bradley and Motiejus Krivas came off the bench and played a combined 24 minutes. Krivas had two points, one rebound and two turnovers. Bradley had two rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Purdue’s Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn both started the 2023 matchup. Smith had 26 points, four rebounds, three steals and two assists in 36 minutes and Kaufman-Renn had four points, six rebounds and two assists in 15 minutes.

Purdue leads the all-time series 8-5 and has won the last three meetings. The last time Arizona beat Purdue was in 2001.

The two teams have met twice in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Arizona won the first meeting in 1975, 102-96, and Purdue won the second meeting in 2007, 72-63.

Purdue advanced to the Elite Eight with a win over the No. 11 Texas Longhorns.

The Boilermakers beat Miami 79-68 in the second round after walloping Queens University 104-71 in the first round. Purdue is back in the Elite Eight after a run to the national championship in 2023-24 but is still looking for its first national championship.

The Midwest regional final will be between No. 1 Michigan/No. 4 Alabama and No. 2 Iowa State/No. 6 Tennessee and the winners of both finals games will meet in the Final Four.

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