Tommy Lloyd pays tribute to Lute Olson after Arizona punches ticket to Final Four
By Jacob Moss
Published:
The Arizona Wildcats continued their march towards a national championship on Saturday night by defeating the Purdue Boilermakers in the Elite 8 and securing their first Final 4 appearance since 2001.
The Wildcats entered the locker room down 7 to the Boilermakers, but head coach Tommy Lloyd drew up the necessary adjustments, and Arizona ended up cruising to a very comfortable 79-64 win.
In the midst of the postgame celebration, Lloyd was asked what he was feeling after leading his program to the national semi-finals for the first time in 25 years, to which Lloyd responded by paying tribute to legendary longtime Arizona head coach Lute Olson.
“What I’m most happy for is the Arizona fans,” Lloyd said. “You guys deserve this. I know this, I know there’s a good-looking guy with white hair looking down on us right now that’s happy.”
Olson was the legendary head coach of the Wildcats from 1983 to 2007, leading the program to 589 wins, 4 Final 4 appearances, and the 1997 National Championship during his legendary tenure.
Olson passed away back in 2020 at the age of 85, but the program he built is still thriving and is now just 2 wins away from hoisting its second national title in program history.
