No.1 Arizona Wildcat guard (#5) Brayden Burries makes an 11-foot pull-up jump shot at the 14-minute mark of the 2nd Half on Thursday, March 26th, 2026, in San Jose, CA, at SAP Center. (Photo Credits to editor Michael Villanueva)
By Michael Villanueva
SAN JOSE – Just right after a crazy ending to the game between Purdue and Texas, SAP Center welcomed the 2nd game of the Sweet 16 West Region Tournament Games. The No.1 Arizona Wildcats vs. the No.4 Arkansas Razorbacks. This is their 2nd ever meeting in the NCAA Tournament, with Arkansas winning the last matchup in 1994 in the Final Four. With the Sweet 16, the road leads to the Elite Eight, and once again, the Razorbacks and Wildcats cross paths in this March of Madness. Arizona gave a show to the South Bay as they beaten Arkansas, 109-88.
Arizona is making its 40th all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament. With this win, Arizona not only reaches its 35th win of the season but secured their spot to come back on Saturday evening for the Elite Eight and will face off against the No.2 Purdue Boilermakers. This will be the Wildcats 23rd trip to the Elite Eight in school history.
No.1 Arizona Wildcats started with guards Jaden Bradley, Brayden Burries, forwards Ivan Kharchenkov, Koa Peat, and center Motiejus Krivas. Arizona’s all-time record in the NCAA Tournament went to 64-38 after getting a couple of wins down in SoCal area, San Diego. This was the Wildcats 16th appearance in the Sweet 16, but their fourth in five seasons with head coach Tommy Lloyd. Arizona isn’t a stranger down here in San Jose, as this was their third NCAA Tournament appearance in San Jose (2002,2017).
No.4 Arkansas Razorbacks started with guards Meleek Thomas, Darius Acuff Jr., forwards Trevon Brazile, Malique Ewin, and Billy Richmond III. Arkansas is enjoying its trip to the sweet 16, as this is the school’s 16th NCAA Sweet 16 and its 5th in a six-year span. The Razorbacks are being lead by head coach John Calipari who’s made quite a resume in the tournament. Coach Calipari is playing in his 17th NCAA Sweet 16 & his second straight. Calipari’s Sweet 16 record was impressive, but Arizona’s performance was too much for him and his team. His record is now 12-5 in the Sweet 16.
After the first 12 seconds, the Wildcats strike first on the Razorbacks with a layup from guard Brayden Burries. From there, it seemed like the whole 1st half was all Arizona. As they held the lead pretty much the entire 1st half. The two stud freshmen, Arkansas Darius Acuff Jr. and Arizona Brayden Burries, face off to close out this thrilling Thursday of games.
10 minutes into the first half of the game, Arkansas was starting to see some early struggles shooting from deep. Arizona has been seeing great success in its offensive possession. Wildcats are comfortably getting in the paint and protecting the paint with 2 blocks already in this game. So with that, Arizona would get on an early roll here in San Jose.
With 2 minutes left, Arkansas was down 13 points to Arizona, 50-37. The Razorbacks shooting has held them back and been their reason why they’re trailing. They were shooting 45% from the floor, but with a bad 17% from deep. While a hot team from the desert like Arizona, those missed three-pointers are big in playing the Wildcats. So, on that, Arizona went on a roll and saw a 15-point lead at one point on Arkansas.
At halftime, the Arizona Wildcats would lead the Arkansas Razorbacks by 11 points, 54-43. Arizona’s shooting is showing why they’re one of the best schools to take the West Region. They’re shooting a high 65% from the floor, going 18-of-28, just missing 10 shots on the floor the whole 1st half. The Wildcats are the first team to have 50+ points before halftime in multiple games within a men’s NCAA tournament since 2017. While Arkansas is hanging on, its problem is not hitting its shots and not being aggressive. The Razorbacks end the 1st half on 2-of-12 from deep at a low 17%.
The 2nd half was pure domination for Arizona. The Wildcats just proved to be too much for the Razorbacks. After the first 8 minutes, the Wildcats didn’t miss a shot in their possessions. A huge way to come back from where you left off in the 1st half. However, with his 13th point of the game, Darius Acuff Jr. has totaled 73 points across his first three NCAA tournament games, passing De’Aaron Fox for the most points scored by an SEC freshman in their first three career NCAA tournament appearances.
With the big and tough performance from Razorback freshman star Darius Acuff Jr., Arkansas found itself down by 21 points just 7 minutes in the 2nd half. Arizona is pulling away from Arkansas in San Jose, holding that commanding 78-57 lead. The lead feels unreal to be in the Sweet 16, and the home travel team-Arizona crowd, is here and energized, chanting “U-of-A” as the Wildcats were getting closer to securing their spot in the Elite 8.
Now, with 7 minutes left of the game, nothing much has changed. Except the Razorbacks were starting to play frustrated from the performance and how the game is going. Arkansas would start to commit fouls, with some turning into a flagrant foul. The lead was still 20 points to Arizona, 92-72.
As the game reached the final 2 minutes, it was pretty clear who had won this game. Arizona is holding a 23 point lead. The Wildcats controlled the rest of the game and slowly played the clock out to officially get the win. With that, the final score was 109-88. Arizona will head to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2015 with its head coach, Tommy Lloyd.
Arizona Wildcat freshman Brayden Burries led the team with his 23 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists. Burries and the Wildcats will host the No.2 Purdue Boilermakers right back in the SAP Center on March 28th, 2026, at 5:49 p.m. in San Jose, CA. The final game that San Jose will host, as the winner of the Saturday game, will take the road to the Final Four.
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