Arizona and Arkansas Sweet 16 matchup will be 1st with freshmen as both team's top 2 scorers
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Coach John Calipari has made a career of relying on freshman stars to make long NCAA Tournament runs so the fact that he's doing it again at Arkansas with Darius Acuff and Meleek Thomas should come as little surprise. For Arizona, it's been a bit of a change for coach Tommy Lloyd, the Wildcats have gone from being a veteran-laden team to one that revolves around a talented freshmen duo of Brayden Burries and Koa Peat.
The Sweet 16 matchup in the West region on Thursday night between the top-seeded Wildcats (34-2) and fourth-seeded Razorbacks (28-8) will be the first game ever played in this round when the top two scorers for both teams are freshmen. “If you have coaches that are confident in the culture of their program, it doesn’t matter what year you are in school to be able to be a significant contributor," Lloyd said Wednesday. “I know, the way our freshmen play, people remind me all the time, like, did you realize your three freshmen were the leading scorer last game?
No, I didn’t realize that. But when I’m writing up lineup cards and whatever, or game plans, I don’t write freshman next to their name, either. I just know they’re really good basketball players.
” The winner of the game between the Wildcats (34-2) and the Razorbacks (28-8) will advance to the regional final to play the winner of the game between second-seeded Purdue (29-8) and No. 11 seed Texas (21-14). The freshmen have carried a heavy load for both Arizona and Arkansas this season with only Duke getting a higher share of its scoring this season from freshmen among NCAA Tournament teams.
Arizona has had more than half of its scoring — 50. 3% — come from freshmen with Burries averaging 16 points per game, Peat at 13. 7 and Ivan Kharchenko at 10.
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