Arizona's Tommy Lloyd questioned, slammed after Sweet 16 March Madness loss to Clemson
No. 2 seed Arizona bowed out of the NCAA Tournament in the Sweet 16 with a 77-72 loss to No. 6 seed Clemson on Thursday night at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California and social media immediately searched for who to blame for the Wildcats' loss.
They didn't have to turn far.
Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd took the brunt of the criticism on social media, getting questioned for not making his players drive to the basket late in the game, as several Clemson players were in foul trouble.
The Wildcats instead continued to shoot 3-pointers, where they ended up just 5-for-28 in the game.
Many slammed Lloyd's coaching performance for Arizona. Lloyd has failed to get to the Elite Eight in his three seasons in Arizona, despite being a No. 1 seed once and a No. 2 seed twice.
Elite Eight picks, predictions: Illinois vs UConn | Clemson vs Alabama | Tennessee vs Purdue | NC State vs Duke | Elite Eight schedule | Elite Eight game odds | Elite Eight win probabilities | National championship odds
More: Arizona basketball shocked by Clemson in Sweet 16, eliminated from March Madness
Social media slams Tommy Lloyd, Arizona for 'debacle' vs. Clemson:
Arizona is THE dumbest team in the country. What a debacle that was
— Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) March 29, 2024
AZ went into double bonus w/ more than 10 mins left in the game & decided to inexplicably take (& brick) a million 3’s. Terrible game plan, terrible execution & couldn’t get a stop to save their lives. Just another AZ team that can’t get it done under the bright lights. Smh.
— Bryan (@B_reezy32) March 29, 2024
Arizona has more rebounds, more points in the paint, more second chance points, more fast break points, more steals, more blocks, less turnovers.
For some wild reason, it decided to take those stats and take 28 shots from behind the arc.
All season, teams packed the paint and…— Jason Scheer (@jasonscheer) March 29, 2024
This is 10000% on Lloyd
— AzCats (@Far_From_PC) March 29, 2024
Everyone kept telling yall to keep feeding the post. Arizona beat Arizona. Again.
— Chris Wagner (@Bear_Down_Bro) March 29, 2024
Tommy got out Coach.. He's too much of a nice guy. He should sat some players for jacking 3's instead of attack the basket. When they was killing them in the Paint! Like look at Bradley every time he drive good things happen. Why jack up 3's!!! .... man.
— Oscar Garcia (@OscarGa79482277) March 29, 2024
Such a selfish group of guards. Wanted to play hero ball instead of win the game
— Allen Mattson (@A_Mattson) March 29, 2024
Time to evaluate Tommy. His in game coaching has been poor all yr. Bradley should've been starting mos ago. The fact he didn't tell the team to keep driving is mind boggling. Happy Love is gone w his absurd shot selection. Need to look at Boswell too
— RedHeadwines (@RHeadwines) March 29, 2024
Ultimately this loss falls on Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd. Arizona had a mismatch in Ballo inside and Tommy decided youlive and die by the three. #BearDown
— BearDownU.com (@BearDownU) March 29, 2024
As good as Arizona has been in the regular-season under Tommy Lloyd, the Wildcats just haven’t delivered in the NCAA tourney for the third consecutive season.
Haven’t been able to get past Sweet 16 despite a 1 or 2 seed each year.— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) March 29, 2024
Tommy Lloyd just became one of those coaches
— Eamonn Brennan (@eamonnbrennan) March 29, 2024
taking a break from cackling to say this: Arizona fans blaming players or missed shots or whatever are misplacing their anger. every single Tommy Lloyd team has lost the same way: slow down the game and then bait them into taking 3s. and he has no answers for it. he is an idiot.
— carlos: a pac-12 mourner 🍉 (@equitybruin) March 29, 2024
Another pathetic and unmotivated Tommy Lloyd team in the postseason. We had all the pieces. This was our best shot. I seriously don’t see when we will be back in this position. Bear Down… IG
— Alex Rabb (@AlexR64_) March 29, 2024
Tommy Lloyd has been a one seed, a two seed and a two seed in three seasons at Arizona without an Elite Eight appearance. That's very underwhelming.
— Zach Braziller (@NYPost_Brazille) March 29, 2024
Sweet 16 picks, predictions: Clemson vs Arizona | San Diego State vs UConn | Alabama vs. North Carolina | Illinois vs Iowa State | NC State vs Marquette | Gonzaga vs Purdue | Duke vs Houston | Creighton vs Tennessee | Probabilities
Reach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd slammed after Sweet 16 'debacle' vs. Clemson
